Marlin men Members of the Port Aransas High School varsity boys’ cross country team are, in back from left, Matt Fries, Ryan Zollars, Austin Scott, Skyler Fusso, Victor Valdivia, Randy Borden, Chase Chambers, Elliott Morris, Jason Morris, Chris Eggleston, Corban Marcantel, Paul Voyles. Front row, from left, are Collin Barr, Tyler Collier, Alex Groseclose, Said Morales, Caleb Rogers and Austin Henderson. STAFF PHOTO BY MARNIE PATE Brundrett Middle School runners may have done well simply to fight their way through the crowd at a crosscountry meet at West Guth Park in Corpus Christi on Saturday, Sept. 15. As it was, they brought back several single-digit finishes.

Coach Javier Mendoza said more than 100 runners entered each of four races – eighthgrade boys and girls and seventh grade boys and girls.

Jesse Marraro wound up at the front of the eighth-grade boys race, bringing home the blue ribbon. Miles May finished fifth in that race.

Lady Marlins Members of the 2011-12 Port Aransas High School varsity girls’ cross country team are, from left, Arianna Marraro, Rachel Davis, Maddison Shannon, Meagan Hardegree, Jessica Craft, Brenna Martin, Emma Shannon, Megan Forrest and Missy Gilbreath. STAFF PHOTO BY MARNIE PATE Ashten Snyder was eighth in the eighth-grade girls race, and Sophia Marraro finished seventh among seventh-grade girls.

“The kids have improved so much from the first time we ran this same course on Sept. 3,” Mendoza said. “Their times have gotten better all the way around.”

The next outing for the Brundrett runners will be Saturday, Sept. 24, when they join high school runners in hosting a meet in Port Aransas.

West Guth Park results:

Eighth-grade boys
Jesse Marraro 1st
Miles May 5th
Camron Collins 25th
Keynan Martin 29th
Blake Roberson 39th
Nathaniel Pahany 43rd

Hunter Snyder 53rd
Jonathan Forsberg 54th
Hank Brennan 60th
Hunter Marabito 62nd
Chase Denton 73rd
Wade Thomas 91st
Devon Byrd 92nd
Eighth-grade girls
Ashten Snyder 8th
Kayleigh Henderson 14th
Ashley Mack 58th
Shelby Takahashi 94th
Seventh-grade boys
Trout Lorette 22nd
Samuel May 24th
Kyle Jones 30th
George Clower 35th
Devin Pate 55th
James Ashwood 66th
Jackson Blanchette 93rd
Seventh-grade girls
Sophia Marraro 7th
Aubrey Sergeant 19th
Charlotte Ramsden 46th
Brittney Walker 64th
Kendra Torres 73rd

Last year, the Port Aransas High School cross country teams may have sneaked up on their rivals. The boys finished second in state; the girls won the district title.

This year, it’s different. They know the Marlins are running, and they’re running fast.

It’s so different that for the first time ever, the boys cross country team started the season ranked Number One in Texas in 1A teams, and has stayed in that position so far.

( Rankings are done by vote of members of the Cross Country Coaches Association of Texas, and the polls are published online on the second and fourth Thursdays of September and October. To check, go to http://cccat.org and click on the poll window. However, results of the Sept. 9 poll were not available for 1A schools at press time.)

The Marlins will host a meet Saturday morning, Sept. 24, with runners starting at and returning to Port Aransas High School. The schedule is at the end of this story; Marlins Athletic Director and cross country coach Steve Reaves said he doesn’t yet know for sure who will be competing, since “cross country teams sometimes just show up.”

Reaves said the team isn’t taking any different an approach this year than it took last year.

“It worked once, and we’re not going to change it,” Reaves said. He said the biggest difference between 2010 and 2011 is “the miles on the kids’ legs.”

Indeed, the squad has put some miles on its legs since the season ended in October 2010. Last year junior Matt Fries promised that over the off-season he would “run, run, lift; run, run, lift,” the “lift” referring to weightlifting as a way to build strength and endurance.

Fries and many of his teammates competed in the track season, which is in the spring and a different season from cross country.

In a start-of-the-season interview with the South Jetty, Fries estimated he ran 450 miles during the summer. Part of that was at a training camp in Colorado, he said. And, he added, several teammates did the same grueling regimen to get ready for the 2011 season, Fries’ senior year.

Another team leader, Corban Marcantel, didn’t finish the state competition last year because of a leg injury. This year, he said, it’s different.

“So far as I know, (the injury) has gone away completely,” Marcantel said in the same interview. He said he’s still on anti-inflammatory medications, “but I’m in pretty good shape.”

Until his injury, Marcantel was literally a team leader: Reaves said in 2010 that most of the team was “chasing Corban.”

This year, Marcantel said he’s been doing “what everybody else has been doing.” He pointed out that Fries brought techniques from his training camp that other runners are putting to good use.

That’s working, Reaves said, adding that the lack of the surprise element on other teams this year has worked to the Marlins’ advantage.

“They’ve embraced it,” he said. “They’ve been out every day. Last week (at West Guth Park in Corpus Christi), they beat most of the 4A and 5A runners.”

On the other side of the track, the girls expect to have just as exciting a season this year .

Meagan Hardegree said the Lady Marlins have a good chance to make it to State in 2011.

“All the girls put in miles during the off season,” she said.

Hardegree said the Lady Marlins are working together to boost individual running times as well as team scores.

“Personally, and as a team, we’re all doing good,” she said. “We’re developing as a family type deal.”

Reaves agreed.

Texas UIL rules prohibit teams from working out offi cially until August, but that hasn’t stopped either the girls or the boys from working individually on their running on their own time.

“One of the biggest things that’ll make a difference is the work they did over the summer,” Reaves said.

“This is the strongest boys team we’ve had since I’ve been here, and the girls are coming around,” he said.

“I’m excited. I think the girls have the best chance they’ve ever had.”

As for the boys – they can legitimately say, and prove, that “we’re Number One.” It’s in the poll.

The Marlins, as well as the young Marlins from Brundrett Middle School, host their cross country meet Saturday, Sept. 24, with races beginning and ending at the high school.

The schedule for Saturday is as follows:

Varsity girls 8 a.m.

Varsity boys 8:30 a.m.

JV girls 9 a.m.

JV boys 9:30 a.m.

Seventh-grade boys and girls 10 a.m.

Eighth-grade boys and girls 10:30 a.m.