Cross country: Strong final kick earns Loyd boys individual title

Andrews senior Tomilee Loyd and Permian sophomore David Hernandez pushed each other to performances Thursday in the Odessa Invitational cross country meet that neither runner really expected.

In the end, Loyd's experience probably paid off as he ended a thrilling duel by outsprinting Hernandez to the finish line for the Class 3A-5A boys individual title at UTPB Park.

Loyd and Hernandez pulled away from the other 67 runners in the field for much of the final two miles in the three-mile race.

Hernandez led much of the way, which didn't really bother Loyd except for the fact he didn't know if he'd be able to produce enough of a kick to win.

The Andrews senior, who was an individual state qualifier last year in Class 3A, has missed some training time because of a dislocated kneecap. But he brought the goods to win in 16 minutes, 15 seconds.

"We broke away from the pack and he stayed up there with me, so I decided to drop back a little bit and try to get some drafting to catch my breath," Loyd said. "We started picking up (the pace) a little bit and I thought I wasn't going to keep up with him, but I just picked it up a little bit harder and got that last little kick and tried to kick it like I normally do."

It worked for a dramatic finish, as Hernandez followed not far behind in 16:21 - well ahead of the third-place 16:40 by Crane's Joey Escalante.

Hernandez, who led Permian's fourth-place team finish, was all smiles about his runner-up finish since it came with a personal-best time.

"I'm usually never even up there like that," Hernandez said of the lead. "I fought, and he was a great runner. I was just hoping and hoping, but he had a great kick. I had to dig deep."

Permian coach Jeep Shanks said each of his team's runners set personal-best times to help earn the fourth-place team finish with 124 points.

After Hernandez, Jose Gonzales was 19th, Rey Madrid was 26th, Ricardo Chavarria took 37th and Daniel Hernandez was 43rd to round out the Panthers team scoring.