Youth paves way for Rebels cross country team

The Tascosa cross country team of Emilio Salas, from left, Xander Bailey, Mauricio Villanueva, DJ Guerrero, and Kaden Navarrete will compete at the Region I-6A cross country meet in Lubbock on Monday. [Provided photo]

The Tascosa Rebels are getting set for the UIL Region I-6A cross country championship that runs at 2 p.m. Monday at Mae Simmons Park in Lubbock.

The Rebels dominance behind veteran coach Sean Hargrove continued this fall as Tascosa won the District 2-6A boys championship for the 13th time in 14 years.

While claiming district titles isn’t shocking at Tascosa, the way Hargrove’s team is getting done is a little more eye-opening.

Unlike past years, the Rebels are built around youth, with not one senior earning points of the top five runners.

“My top six runners are juniors to freshman,” said Hargrove, who is in his 20th year as the Tascosa cross country coach. It’s a Great problem to have. With this group I have leadership meetings. I always tell them, when you do good things, people want to follow you. But really they just lead by example.“

The team is made up of a talented junior class of DJ Guerrero, Kaden Navarrete, Xander Bailey and Mauricio Villanueva. There’s one sophomore, Gabe Enriques, a freshman, Emilio Salas and the lone senior Adam Solis.

Guerrero has ran well all season, winning the Individual title of the District 2-6A meet. Navarrette followed closely in second.

“DJ (Guerrero) and Kaden (Navarrette) have been steady,” Hargrove said. “Once they figured out what it took to compete in 6A, it got much better.”

With such a youthful squad, one thing Hargrove preaches is team. Hargrove doesn’t focus on individual success, but better yet he gets his guys to bond through the power of togetherness.

“Everything is team,” Hargrove said. We don’t do individual awards. We push team the entire time and that’s what we’re about. We push each other, and we spend time together. We spend three hours a day together.cWe’re big on bonding and training year around. It’snot a seasonal sport if you want to be good in Class 6A.

The Tascosa girls team will also compete at Monday’s regional. The Lady Rebels finished third at the District 2-6A meet.

The Lady Rebels are made up of senior Jude Bellar, juniors Farrah Creery, Lily Mueller, A’Jyhriah Randle, Neveaeh Taylor and sophomore Kate Morris.