ALEJANDRO, ALMANZA FINISH BIG AT STATE MEET! | Gilmer’s Baxter, Overton’s Herron also compete Friday; runners from WR, Tatum Saturday

All right, Giselle! Henderson High School senior Giselle Alejandro, already the district and regional champion, showed everybody why she’s so decorated with a top-10 performance at the University Interscholastic League’s State Cross-Country Championships on Friday. The event, held at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock for many, many years, welcomes hundreds of the best cross-country runners in the state, as well as thousands, literally, of family members, teammates, friends and well-wishers. Alejandro and Kilgore’s Ruby Almanza (below) ran in the Class 4A girls state finals, and Gilmer’s Tanner Baxter and Overton’s Vince Herron (both pictured below) ran in the 4A boys and 2A boys finals, respectively, Friday. Tatum High School’s boys cross-country team and Tatum’s Akeira Oden, as well as West Rusk’s Adelaide Murphy, will run in 3A state finals on Saturday morning. (Photo of Alejandro courtesy of HENDERSON HIGH SCHOOL CROSS-COUNTRY FACEBOOK PAGE)

East Texas is well-represented, as it usually is, at the University Interscholastic League’s Cross-Country State Championship this weekend, with runners from across the ETBlitz.com coverage area competing.

Runners in UIL Classes 2A, 4A and 6A were to run at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock on Friday, and classes 1A, 3A and 5A are Saturday.

Congratulations are in order Henderson senior Giselle Alejandro, who had a top-10 finish on Friday morning!

Running in the girls class 4A finals that began at 9:30, Alejandro, winner of the district championship, proved her point with a time of 11 minutes, 43.10 seconds, good enough for 10^th place in 4A!

Kilgore High School senior Ruby Almanza (above), who finished 22nd at the UIL State Cross-Country Championships on Friday morning in Round Rock. Almanza qualified and ran in the UIL state meet in all four of her high school cross-country seasons. (Photo courtesy of KHS BULLDOG PUBLICATIONS FACEBOOK)

And Kilgore’s Ruby Almanza, also a senior, finished in 12:05.70. Almanza went to the state cross-country meet in each of her years at Kilgore High School.

That finish in just over 12 minutes was good enough for 22^nd place in the state meet on Friday, out of 152 runners in the 4A girls state finals.

Both Alejandro and Almanza qualified for state at regionals at Lynn Creek Park in Arlington last week. Alejandro went to state as the regional champ.

Tanner Baxter, Gilmer: Baxter represented the Buckeyes in the boys Class 4A run on Friday, and finished the course in Round Rock in 17:24.90.

Gilmer High School’s Tanner Baxter (center), right before running in the UIL State Cross-Country Championships at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock on Friday morning. (Photo courtesy of MANDI SIMPSON, FACEBOOK)

Baxter, a junior, was at the state meet after qualifying last week in 13^th of 164 runners at regionals in Arlington.

Vince Herron, Overton: Herron, just a sophomore, hit the UIL state stage early: the boys Class 2A run was the second run of the day, following the girls 2A run.

Herron finished his state run in 18:25.60, 70^th overall. The top finisher in the boys 2A was Marco Cunningham of Waco Meyer, a senior who finished in 16:12.70.

Herron qualified for state with a great performance at regionals back on Oct. 21 at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville.

Overton High School sophomore Vince “Vini” Herron is captured in this artwork by Kristi Zalman, of the Overton Mustang Athletics Facebook page. (Artwork by KRISTI ZALMAN, courtesy of OVERTON MUSTANG ATHLETICS FACEBOOK)

Cross-country runners from ETBlitz.com-area 3A programs are running on Saturday.

Competing in the girls 3A state finals will be Adelaide Murphy from West Rusk High School, and Tatum High School’s Akeira Oden. The girls 3A final is set for 9:30 a.m.

The Class 3A boys state final run is set Saturday morning at 10 a.m., 30 minutes after the girls final.

Running in that final will be Tatum’s boys cross-country team (in alphabetical order): Koby Bridges, Gabriel Cantellano, Victor Cantellano, Louie Chavez, Logan Guinn, Faustino Sandoval and Alexis Ventura.

Good luck to Tatum’s boys and to Akeira Oden, and to West Rusk’s Adelaide Murphy! We’ll have results as soon as they’re finished.

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