Liberal High School Cross Country Team hosted the 1st Annual Hector Rios Memorial Cross Country Meet on Saturday at Willow Tree Golf Course. The weather was absolutely beautiful for the meet, which saw 15 schools and 326 total runners in attendance. Also in attendance was Hector Rios wife Cynthia, his son Trey, who acted as the starter for the Varsity races, his sister Raquel, and his parents. Hector was an accomplished runner at LHS in the mid 1980’s and was instrumental in getting a cross country program started at Liberal High School. He was tragically killed in a kayaking accident in 2025.
The meet began at 9:00 am with Junior High boys and girls races, featuring several area Junior High schools including Seymour Rogers and Eisenhower Middle Schools. In the 7th Grade girls raceEisenhower took 3rd with Seymour in 4th. 8th grade girls,it was Eisenhower 3rd, Seymour in 4th. 7th grade boys race saw Seymour Rogers take 2nd with Eisenhower in 5th. 8th grade boys, Seymour Rogers was 3rd, Eisenhower in 4th.
By 10:oo am, the high school girls race was underway, a race that saw the LHS girls JV take 1st place. Leading the way for the Liberal runners was Kamila Huerta in 2nd place, followed by Yuly Molina in 7th. Next through the chute for LHS was Ariadne Ortega in 11th, Zureidy Navarro in 12th, and Ana Chitic in 14th to round out the scoring. Other runners for the LHS girls JV was Layl Robertson in 16th, Sakae Gonzalez in 17th, Sydney Riemann in 18th, Lily Zamora in 19th, Selea Ontiveros in 20th, and Jayloni West in 21st.
The JV boys took 2nd place behind Guymon with a team total of 39 points. Leading the way for the Redskins was Axiel Gomez in 2nd place with a time of 18:56. Next was Brandon Ailon in 6th place, followed by Oscar Jimenez in 9th, Javier Martinez in 12th, Elian Escobar in 13th to complete the scoring for LHS. Also competing in the JV boys race was Elliott Vasquez in 17th, Josue Mendoza 18th, Luis Ledesma, 20th, and Ramses Garcia in 26th.
The Varsity girls for LHS took 2nd place behind the strong finish of Valaria Ontiveros in 3rd, and Courtney Carroll in 4th. Alondra Gonzalez came in 7th, Sandra Ventura in 14th, and Yazi Medina in 15th to complete the scoring for the Lady Redskins. Other Varsity runners included Sophia Mercado, 19th, Jhovana Cruz in 23rd, Lily Guy 24th, and Julieana Hernandez in 25th.
The Varsity boys were victorious on the day with a low score of 41 points. Junior Easton Martinez led the way with a personal best of 18:18 to take 5th, he was followed by Nehemiah Jaramillo in 7th , and Piero Huaman in 11th. Next to cross the finish line was Caleb Zamora in 14th, and J’Kobe Contreras in 16th. Next was Gian Almanza 16th, and Cain Ortiz in 20th.
At the end of the day, a total of 30 LHS Redskin runners ran personal best times, not only for the season, but of their high school careers. Next year’s date for the Hector Rios Memorial run will be October 2nd, 2027. The Redskin Cross Country team will again be on the course in Lakin KS, for the Lakin Invitaional on Saturday October 8th.
Place Team Pts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Avg Spread
1 Liberal High School 41 3 5 9 11 13 (14) (16) 19:01 1:29
2 Guymon High School 41 1 2 7 12 19 19:02 3:07
3 Hooker High School 43 4 6 8 10 15 (17) (18) 19:04 1:44
Place Team Pts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Avg Spread
1 Hooker High School 29 1 5 6 8 9 (10) (11) 21:32 1:57
2 Liberal High School 39 3 4 7 12 13 (16) (18) 22:14 2:35
3 Guymon High School 67 2 14 15 17 19 (20) 23:22 4:06
