2012 Texas A&M International University Cross Country Media Guide

Oscar Beltran Junior Eagle Pass, TX - CC Winn High School• 19th at Kingsville Dual, 34:17• 43rd at Fiesta Texas/HEB Classic, 18:49

Jesus Villalobos Jr. Junior Laredo, TX - United South High School• 17th at Kingsville Dual, 33:33• 29th at Heartland Conference, 29:59

Raymond Litman Sophomore Laredo, TX - Alexander High School • Redshirted in 2011• Lettered in Track and Cross Country at Alex-

ander High School

Rafael Benavides Jr. FreshmanZapata, TX - Zapata High School• CrossCountryregionalandstatequalifier• AAU junior Olympic nationalqualifier

TAMIU Dustdevils

Men of TAMIU

Benito Ochoa SophomoreHouston, TX - Northbrook High School• Son of Herminia and Benito Ochoa• Majoring in English language

Hector Moreno FreshmanLaredo, TX - United High School• One year varsity cross country at United high

School

Roger Rueweler JuniorLaredo, TX - Sam Houston State• 2nd at Kingsville Dual, 27:37• 4th at Heartland Conference, 27:25

Daniel Alfaro SophomoreMission, TX - Mission High School• 5th at Kingsville Dual, 30:44• 12th at Heartland Conference, 28:18

Left to Right: Rafael Benavidez Jr., Daniel Alfaro, Jesus Villalobos Jr., Oscar Beltran, Roger RuewelerHector Moreno

Brenda Carrera JuniorLaredo, TX - Alexander High School• 5th at Fiesta Texas/HEB Classic, 20:12• 27th at Heartland Conference, 26:14

Alexandra Reyes JuniorLaredo, TX - United High School• 48th at Texas Lutheran Invitational, 22:16• 38th at Heartland Conference, 27:55

Amber De La Fuente SophomoreCrystal City, TX - Carrizo Springs HS• FouryearsvarsitytrackandfieldandCross

Country at Carrizo Springs High School

Gloria Ramirez SophomoreDel Rio, TX - Del Rio High School• 37th at Texas Lutheran Invitational, 20:56• 25th at Heartland Conference, 26:07

Cross Country

Women of TAMIU

Kassandra Ramirez SophomoreRio Grande City, TX - Rio Grande City HS• 28th at Incarnate Word Invitational, 22:34• 28th at Heartland Conference, 26:24

Left to Right: Amber De La Fuente, Kassandra Ramirez, Brenda Carrera, Alexandra ReyesGloria Ramirez

Benny Rodriguez returns for his eighth season as Head Coach of the Texas A&M International University men’s and women’s cross country teams in 2012. In seven seasons with the program Coach Rodriguez has turned the program into one of the most formi-dable in the Heartland Conference

The 2011 season was a banner year for the program with both the men’s and women’s teams qualifying for the regional tournament. The men’s team finished second place at the Heartland Conference Championship, which was held locally in Laredo, after strug-gling to a fifth place finish in 2010. The women took third place at the Conference Championship earning their second consecutive regional berth.

A total of six runners have earned All-Heartland Conference honors with top-10 finishes at the conference meet under Rodríguez’s direction. Roger Rueweler was the latest addition to the list, taking fourth place in the 2011 Heartland Conference Champion-ship, while Daniel Alfaro brought home Conference Freshman of the Year honors with a twelfth place finish. On the women’s side, Crystal Dickinson grabbed her second straight All-Conference selection, taking fifth place at the Conference Championship. In the 2010 season Marlene Gutíerrez finished third at the Conference Championships with Crystal Dickinson finishing sixth. The accomplishment marked the third straight All-Heartland Conference finish for Gutíerrez. In his first season with the Dustdevils Eddie Gonzalez, Mark Vela, and Anetra Matthews earned All-Red River Athletic Conference honors before advancing to the NAIA National Championships.

Rodriguez was born and raised in Laredo, Texas and was a standout runner for Nixon High School. In his senior season he helped the Mustangs bring home the team district championship, while also taking the individual title and eventually qualifying for the state meet. After graduating in 1994, he moved on to the collegiate ranks running for the Texas A&M Kingsville cross country team. During his time with the Javelinas, he was a two-time All-Lone Star Conference selection while also serving as team captain as a junior and senior.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from TAMUK in 2000, he took his first coaching job leading the track and field, football, and basketball teams at United South Middle School. In 2002 he moved on to Memorial Middle School where he coached again coached track and field, football, and basketball for two years.

Rodríguez and his wife Melina, reside in Laredo and are the proud parents of their daughter Alexa.

TAMIU Dustdevils

Head Coach Benny Rodriguez

Cross Country

Heading into the 2012 cross country season both the men’s and women’s squads have reason to be excited.

On the men’s side four runners return from last year’s team which took second place at the Heartland Confer-ence Championship. The men will be led by junior Roger Rueweler who notched two top five finishes last season, including a fourth place finish at last year’s Conference Championship.

Also returning is sophomore Daniel Alfaro, who was named Heartland Conference Freshman of the Year last sea-son after taking 12th place at the Conference Championship.

Juniors Oscar Beltran and Jesus Villalobos return looking to gain ground on last year’s performances. Both run-ners had their best finishes at the Kingsville Dual meet with Villalobos taking 17 th place and Beltran finishing 19th.

Newcomers Benito Ochoa, Hector Moreno, Rafael Benavidez Jr. and Raymond Litman will add considerable depth to the roster. Litman redshirted for the Dustdevils last season, while freshman Benavidez Jr. was a state qualifier at Zapata High School.

The TAMIU women are coming off their second straight third place finish at the Conference Championship and will have to fill the spots left by graduating seniors Crystal Dickinson and Daniela Prado.

Brenda Carrera, coming off her most productive season, highlights the four returning runners. The junior took 27th place at the Conference Championship with a time of 26:14. Fellow junior Alexandra Reyes also returns with her best performance coming at the Fiesta Texas/HEB Classic where she placed 59th with a time of 22:34. The sophomore trio of Gloria Ramirez and Kassandra Ramirez and newcomer Amber De La Fuente rounds out the women’s roster. Gloria and Kassandra Ramirez each finished in the top 30 at least year’s Conference Champion-ship.

2012 Season Preview

Texas A&M International University

Heart to have no fear, Mentality to see failure as no option and the will not to be denied. Dust Em Devils!

Texas A&M International University

Heart to have no fear, Mentality to see failure as no option and the will not to be denied. Dust Em Devils!

Enrollment: 7,039Major Academic Divisions: College of Arts and Sciences, the A. R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business, the College of Education and the College of Nursing and Health Sci-ences with its Dr. F. M. Canseco School of Nursing.•Inthe2011editionofUSNewsandWorld’ Report’s College Rankings, TAMIU was included in “Regional Public Univer-sities-West” category, and ranked No. 25 and 71 in the “Regional Universities – West (all schools)”.•ThePrincetonReviewincludedTAMIUas one of the nation’s 300 best Business Schools in its 2010 edition and ranked TAMIUfifthforprovidingthe“GreatestOp-portunity for Minority Students”.

TAMIU Cross Country

2012 Schedule9/7 - TLU Invitational Seguin, TX

9/14 - UTSA Invitational San Antonio, TX

9/28 - Grand Prix Festival Austin, TX

10/6 - Incarnate Word Invitational San Antonio, TX

10/13 - Concordia Invitational Austin, TX

10/20 - Heartland Conference ChampionshipNewman, Kansas

11/3 - South Central Regional ChampionshipTBA

11/17 - NCAA Division II ChampionshipJoplin, Missouri

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