Lubbock High’s Reese Pena said this may not be the strongest season for her as a cross country runner.
It certainly didn’t look that way at the Odessa Invitational Thursday at UTPB Park as she easily won the Girls Division I race by over a minute ahead of the nearest runner.
The junior finished in a time of 17 minutes and 36 seconds.
“I have not had the strongest season this year so I just wanted to come out and focus on me,” Pena said. “I just needed that relief for me so I wanted to come out here and have fun and just keep it going.”
Lubbock Monterey’s Sydney Smothers finished second at 18:41.2 while Odessa High’s Raquel Martinez took third in a time of 18:49.2.
Pena also won last year’s Odessa Invitational as an individual.
“Honestly, it’s a different course compared to most races,” Pena said while describing the course. “What I like about this course is there’s a lot of curves and a lot of turns which you don’t typically see at some meets. This is a meet where you can come out and have fun and it’s why I like this course.”
Monterey took the team title, finishing with 39 points while San Angelo Central finished second with 66 and Odessa High took third with 72.
Permian finished fourth with 88 points.
The Lady Bronchos and the Lady Panthers will be racing again at UTPB Park next week in the District 2-6A meet which is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Oct. 12.
Joslyn Palma was second for the Lady Bronchos, clocking in at 20:35.7 to finish 14th.
Alyana Gonzales was third on the team, placing 17th in 20:47.5.
Permian was led by Emma Aguirre who crossed the finish line at 19:56.2 to finish eighth.
Miranda Chavez was second on the team, finishing in a time of 20:28.1 and placing 11th overall while Emery Moreno was 19th overall in 21:03.8.
“It was a strong performance,” Permian head coach Jasmine Torres said. “It was way stronger than what I was expecting. They blew me away. They all had great personal records and it was a great, strong race. I couldn’t ask for more than what they gave me today.”
Just like Williams, Torres is eager to have next week’s district championship back at UTPB Park.
“It’s a huge benefit,” Torres said. “We get to come out here and have our community be here to support us. It’s a big benefit to be running in our home town.”
