CROSS COUNTRY

Crandall Pirates Post Three Podium Finishes at Home Invitational

By Staff Reports  •  Saturday, September 5, 2026  •  Crandall High School

Crandall threw open its home course on Saturday morning and welcomed a deep field of area programs for the 2026 Crandall Pirates Cross Country Invitational. When the last runner crossed the line the host school had banked three team podium finishes.

The rolling schedule opened at 7 a.m. and moved through eight races before the morning was out. Cowtown Timing handled the scoring on a course built from natural terrain and grass. Runners crossed a concrete road twice on each loop with rubber mats laid down for traction.

Garland Sachse arrived as the class of the field and left with both varsity team titles. Crandall was the only other program to finish inside the top three of both varsity races. The Pirates also placed second in the junior varsity boys division.

THE DAY IN THREE NUMBERS

Varsity Boys Finish Third by the Slimmest Margin

Senior Brayden Besherse set the tone for the Pirates in the opening race of the morning. He worked through the first heat and came home seventh in 15:40.30 over the 5K distance. Sophomore Santana Gurrola tucked in behind him and took eighth in 15:59.30.

Having two runners inside the top 10 gave Crandall a strong front end. Garland Sachse senior Samuel Ledbetter won the race in 14:31.40 and teammate Dominic Richardson followed in 14:45.18. Sachse also placed a third runner inside the top five.

Senior Leonardo Rivera gave the Pirates a third scorer inside the top dozen with an 11th place finish in 16:29.68. Junior Diego Zapata was 19th in 16:55.02 and freshman Abraham Colmenero came through in 20th at 16:56.85. Those two closed the Crandall scoring five within two seconds of each other.

Senior Andres Barns-Baldaguez placed 23rd in 17:02.84 as the sixth Pirate across. Freshman Alexander Roberts finished 31st in 17:46.67 to complete the varsity entry.

The scoring told a tight story. Crandall totaled 65 points against 64 for North Forney and 32 for Garland Sachse. One place gained anywhere in the Pirate five would have moved them past North Forney into second.

Varsity Girls Deliver the Best Team Result of the Day

The Crandall varsity girls produced the strongest team finish for the host school. Senior Aliyah Sosa carried the load up front and finished fourth in 18:55.32. She was the top runner in the race outside of the Garland Sachse and Wildfire lead group.

Freshman Jordan Dawson turned in the most notable debut of the morning for the Lady Pirates. She finished fifth in 19:30.87 in only her first varsity race on the home course. Having a senior and a freshman go four and five gave Crandall a low scoring base to build on.

Junior Barbara Roel Martinez was the third scorer in 11th place at 20:46.35. Junior Kali Mclver came in 20th at 23:20.51 and freshman Piper Stepp closed the five in 22nd at 23:46.74.

Crandall finished with 51 points in the 6A and 5A varsity girls division. Garland Sachse won the race with 25 points and North Forney landed in third with 55. Four points separated the Pirates from third place.

Junior Varsity Boys Nearly Sweep the Front

The junior varsity boys race gave Crandall its most dominant stretch of the morning. Freshman Matthew Lopez finished second in 17:12.00 and junior Landon McKeever took third in 17:22.00. Senior Arturo Roel Martinez made it three Pirates in the top four with a 17:30.00 clocking.

Only North Forney freshman Myron Jimenez kept Crandall from owning the podium outright. He won the race in 17:03.00 and finished nine seconds clear of Lopez. That gap turned out to matter in the team scoring.

Junior Iori Cardenas completed the Crandall five in 21st place at 19:03.00. Freshman Mattison Windham was 29th at 19:25.00 and junior Javier Mendez followed in 32nd at 20:08.00. Freshman Matthew Ochoa rounded out the group in 60th at 22:32.00.

North Forney used its pack depth to win the division with 41 points. Crandall took second with 58 and Garland Sachse was third with 64. The Pirate front three did their job and the middle of the pack decided the rest.

Junior Varsity Girls Come Up One Runner Short

Junior Avery McEntire led the Crandall junior varsity girls with an 18th place finish in 25:35.21. Senior Vianette Corral came in 29th at 27:14.25 and sophomore Aubrey Epp was right behind her in 30th at 27:18.96. Freshman Kara Besherse completed the group in 37th at 28:19.27.

Four finishers left the Pirates one short of a scoring team. Forney turned in the most complete performance of the entire meet in this division. The Lady Jackrabbits placed eight runners inside the top 11 and scored just 15 points.

Crandall Central Middle School Fills Out Both 2 Mile Races

The middle school races closed out the schedule and drew the largest fields of the day. Crandall Central Middle School put runners in both the boys and girls 2 Mile events. The girls race alone sent 170 finishers across the line.

Seventh grader David Ramos-Perez turned in the best middle school finish for the district. He placed 19th in the boys race with a time of 10:11.00. That put him inside the top 13 percent of a 150 runner field.

Zachary Logan followed in 54th at 11:26.00 and Kenneth Fierro was 84th at 12:42.00. Seventh grader Jaxon Morgan completed the boys group in 96th at 13:08.00. Four finishers left the young Pirates without a team score.

Eighth grader Katelynn Coral led the middle school girls with a 41st place finish in 12:44.00. Seventh grader Laura Nunez was 100th at 14:47.00 and seventh grader Alicia Ramos came in 105th at 15:08.00. Eighth grader April Castro followed one spot back in 106th at 15:11.00.

Eighth graders Mia Bonds and Isabella Bonds closed out the roster in 157th and 161st. Crandall Central scored 356 points to finish 13th in a 15 team field. Sunnyvale won the division with 41 points.

Team Scores Across the Varsity Divisions

Garland Sachse and North Forney combined to win three of the four scored 5K divisions. Forney claimed the other one in the junior varsity girls race. Crandall was the only school other than Sachse to place inside the top three of both varsity events.

Highlighted rows mark Crandall podium finishes.

What the Morning Showed About the Pirate Roster

The most encouraging sign for Crandall came from the youngest runners on the roster. Freshmen scored in three of the four varsity and junior varsity races. Jordan Dawson finished fifth in the varsity girls race and Matthew Lopez finished second in the junior varsity boys race.

Abraham Colmenero and Alexander Roberts both scored for the varsity boys as freshmen. That group ran alongside seniors Brayden Besherse and Leonardo Rivera without falling far off the pace. The mix of experience and youth showed up in every scoring five the Pirates put on the course.

The one point loss to North Forney in the varsity boys race is the kind of result a team carries into the next month of training. Crandall closed the gap on a strong district rival on its own course. The Lady Pirates meanwhile served notice with the second best team score in the field.