Angel Ayala stands out in first race of the season for Broncbuster cross country
By Mike Pilosof
El Dorado, KS-Emmett Statzer's team was finally whole on Friday afternoon, meaning a team score was in sight for the first time in 2020. And even though the end result wasn't exactly what the first-year coach had in mind, there were plenty of positives to take away.
In his first race of the season, Angel Ayala came out sharp, taking home 16th place at the Ollie Isom Invitational 8K at Butler Community College. As a team, the Broncbusters finished seventh.
"For being a team of all true freshman, we walked away very successful for the first 8K of their careers," Statzer said afterwards. "It feels good to get our first team score of the season."
In their season-opening competition last week in Hutchinson, the Broncbusters brought only four runners, falling one shy of qualifying for a team score. A week later they had their fifth, and Ayala didn't disappoint, clocking in at 27:34.93, just 15 seconds off of a top 10-finish. The freshman pulled away from a large pack during the final stretch.
"I really believe this that the sky is the limit for this team once we get comfortable," Statzer added.
Eli Handsaker had another strong showing, coming in 39th at 29:18.24. Teammate Jose Ruiz closed hard over the final mile, finishing five spots back at 29:65.62. Erick Almaraz was 52nd with a time of 31:55.92, and Johnny Lozano was 53rd.
Butler won the team title with 47 points, and Cloud County's Habtamu Geta won his second straight individual title.
Garden City is off next week before their next meet in Iola on Sept. 26.