Cross country: Crane boys step up for team crown

Crane High School's boys cross country team didn't waste its opportunity Thursday at UTPB Park.

The Golden Cranes, ranked No. 1 in Class 2A by the Cross Country Coaches Association of Texas, opted to test themselves by running in the Class 3A-5A division of the Odessa Invitational.

Though their runners got broken up more than they might be used to, the Golden Cranes still had enough quality to win the title with 68 points and outdistance second-place Odessa High (83) by a double-figure margin.

"We've been having a lot of fun in 2A and wanted to see what we could do with the big boys," said Crane senior Joey Escalante, who was third individually in 16 minutes, 40 seconds. "This is the big boys, so we didn't know what to expect. We had no idea at all."

Nick Escalante followed with a fifth-place finish, but there wasn't another Crane runner until Dana Harvey crossed in 18th.

Zach Daniel (20th) and Thomas Valenzuela (22nd) weren't far behind Harvey, though, to deliver Crane's team crown.

"I wasn't real sure what our final totals were," Crane coach Barry Beverly said. "I started yelling and lost count on where we were with our fifth-place finisher.

"It's good for us. We needed to run and see we don't have to be the first five (individuals) in every meet. We just have to run our best."

Odessa High proved that in a way by finishing second in the race despite not have a top-10 individual finisher.

Ryan Herrera, Edwar Zubiate and Eric Carrasco finished 12th, 13th and 14th to lead the Bronchos while Kaleb Neptune was 16th.

Maurillio Pando closed out Odessa High's team scoring in 29th place, the 13-place gap proving too great to overcome.

"Our top four guys, those times are pretty close to what we've been shooting at as far as being close like they were there," OHS boys coach Randy Thompson said. "Time-wise, they were within 25 seconds and we've never been that tight all year. We just have to have that No. 5 within the same time frame and then we'll be hard to beat with five guys that close.

"They'll get there. We've got three weeks (before the District 2-5A Championships)."