Pasadena Roundup:

The Sam Rayburn boys cross country team will be looking to defending its District 22-5A championship later this month, but with a host of new faces it's going to be even tougher to do than last year. The Texans surprised Deer Park last season, winning the team title by one point with the help of Jose Ortega, who's now running at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, leaving them in rebuilding mode. Ortega made sure they stayed at the front of the pack last season, when he concluded his high school career with a district championship, top 10 regional showing and a 16th-place finish at state. Deer Park had beat them the year before, and so we came in and managed to win by one point, and that really helped us a lot because then we finished ninth at the regional meet, top 10 finish in the region. Gonzales placed 28th at the prestigious Andy Wells Invitational in the varsity boys race, posting a time of 16 minutes, 1.91 seconds. "(Corey) may not have as much natural talent as Jose had but he's working hard and I look for him, in a year or two, to really be able to help us," Granberry said.