This year, the De Soto High School cross country team continued its strong showing at the State meet. A large contributing factor of the team’s success was DHS runner Angel Vasquez, who made history by winning the school’s first ever individual title at the 4A State Cross Country Championship held in Wamego on Oct. 29, 2011.

 “Being the best means you have to get it done at championship time. Angel definitely proved he was the best with his performance,” head coach Chris McAfee said.

 Vasquez, who ran the 3.1-mile course with a 16:30 race time, is a junior at DHS and has been running cross country for DHS since his freshman year.

 “Next year I want to get my name on the record board for the school record and hopefully help our team be even more successful at State. I want to finish my senior year strong,” Vasquez said. “I want to run in college with a scholarship for running.”

 With another year left in high school, Vasquez will continue to be an important part of the program. The girls and boys teams as a whole, however, continue to be successful.

 In addition to Vasquez, DHS had two other medalists including senior Philip Kaul (18th) and sophomore Rebekah Burgweger (15th).

 Overall, the girls team came in eighth place and the boys team finished in third place. Even with a heavy loss of seniors and a younger group of runners, the team still managed to keep up their victorious reputation.

 “The guys had a veteran team and improved drastically from last year’s performance. The girls had a young team and were an injury away from achieving their goals,” McAfee said.

 This year’s race displayed the ability of every runner and was a good experience for the season’s to come.

 “In the end, we learned some things about ourselves, learned some things we can do better, and got great experience for next year,” McAfee said.