And despite all the hoopla and the expectations leading up to this cool, overcast morning in The Queen City, It came down to the wire with less than two seconds separating the two top runners in the district, it took Benavides’ best time of his career to beat Ruiz and take the district crown.
Needless to say, it was not for the faint of heart. The race started and ended as fast as these two competitors could go.
OJ Ruiz was gracious enough to give us an interview right after the race, “He (Benavides) pulled away at the end. We both gave it everything we had, but in the last 400 meters, he really pulled away.”
“Towards the end he (Ruiz) was right on my hip,” said Benavides, “He’s fast. I know he’s an 800 (meters) guy, so that being said, I wanted to push as much as I could because he’s fast. I didn’t want it to come down to a foot race at the end.”
“I was trying to recover, but I didn’t have it. He beat me. He had a better day today. My strategy was to stay right behind him. I didn’t know if he was gonna go fast or slow down, I just stuck with him the whole way and tried to out kick him at the end, but he got me. He was better today.”
“It was definitely good coming out of the blocks,” added the Mustang Champ, “We started out a little quick too. The two top Eagle Pass runners gave me a good race.”
When asked about Ruiz, Benavides said, “He really gave me good competition. This past season, I didn’t finish the season the way I wanted to come in here and perform my best for my brothers (My team).”
On the course: “It was nice. They (DRHS) did a good job. It’s the second time I run here, but it’s the first time they do district here.”
Even the team totals were close. LBJ won the meet with 56 points. Nixon was second with 57! The Eagles came in third with 62. The Eagles advance to Regionals as a team.
Coach Mario Garcia said that missing their number two runner, Diego Davila, due to illness, affected the end result.
“It wouldn’t have been this close if we had our team complete,” said the coach, “But overall I’m proud of our kids. Everybody PR’d (Set their personal records), we were just missing our number two.”
Official results were: Margarito Benavides in first with an amazing 15:24.2, OJ Ruiz in second with an equally amazing 15:26.6, Marquel Garza of Nixon third with a 15:56.2, Dylan Navarrete of LBJ fourth with a 16:05.2 and Jorge Aguilar of Eagle Pass fifth with a 16:15.2. Aguilar also qualifies for Regionals. Marco Barrera came in 12th, Adam Crone was 18th, Jaime Barrera placed 25th and Hugo Montejano was 29th.