Esmeralda Jaso, above, and Curtis Crain, below, qualified to advance to the regional track meet. At the District 16-1A track meet, Lometa’s boys’ and girls’ varsity teams each placed sixth overall, and both advanced individuals to the area meet in at least four events.

More importantly, however, both the Hornets and Lady Hornets walked away from the meet with a district champion, as Curtis Crain and Esmeralda Jaso were crowned the district’s best in their respective events.

Crain bolted through the 110- meter hurdles in 17.18, and Jaso cleared 4-4 in the high jump.

Unfortunately, the Lady Hornets’ gold medal winner and her teammates came up short at the area meet, and the squad’s season came to an end after the girls failed to advance anybody to the regional meet.

Lometa, however, will be represented by a pair of Hornets at the Region II-1A meet at Elmer Gray Stadium on the Abilene Christian University campus, as both Crain (110 hurdles) and Junior Castruita (discus) made it through the area meet.

In all, the Hornets and Lady Hornets combined to compete in nine events at the area meet, thanks to their top four finishes at the district meet.

Led by Crain’s first-place performance and his fourth-place finish in the 300 hurdles (45.10), the Hornets tallied 48 points as a team and sent Junior Castruita, as well as the 800 and 1,600 relay teams to area.

Castruita placed fourth in the discus with a throw of 113-6 and ran a leg of the 4x200 relay with Brandon Lilly, Dalton Parsons and Pablo Prado. The quartet finished in 1:38.50 to place fourth.

Castruita also competed with Lilly, Colt Maldonado and Dylan Straley on the third-place 1,600 relay team (3:49.64).

Lometa’s 400 relay team of Lilly, Maldonado, Parsons and Prado fell just shy of advancing, with a time of 47.15 to earn fifth.

In other individual events, Prado placed fifth in the 100 with a time of 12.01, while Edgar Castruita (57.45) and Maldonado (58.68) finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 400.

Jose Acevedo rounded out the Hornets’ scoring with a fifth-place showing in the 1,600 (5:27.40).

Rising Star won the boys’ division with 119 points, with May (111 pts.) and Blanket (92 pts.) following in the final standings. A total of 13 schools competed at the district meet.

The Lady Hornets used Jaso’s vertical leap and the speed of its relay teams to rack up 49 points against their district rivals.

Jaso, Taylor Mitchell, Nayla Rosales and Maribel Reyes placed third in the 400 (56.38), 800 (2:01.78) and 1,600 relay (4:52.20).

The team’s remaining points were contributed in individual events by Monica Bridges and Rosales. Bridges finished fifth in the 100 with a time of 14.52, and Rosales recorded a sixth-place triple jump of 27-8 1/2.

“The district meet was by far their best performance [of the season],” Lady Hornets head coach Don Jones said. “Even though their numbers were few, they did a great job, and it was a fun track season.”

Rising Star won the district championship with 130 points, while May (120 pts.) and Priddy (95 pts.) completed the top three.