San Marcos Cross Country opens season at Chaparral Invitational

San Marcos cross country began its 2022 season at Southeast Metropolitan Park in Austin at the Westlake Chaparral Invitational on Aug. 26.

The Rattler varsity boys’ runners took home a 13th place finish out of 33 schools competing, and the varsity Lady Rattlers finished in eighth place overall out of 31 competing schools. The purple and white set 23 new personal records across their program during the meet, including 10 on the girls’ side and 13 on the boys’ side.

The Lady Rattlers’ top runner from the weekend was sophomore Kareena Rodriguez. Rodriguez placed 13th out of 153 runners, posting a time of 19:46. Rodriguez was ranked second overall heading into the District 26-6A meet in 2021, and will look to build off her stellar freshman campaign in 2022.

Connor McGlothlin led the Rattler boys’ side placing 26th out of 184 runners with a time of 16:58. McGlothlin also competed at last year’s district meet, and will look to return with even better results in a new look competition based in San Antonio after San Marcos was moved to District 27-6A during UIL realignment.

The Running Rattlers’ will look to continue to improve as much as possible before their district meet on Oct. 10. The purple and white will get back on the trail over the weekend on Sept. 3 when they make a short trip to Lockhart to compete in the Hippensteel Invitational for their third meet of the year. The Rattlers will return home the following week for the San Marcos River Invitational on Sept. 9.