Raiders cross-country team makes history

The Rice Raiders boy’s cross-country team made history this past week being the first boys’ team in school history to qualify for the State Meet.

The Lady Raiders have accomplished this feat in the school’s history, and now with a 4th place finish as a team at the Regional meet on Tuesday, Oct. 22, the Raiders have officially punched their ticket to the State Meet.

The Raiders had four runners finish in the top 50 out of 166 runners at the regional meet. Payton Englebrecht was the first Raider to complete the race with a time of 17 minutes and 13 seconds.

Englebrecht’ time awarded him 11th place in the race and 17 seconds later one of his teammates crossed the finish line. Jael Valles-Serrano finished with a recorded time of 17 minutes and 30 seconds to come in 16th place.

The next Raider across the finish line was Hayes Dingler in 32nd place. Dingler finished the race in 18 minutes and 17 seconds and 13 seconds later Jake Morales crossed the finish line.

Morales finished with a recorded time of 18 minutes and 30 seconds to come in 42nd place and with four runners finishing in the top 50 the Raiders were in a great spot. They surged up the standings but still had three more runners in the race.

With a time of 19 minutes and 12 seconds Jose Briones crossed the finish line to come in 59th place. Victor Flores was the next Raider to cross the finish line with a time of 20 minutes and 17 seconds to come in 104th place and Joe Luke Morales came in 128th place with a time of 21 minutes and eight seconds.

These three helped the Raiders solidify the fourth-place spot as a team and because of that the Raiders are heading to their first-ever State Championship meet.