H.M. King freshman Rosario Gonzalez won her division title at the District 31-4A meet held at West Guth Park this past weekend. H.M. King High School Freshman Rosario Gonzalez proved her success this season has been no fluke as she won her division at the District 31-4A meet at West Guth Park this past Saturday.

“She did a very good job of running her race and came in first in her division,” Coach Nilda Garcia said. “The nearest girl behind her was about 400 yards back. They ran both the girls and boys together and there were only 14 boys in front of her and the rest of them and all of the other girls were behind her.”

This season, Gonzalez has racked up six medals - placing near or at the top of meets - including the gold at district. In that span, she has also significantly sliced down her times at West Guth. During a previous meet there, on September 5, Gonzalez finished the course in a little over 17 minutes. On Saturday, she zipped across it in 13:45.

Memorial Middle School’s Gabbby Cortez finished in eighth place and won a medal at the District 31- 4A meet held at Tuloso- Midway last Thursday. “I think the fact that she consistently keeps her pace and kind of just runs her race has helped her be successful,” Garcia said. “She has been improving every single time, she runs well at practice, does the best she can and her parents also encourage her. She also does not let anything bother her when she is running and just zones into her race.”

Following her performance this season, Gonzalez could move up to the varsity ranks in 2010.

“I told her that if she keeps running like that and brings her times down to the low 13:00’s and high 12:00’s she would probably jump from freshman to varsity next year,” Garcia said.

Also competing on Saturday were Andrew Rivas (14, 17:03, varsity), Ryan Kelly (17, 13:22, v), Anthony Munoz (30, 17:52, v) Bryan Garcia (40, 18:37, v), Matthew Garza (48, 20:38, v), Emanuel Ibanez (42, 18:42, v), Niki Tijerina (15, 15:06, junior varsity), Sonora Cantu (21, 15:22, j.v.) and Patrick Lopez (44, 24:54, j.v.).

“They all improved their times, in fact yesterday every single one of them went down on their times,” Garcia said. “I have four seniors who I am really going to miss and I wish them all the best of luck.”

Memorial Middle School’s Gabby Cortez won a medal by finishing eighth with a time of 14:23 at the district meet hosted by Tuloso-Midway on Thursday.

“She really ran well and won her medal by placing eighth,” Garcia said. “That is really what she was striving for, she wanted to make sure she got a medal.”