Burkburnett reversed the roles Wednesday afternoon, taking the league title by a point at Decatur's Joe Wheeler Park. Burkburnett finished with 27 points. Decatur took second and earned a trip to the Class 3A Region I meet in Lubbock Nov. 7 with 28 points.
Vernon finished third with 82 points, qualifying for regionals.
"It's kind of disappointing," said Decatur's Cris Ortiz. "Next week is a different race, and we'll do better."
Burkburnett and Decatur took every spot in the top 10. After the top eight runners crossed the finish line, they were even with 18 points each.
Down the final hill, Decatur's Eric Pedroza held a slight lead over Burkburnett's Anthony Holland. Pedroza, who was battling illness, could not hold off Holland in the last 10 meters.
Holland squeezed across the finish line in ninth place in 18:31, two seconds ahead of Pedroza in 10th, to secure the league title for Burkburnett.
"We were just a healthy Eric away," said Decatur coach David Park. "Eric will be fine, and we'll be fine. But that's the way the season has gone. We've had the flu, floods and fog, like our shirts say, and ran through it.
"Last year, we beat them at district; but they won the region and ended up going to state. We ended up fourth by three points and didn't get to go," he added. "I told the boys, 'The roles were reversed today. Let's make sure they are reversed next week.'"
Burkburnett's Christian Mendoza claimed the individual district crown, running 16:57 on the 5K course. He beat teammate Brian Keksi by a second.
Decatur's Ortiz took third, running 17:20. He said Mendoza and Keksi set a fast pace for the race. The Burkburnett duo hit the one-mile mark in 5:07. Ortiz clipped the first mile in 5:20.
"I went out too fast," Ortiz said. "I think they were trying to burn me out in the first mile."
In the final 1,500 meters, runners had to battle fierce winds with no shield from trees.
"When we hit the pasture, the wind hit [us]," Ortiz said. "I felt like my legs were dead."
Ortiz led a quartet of Decatur runners across the finish line. Alex Forbis took fourth in 17:38. Gustavo Huerta was fifth, running 17:52. Chase Saunders finished sixth in 17:55. Pedroza ran 18:33. Remmington May took 12th in 19:14. Pablo Rivas finished 14th in 19:33.
Park said his team ran a solid race and did not get caught up with trying to run the fast pace set by Burkburnett's top duo.
"Our race plan was not to get sucked into that [pace]," Park said. "We wanted to pack up and try to split them up and put five [runners] between their second and third runners. We almost did that."
