Leander’s Gage Horejsi Found Redemption At The Region IV Championships

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. – The worst possible outcome fell to Gage Horejsi at his District Championship race 12 days ago.

The Leander High School senior, a sub-16 minute runner for 5,000 meters, experienced an asthma attack at the most inopportune of moments, which led to a 40th-place finish in a race of just 55 runners. He was his team’s seventh and final finisher on the day.

It would have been natural to write him off.

Most would have.

But on Tuesday, Horejsi certainly didn’t. And in fact the Leander prep was at his best among the top runners in Class 5A, closing hard over the final mile to finish third overall at the Region IV Championships in 16:08.71, securing the first ticket of his career to the UIL Texas State Championships.

Better yet, it came on his birthday.

“Just being able to run it like I did, it was amazing,” said Horejsi, who was also joined by teammate Malik Dekli as a state qualifier. “The crowd was ecstatic. I saw so many teammates doing good.”

Horejsi’s successful day highlighted a day of challenging races for Austin-area runners and teams, which battled through hot conditions and rising humidity at the Dr. Jack Dugan Soccer & Track Stadium course.

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The 5,000 meter course snaked through prairie grass and tight turns, broke runners with a stinging hill (twice) and finished with a fast flurry on the track, a roughly 150 meter sprint to the finish.

Arguably the most shocking result of the day came in the Class 5A girls race. Prohibitive favorite Elizabeth Leachman, the returning Foot Locker Nationals champion and undefeated on the season, did not finish after experiencing some undisclosed issues.

Leachman, however, will get a second-chance dose at state, as her Boerne Champion girls finished third overall as a team, elevating her automatically to the final meet of the season.

While Horejsi’s outing was the outright highlight from the region on Tuesday, his success was not singular.

Lockhart sophomore Ethan Herrera validated a career-defining moment at his District 5A-25 Championships just 12 days ago, too, following up his win with a 10th-place finish at regions on Tuesday, netting his second straight trip to state. This one came on his own.

“It feels good to qualify as an individual,” he said.

Horejsi’s teammate Malik Dekli, meanwhile, was 15th overall, claiming his own bid to state.

The Leander boys weren’t so lucky, however, falling to fifth overall, a position that was a gut-punch to their state-qualifying hopes, as they were the first team out. Cedar Park was eighth and Liberty Hill ninth

The Class 5A individual title went to Nathan Salinas, who threw his hands up in celebration after he netted the fastest time of the day in 15:52.47. He later thanked his favorite football player of all-time, Johnny Manziel, as his inspiration.

On the other side, the Leander girls’ season came to an end, as they slotted in at seventh in the Class 5A girls rankings. They were without an individual qualifier.

Liberty Hill, which sits just north of Austin, was sixth overall. Junior Laura Jonas was the team’s lone state qualifier with a 17th-place finish.

More good news awaited Leander Rouse. Sophomore JJ Arellano grabbed the final state qualifying bid of the day with her 21st-place finish.

While her time – an effort of 20:08.37 – was not a career best, Arellano said she felt the course played a bit longer year-over-year, which led to slower efforts all around.

What was more important, she said, was that she had qualified for state for the second straight year – and not for nothing, it also came just a couple days after she played a soccer game over the weekend.

“It was a very difficult race,” she said. “Very hot, very humid. A lot of pain out there, a lot of people, a much bigger race than I had for districts.”

Class 1A Girls Region Champion: Rylie Eckert, Richland Springs
Class 3A Girls Region Champion: Sophia Bendet, University City Randolph
Class 5A Girls Region Champion: Brady Solansky, Comal Smithson Valley
Class 1A Boys Region Champion: Sebastian Talamantez, Comstock
Class 3A Boys Region Champion: Joey Barrera, San Diego
Class 5A Boys Region Champion: Nathan Salinas, Mission Sharyland

Related Link: ‘This Is Our Moment!’ Round Rock’s Girls Score State Bid With Inspiring Effort At Regionals

What’s Next:

The Texas UIL State Cross Country Championships will take place from Nov. 1-2 at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, Texas. That timeline will give state qualifiers roughly two weeks off before their final regular season meet of the season. The state championships will be split into two days, with Class 2A, 4A and 6A taking place on Nov. 1 and Class 1A, Class 3A and Class 5A finishing on Nov. 2.

Quote Of The Day: 

“Don’t try to get in your head, because that’s what happens to me a lot of the time in these bigger meets. I get in my head and it just goes all downhill. So I was just like, ‘This next step, get to that tree, get to this next hill, pass this guy right here on this corner …just trying to keep my mind off of how it hurts and keep on pushing forward.”

Leander High School senior Gage Horejsi, who finished third in the Class 5A boys race at the Region IV Championships on Tuesday in Corpus Christi

Region IV Girls Individual Qualifiers:

1A:

No results available.

3A:

1. Sophia Bendet, University City Randolph
2. Aubrey Milam, University City Randolph
4. Peyton Keller, Stockdale
5. Elizabeth Felcman, Hallettsville
8. Madison Teague, Great Hearts Northern Oaks
11. Juliet Alcott, Great Hearts Northern Oaks
12. Svetlana Lopez, Lytle
13. Meadow Guillen, Luling
16. Naomi Cotero, IDEA Pharr
17. Kaydence Schroeder, Bishop

5A:

3. Savannah Moya, New Braunfels
6. Yazmin Guerra, PSJA Southwest
7. Genesis Ramirez, La Joya Palmview
8. Dana Rodriguez, Edinburg Vela
9. Elaina Lucido, Corpus Christi Carroll
13. Sofia Lauren Garza, Mission Sharyland
17. Laura Jonas, Liberty Hill
19. Aubrey Garcia, Alice
20. Emerald Aguirre, San Antonio Southside
21. Jadelynne JJ Arellano, Leander Rouse

Region IV Boys Individual Qualifiers:

1A: 

8. Daniel Pappas, Broaddus
10. Eliseo Garzon, Goodrich
14. David Gutierrez, Dime Box
16. Max Stalker, Abbott
18. Taylor Wiekamp, Utopia
19. Brayan Colchado, Moulton
21. Landon Heim, Spurger
22. Skylar Garcia, Nordheim
25. Johnny Guitierrez, Waelder
26. Gabriel Garcia, Prairie Lea

3A: 

1. Joey Barrera, San Diego
2. Gary Custer, Hebronville
4. Joel Telles, IDEA Weslaco Pike
7. Dominic Padron, Mathis
8. Cooper Warrick, Stockdale
12. Nathan Villarreal, Progreso
13. Ilias Braxton, San Antonio Cole
18. Martin Villarreal, Progreso
19. Raul Delgado, IDEA Pharr
20. Victor Reyna, IDEA Weslaco PIke

5A:

1. Nathan Salinas, Mission Sharyland
3. Gage Horejsi, Leander
5. Roehl Rodriguez, McAllen Memorial
6. Channon Davis, San Antonio Wagner
10. Ethan Herrera, Lockhart
11. David Zuniga, Sharyland, Pioneer
13. Javier Ramirez, Eagle Pass Winn
15. Malik Dekli, Leander
19. Kai Supelveda, Harlingen South
23. Jack  Aguinaga Jr., Edcouch-Elsa

Region IV Girls Team Qualifiers:

1A: 

No results available.

3A: 

1. Poth, 95
2. San Antonio Cole, 114
3. Hondo, 132
4. Vanderbilt Industrial, 160

5A: 

1. Comal Smithson Valley, 39
2. McAllen, 79
3. Boerne Champion, 125
4. Laredo Nixon, 177

Region IV Boys Team Qualifiers:

1A: 

1. Comstock, 43
2. Tilden McMullen County, 72
3. Zephyr, 74
4. Lasara, 144

3A: 

1. Lytle, 60
2. Great Hearts Northern Oaks, 128
3. Vanguard Rembrandt, 140
4. Altair Rice, 150

5A: 

1. Westlaco East, 69
2. McAllen, 80
3. Boerne, 80
4. Boerne Champion, 94