The Sealy Tiger cross country teams both finished 16th in their respective races at the Class 4A State Championship meet Saturday morning in Round Rock. It was the first time since 1991 that any team represented Sealy at state and it was the first time since 1990 that both teams qualified for the last meet of the year.

Bellville senior Lawson Meiers also represented Austin County at the state meet as an individual qualifier for the Brahmas and finished 61st overall.

Freshman Ria Torres was the Lady Tigers’ top finisher in 78th overall and senior Xavier Olvera crossed the finish line first for the Tigers in 50th overall. Sophomores Annabelle Williams (85th overall) and Allyson Guerrero (112th) weren’t far behind Torres and built off their experience from last year’s state meet when the pair qualified individually.

“My time was better than last year but the place was worse, a lot of new people came in,” Williams said. “(From last year, I knew) I needed to start faster, and then the second mile I knew now it’s a lot of uphill so it’s going to be harder.”

“I felt better than I did last year, I felt like I pushed myself more and I think I did pretty well,” Guerrero said. “(I learned) to be prepared for what happens from last year so I knew I had to pick it up at the beginning and stay at that pace for as long as I could, then at the bridge to just push it all for the end.”

Senior Daniel Medrano echoed the thoughts of emptying the tank at the end of the race but especially because that was his final time on the cross country course in black and gold.

“Toward the end I realized over the last 400 meters or so, I wasn’t up there (in podium contention) but it was still me versus the people around me and I thought, ‘How do I want to finish this?’” Medrano posed. “I had people around me and it’s one-on-one between me and them. I wasn’t thinking about the 50 people in front of me, I was only thinking about the guy next to me. If I’m one-on-one, I’m not going to let you beat me right there and that’s how it was at the end.”

Sophomore Fernando Garza was able to witness Medrano’s mindset shift firsthand and will use the lessons he learned to help the Tigers make a return trip to state next year.

“Learning to bond with the whole team, that’s the best way we can all come together and run the fastest we can. I know how to lead and get better and hopefully we get the whole team back here,” Garza said. “Mostly keep the pace as you’re going into the second mile, it’s a little hilly but just keep going and don’t think about how far you have left to go. Just keep going hard, it’s the last race of the year so you have to just go.”

Head Coach Anthony Branch said he and the coaching staff were pleased with the way the season went and the end result at the final meet of the season makes them excited for next year as well.

“Finishing 16th, we knew what we wanted to do and it was going to be tough, you have to run. Getting to the state meet is very difficult and there’s 208 other schools that aren’t getting to run and we got to run so there’s no shame at all,” Branch said. “We’re very proud of what they did and we won’t let this take away from the season we had. We had a great season, very enjoyable and I’m happy these guys and girls had a good time.”

After the runners showed improvement over the regular season, Branch applauded the efforts of the teams following a strong finish.

“The girls probably ran their best race as a team overall, I was really pleased with how Ria ran, Annabelle Williams and her both broke 13, Allyson Guerrero was not too far behind at 13:22 and Blair Konesheck at 13:51. The one that I thought had a breakthrough and I’m hoping this will carry over into next year, Haylie Eder came through and ran a PR at 14:25,” Branch said. “Boys, just proud of what they were able to do this year. Thought Xavier ran well, liked the way Daniel Medrano bounced back, I thought he had a good performance today and ran a good solid time, broke 18 which is good. Fernando Garza set a PR, he ran really well today and I’m glad those guys, Xavier and Daniel, got to run well and we’re super excited about what they’ve done in their careers.”

Coming off the starting line, Medrano fell behind the group of runners who sprinted at the start and put his hands up to remind himself to stick to his own race but said he also took a moment to digest his final cross country race.

“It was more of a personal thing so I got to see the whole picture in front of me and said, ‘Dang this is it.’ Part of it was pacing and just taking it easy because I’ve got to relax instead of being antsy so that was part of it and the other part was enjoying the moment and being fully soaked into it,” Medrano said. “If you asked me (if this is how I saw it ending) last year then no. It was a different mindset and I always was about me because last year, statistically, I was supposed to be here and in the mix. But I realized over this year that it’s really all about the team; we didn’t do that great today but it’s like a new beginning for something else and the program. I left what I could.”