Holds 29th fastest time nationally
Ivanova Yanes cracked the charts and school records as she recently broke the Javelina women’s 6k school record back-to-back at the Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) Collegiate XC Invite.
Yanes clocked in with a time of 20:54 breaking her previous record from the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) Invitational meet by 30 seconds.
“Coach [Zachary] Hall told me to start fast so that was my mindset. I told myself I have to get out fast and stay ahead there for as long as I can,” Yanes said.
“I did that for the first 5k but then towards the end I started slowing down so that was mostly what was going through my head. I needed to go out fast since there wasn’t many runners so I had to tell myself to keep on going.”
Yanes went into both meets with the goal of being awarded as a winner and showing off all her hard work and training she put in throughout the summer.
With the help of her long-distance Coach Hall and teammates there to push and guide her to the top, Yanes now aims to further her capabilities as she currently holds the 29th fastest time in the whole country.
Her next step is to train for the conference season coming up and eventually make her way to nationals.
“I would like to make the top three since we have conference coming up and then after that we have regionals which I would like to qualify for with nationals around November so that’s my next goal for myself with the help of my coaches and continuous training,” Yanes said.
Yanes has put the Javelina Cross Country team on the radar after a long history of not producing the best times at distance running.
“The history of our distance team hasn’t been very good for a while and we’ve struggled to have a full team so when I got brought on last year the goal was to try and do something in the conference, and I’ve always had the same goal at every institution I’ve been at that I want to go to nationals and I want to produce national qualifiers,” Coach Hall said.
“I think it’s been an eye opener for everyone on the administration with Iva running the 29th fastest time in the country, the team is ready and we’re moving in the right direction.”
The team now looks to improve their records this season and they believe they are off to a great start.
“From here on out I’d like to go to nationals and I tell them all the time that nationals are the most fun you can ever have,” Hall said.
“Nothing beats going to nationals and being national qualifiers trying to become All-Americans, so that’s the focus I think we’re moving toward the right direction.”
This is only the beginning of a new journey for both Yanes and the cross country team as they will continue to build and capitalize on their accomplishments they have gained thus far.
“Iva has had a really special year for us. She and Coach Hall have put a lot of hard work into the planning and preparation, and we are excited to see what she can do at the conference championship in Portales, New Mexico, ” head track coach Ryan Dall said. Yanes and the team now aim to qualify for the national meet in November