Tag: RRAC Championships

Late-game heroics propel Saints to conference championship

The No. 1-seed OLLU softball team downed No. 2-seed Texas A&M University-Texarkana (TAMUT) to advance to the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Championship Game which will be played today at 12:30 p.m. on the OLLU Softball field. The Saints improve to 44-9 overall while the Eagles fall to 40-12.

Head Coach Bruce Lenington commented, “I’m very proud with how our team played today. Cassandra Valdez (JR/Brownsville, Texas) led us offensively and defensively. Joanna Gonzalez (SR/San Benito, Texas) and Kayla Dreese (SR/San Antonio, Texas) hit huge solo home runs for us. We’ll need another big day tomorrow to finish this thing off.”

History
The Saints were 5-7 against the Eagles prior to the game.

Basics
The Saints and Eagles engaged in a pitching batting until the fourth inning. Erika Richardson hit a two-run home run with two outs to give the Eagles the advantage. The Saints responded in the bottom of the frame when Valdez doubled to left field to score Ariel Montgomery (SR/Castroville, Texas) and Dreese. Gonzalez gave the Saints the permanent lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when she homered over the left field fence. Dreese added an insurance run for the Saints in the next inning with a solo home run to left-center field. The Saints won 4-2 to advance to the championship game in the RRAC Softball Tournament.

Valdez pitched the entire game in the circle and struck out seven batters to earn the win. Dreese had a multi-hit game and Valdez tallied two RBIs.

Up next
The Saints face TAMUT in the RRAC Championship Game tomorrow at 12:30 p.m.

Women’s track and field wins four individual championships at conference meet

Hear from seniors and Head Coach Patrick Torres.: https://www.youtube.com/embed/r9LsfL-Url4?enablejsapi=1&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ollusaintsathletics.com

The women’s track and field team finished in fourth place at the 2022 Red River Athletic Conference Championships. The Saints hosted the two-day event at Holy Cross High School.

Capturing the conference title was Xavier University of Louisiana with 202 points. Wiley College followed with 144.5 points, Huston-Tillotson University tallied 131 points, and OLLU finished with 104 points. Jarvis Christian College had 79.5 points, and Paul Quinn College ended with seven points.

The women captured several individual championships, including Sierra Ramirez, who won the 1500m; Nadia Sifuentes, who won the 3000m; Lindsey Broussard, who won the 5000m; and Alexandria Segura, Kiana Kebbi, Brianna Pantoja and Autumn Roberts, who won the 4x400m relay. Full results are listed below:

ParticipantEventResultsFinish
Larrisa McHenry100m12.747th
Gabrielle Sigala100m13.8415th
Esmy-Angelee Garcia100m13.9116th
Larrisa McHenry200m27.0810th
Lauren Perry200m27.5512th
Roxana Guerrero200m28.3015th
Alexandria Segura400m59.834th/All-Conference
Brianna Pantoja400m1:02.138th
Autumn Roberts400m1:02.7810th
Roxana Guerrero400m1:10.5016th
Nadia Sifuentes800m2:24.00Runner-Up/All-Conference
Viridiana Zuniga800m2:37.006th
Robbie Sue Espericueta800m2:48.0010th
Natalie Martinez800m3:04.0011th
Sierra Ramirez1500m5:36.00Champion/All-Conference
Nadia Sifuentes3000m11:32.00Champion/All-Conference
Lindsey Broussard3000m12:01.00Runner-Up/All-Conference
Lindsey Broussard5000m21:05.00Champion/All-Conference
Lauren Perry100mH15.50Runner-Up/All-Conference
Mariah Watts400mH1:16.294th/All-Conference
Autumn Roberts, Larrisa McHenry, Alondra Toledo, Kiana Kebbi4.100mR48.344th/All-Conference
Alexandria Segura, Kiana Kebbi, Brianna Pantoja, Autumn Roberts4x400mR3:57.66Champion/All-Conference
Viridiana Zuniga, Sierra Ramirez, Robbie Sue Espericueta, Nadia Sifuentes4x800mR10:29.68Runner-Up/All-Conference
Alexandria SeguraLong Jump5.34mRunner-Up/All-Conference
Natalie MartinezJavelin18.20m6th

During the second day of the meet, seniors Audren Pineda and Kimber Watson were recognized.

Men’s track and field wins all long-distance events at conference championships

Hear from seniors and Head Coach Patrick Torres: https://www.youtube.com/embed/r9LsfL-Url4?enablejsapi=1&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ollusaintsathletics.com

The men’s track and field team finished in third place at the 2022 Red River Athletic Conference Championships. The Saints hosted the two-day event at Holy Cross High School.

Capturing the conference title was Xavier University of Louisiana with 213 points. Huston-Tillotson University followed with 167.5 points, and OLLU finished with 146 points. Fourth-place went to Wiley College with 98.5 points, Jarvis Christian College with 72 points, the University of the Southwest with 27 points and Paul Quinn College with seven points.

The men captured several individual event championships, including Hendrick Ramirez, who won the 1500m; Diego Moran, who won the 3000m; Isaac Martinez, who won the 5000m and the 10000m; Chris Davila, Moran, Ramirez and Nathaniel Rodriguez, who won the 4x800m relay; and Jonathan Sanchez, who won the javelin throw. Full results are listed below:

ParticipantEventResultsFinish
Justin Gould200m23.3313th
Justin Gould400m53.3311th
Antonio Nava800m1:58.28Runner-Up/All-Conference
Anthony Alvarado800m1:59.293rd/All-Conference
Hendrick Ramirez1500m4:10.53Champion/All-Conference
Nathaniel Rodriguez1500m4:19.513rd/All-Conference
Diego Moran1500m4:27.324th/All-Conference
Chris Davila1500m4:34.985th
Diego Moran3000m9:23.00Champion/All-Conference
Nathaniel Rodriguez3000m9:29.00Runner-Up/All-Conference
Robert Rios3000m9:52.004th/All-Conference
Isaac Martinez5000m16:45.00Champion/All-Conference
Hector Puente5000m17:04.00Runner-Up/All-Conference
Robert Rios5000m18:00.003rd/All-Conference
Antonio Bustamante5000m18:11.004th/All-Conference
Isaac Martinez10000m34:52.52Champion/All-Conference
Hector Puente10000m35:10.03Runner-Up/All-Conference
Antonio Bustamante10000m38:01.883rd/All-Conference
Chris Davila, Diego Moran, Hendrick Ramirez, Nathaniel Rodriguez4x800mR8:26.75Champion/All-Conference
De’Jon LewisTriple Jump13.85m4th/All-Conference
Jonathan SanchezJavelin51.93mChampion/All-Conference
De’Jon LewisLong Jump6.60m5th
Nehemiah LittletonLong Jump6.46m7th
Tamaj GordonLong Jump6.33m9th

During the last day of the meet, seniors Antonio Bustamante and Isaac Martinez were recognized.

Volleyball defeats Southwest for RRAC Regular Season Co-Champion title

The volleyball team beat the University of the Southwest (USW) 3-1 on Saturday. OLLU finishes the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) regular season with an 18-5 overall record and 11-1 conference mark.

The Saints were crowned RRAC Regular Season Co-Champions with Xavier University of Louisiana. OLLU enters the RRAC Tournament as the second seed out of six teams.

Head Coach Scott Mattera said, “One of the marks of a champion is being able to win when you don’t have your best game. It was a long road trip and the University of the Southwest is scrappy on defense and smart with their shots. They earned their breaks in game two and taught us a valuable lesson! We responded well and put it together in the third and fourth set to wrap up a regular-season co-championship!”

History

The Saints were 21-4 in the series record against USW prior to the match.

Scoring overview against USW

Set One – OLLU 25 – USW 20
Set Two – USW 25 – OLLU 18
Set Three – OLLU 25 – USW 12
Set Four – OLLU 25 – USW 16

On the offense

Overall, the Saints had 34 kills for a hitting percentage of .165. Southwest totaled 40 kills for a hitting percentage of .122.

Camila Ramirez (FR/El Paso, Texas) led the Saints with 12 kills. Valeria Trevino totaled a team-high 11 kills for the Mustangs.

Madelynn Strzelczyk (SO/Marion, Texas) assisted on 33 plays for the Saints while Alissa Mancera tallied 18 assists for USW.

Defensive standouts

OLLU had a total of 42 digs, led by Tina Trevino (FR/Laredo, Texas) with 18. Alexia Esparza tallied 28 digs for the Mustangs.

Serving it up

Three different Saints players tallied one service ace each. Autumn Lopez had two service aces for USW.

What’s next

The Saints await the winner of No. 3-seeded Huston-Tillotson University and No. 6-seeded Jarvis Christian College for a semifinal showdown. The Saints will host the RRAC Tournament starting on Nov. 12.

Cross-country teams win seventh conference championships

Hear from seniors and watch highlights.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/-IhyxYFhxcg?enablejsapi=1&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ollusaintsathletics.com

The men’s and women’s cross-country teams captured the 2021 Red River Athletic Conference Championships this morning. These titles are the seventh for each program – the men have won seven in a row (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) and the women have won seven of the last nine (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021).

The men marked 15 points, followed by the University of the Southwest, 73 points; Xavier University of Louisiana, 74 points; Wiley College, 90 points; Huston-Tillotson University, 115 points; and Jarvis Christian College, 155 points.

Capturing the individual title for the men in the 8k was Jose Zarate, whose time was 25:21. He was followed by OLLU’s Julio Sanchez (25:30), Nathaniel Rodriguez (26:03), JoseCarlos Hernandez (26:07), Isaac Martinez (26:13), Hendrick Ramirez (26:36.2), Diego Moran (26:36.3), Antonio Bustamante (26:36.7), Joseph Gonzalez (26:59) and Hector Puente (27:17). All 10 from OLLU made up the All-Conference team. Bustamante and Hernandez’s finishes were personal records. Sanchez won the Runner-Up and Freshman of the Year awards.

Head Coach Patrick Torres, named Coach of the Year, commented, “I’m proud of our performance. It’s a special day when you can perfect score and put a whole team on the all-conference awards stand. Congratulations to our overall champion Jose Zarate and Freshman of the Year, Julio Sanchez. We had an outstanding race top to bottom, but those two went out and pushed each other up front. I’m proud of our men’s team.”

The women recorded a score of 18 points in the 5k. They were followed by Xavier, 55 points; Southwest, 69 points; and Huston-Tillotson, 80 points.

Winning the individual championship was Nadia Sifuentes, who marked a time of 18:50. She was followed by OLLU’s Jasmine Hernandez (20:08.6), Southwest’s Samantha Jasso (20:21), OLLU’s Peyton Lammons (20:26), Viridiana Zuniga (20:35), Lindsey Broussard (20:42), Xavier’s Skylah Barton (21:02) and LeilaniCyan Johnson-Gordon (21:20), OLLU’s Sierra Ramirez (22:15) and Xavier’s Bria Gaines (22:21). All 10 made the All-Conference team. Lammons’ and Zuniga’s times were personal records. Hernandez won the Runner-Up and Freshman of the Year awards.

Torres, who received Coach of the Year honors, said, “We ran really well. It’s tough to stay competitive in such a small race, but we did, and all the credit goes to our girls for putting themselves in the right headspace. I’m lucky to have the group we have this year. Thank you to our women’s Assistant Coach Jazmine Garcia. Her short time with the team so far has made a huge impact. Nadia and Jasmine took home individual champion and freshman of the year, respectively, and to do that on a day like today really shows how mentally strong we are.”

The men will get set for the 66th Annual NAIA Men’s Cross-Country National Championship on Nov. 19 in Vancouver, Wash., while the women will prepare for the 44th Annual NAIA Women’s Cross-Country National Championship also on Nov. 19 in Vancouver, Wash.