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Gatesville’s Carlo Martinez dusted the field in winning the 1A-4A varsity boys race at the Hewitt Kiwanis Invitational.
Midway's boys claimed the team title in the 5A-6A varsity division.
Midway's Jack Sterrett won the 5A-6A division of the Hewitt Kiwanis Invitational with a three-mile time of 15:25.2.
Gatesville's Vania Martinez claimed gold in the 1A-4A girls' varsity race, just as her brother Carlo did in the boys' race.
Runners in the varsity boys race leave the starting line at Thursday's Hewitt Kiwanis Invitational.
Midway's Jack Sterrett picked up the individual title in the varsity 5A-6A division.
Gatesville runners, including champion Carlo Martinez (center), show off their medals Thursday.
Midway's varsity girls pose after Thursday's meet.
The Hamilton girls won the 1A-4A team title.
Hamilton rolled to a dominant team performance in the 1A-4A division.
Gatesville's Carlo Martinez said he hopes to clock as low as 14:30 at the 5K distance this season.
Rocking a Karate Kid-inspired headband, Carlo Martinez has shown quite the kick this season.
Not in martial arts, mind you, but as a runner.
The Gatesville cross country senior put together a powerful finishing kick to blow away the competition and win the Hewitt Kiwanis Invitational on a toasty Thursday morning at the Heart of Texas Soccer Complex. It marked the third straight win for Martinez this season.
Martinez’s winning three-mile time of 15:03.8 was more than a minute faster than he clocked in this same meet last year. But he has pretty high standards. Martinez clocked 14:45 his last time out in a meet in Brownwood and has his sights set on going as low as 14:30 this season at this distance.
“Today I don’t think I ran super-good,” said Martinez, who is mulling scholarship offers from Louisiana-Monroe, Southern Arkansas and UT-Tyler. “It’s hot, the course is all right, but I did it. I went out too fast the first mile. There were these two kids from Midway, they were pushing the pace. I got trapped in their little trap, but other than that, I came out and ran a 15:02. Far from my best, but not the worst.”
Led by Martinez, Gatesville won the 1A-4A team title as well, with 90 points compared to second-place Hillsboro’s 108.
The varsity boys’ race featured competitors from 1A through 6A, but the divisions were scored separately, as 1A-4A were split into one group and 5A-6A into another. So, though Martinez hit the afterburners and left even the big-school runners behind, it still proved to be a winning day for Midway on more than one fronts.
Midway’s Jack Sterrett seized gold in the 5A-6A division with a clocking of 15:25.2, while his teammate Reeve Tarter, a state qualifier last year, placed second at 15:56.2. Led by that duo at the top, the Panthers surged to a brilliant 25-point effort and the big-school team title.
“That really boosts (my confidence), obviously, because going into district and regionals coming up in the next month, I’m really ready for some good competition,” said Sterrett, a transfer from Coastal Christian Academy in Wilmington, N.C.. “The last two years I was at a private school, so I’m not really used to such competition. But I’m ready to get used to that feeling and ready to take on the district and regionals and maybe state.”
Three other Midway runners pocketed Top-10 finishes, as Aaron Powers finished sixth, Jack Reinhardt was seventh and Alexander Lee placed ninth.
Sterrett, one of the newest Panthers, said he’s looking forward to big things from the Jon Capron-coached Midway team as the year tarries onward. Even the Panthers’ practice runs result in friendly — but fierce — competitions.
Sterrett said he loves that.
“They push me really hard, especially in workouts and practice,” he said. “Every single day, they’re holding me accountable. Especially if things are not going my way and I’m feeling injured, they really push me to my limits. I’m glad how the season is going, it’s going really well.”
The University cross country team wore black warm-up T-shirts emblazoned with the message: “Running is a mental game, and we are INSANE!”
Whether they were cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs or not, it certainly was a crazy-good day for Gatesville’s Martinez family. In addition to Carlo’s big win, his sister Vania won the 1A-4A girls’ division. Vania Martinez charged to a winning time of 12:13.0 in the girls’ two-mile race, a full 30 seconds faster than second-place Lindsey Gooch of Iola. Robinson’s Lexi Schwartz took third at 12:59.5.
Like her brother, it marked the third straight meet win for Vania Martinez.
Hamilton, meanwhile, rolled to the 1A-4A girls’ team title by placing five runners in the top 25 and totaling 41 points.
Harker Heights’ Ella Perry won the 5A-6A gold medal in a three-mile time of 18:27.8, while A&M Consolidated snatched the team title. Midway’s top finisher was Anna Posey in eighth.
The junior varsity winners included Hamilton’s Elizabeth Kalbus (1A-4A) and College Station’s Olivia Feagin (5A-6A) in the girls’ races, and Hillsboro’s Luis Mendoza (1A-4A) and A&M Consolidated’s Christian Nuno (5A-6A) in the boys’ action.
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A lifelong rider of the Houston sports bandwagon and a lifelong hater of vegetables, Brice Cherry has been named the Texas AP sportswriter of the year several times during his Trib career, which began in 1998. He has been sports editor since 2012.
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Gatesville’s Carlo Martinez dusted the field in winning the 1A-4A varsity boys race at the Hewitt Kiwanis Invitational.
Midway's boys claimed the team title in the 5A-6A varsity division.
Midway's Jack Sterrett won the 5A-6A division of the Hewitt Kiwanis Invitational with a three-mile time of 15:25.2.
Gatesville's Vania Martinez claimed gold in the 1A-4A girls' varsity race, just as her brother Carlo did in the boys' race.
Runners in the varsity boys race leave the starting line at Thursday's Hewitt Kiwanis Invitational.
Midway's Jack Sterrett picked up the individual title in the varsity 5A-6A division.
Gatesville runners, including champion Carlo Martinez (center), show off their medals Thursday.
Midway's varsity girls pose after Thursday's meet.
The Hamilton girls won the 1A-4A team title.
Hamilton rolled to a dominant team performance in the 1A-4A division.
Gatesville's Carlo Martinez said he hopes to clock as low as 14:30 at the 5K distance this season.
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