DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
MERCEDES — In white block lettering on the back of a black shirt reads the inspiration for the 2014 Mercedes cross country program.
“Tigers XC will fight to the finish line. In loving memory of Sylvia Martinez.”
It was the Sept. 14 passing of Sylvia Martinez, wife of assistant coach Pete Martinez, that brought the team together — to a standard not even the Tigers thought possible. Sylvia, a Mercedes grad and committed Tigers sports fan, and Pete had been married 41 years after meeting at Pan American University in 1972, and Sylvia had already overcome one bout with gastrointestinal cancer last winter. But then she was diagnosed with leukemia on June 23.
And suddenly, this season would mean more than just personal records and meet championships.
Mercedes’ boys cross country team has been ranked No. 10 in the state by the Texas Cross Country Coaches Association most of this season. It just competed as one of 22 teams in the elite stage of the prestigious Nike South Invitational in Houston on Saturday, where it placed 12th.
Through that success, it’s the loss of Sylvia Martinez that motivates the Tigers.
“Cancer is a horrible disease,” senior Matthew Peynado said. “It’s painful to think about your immune system being completely destroyed. We don’t have anything like that, and just to see how hard it was for her really inspired us. We don’t have it that bad.
“We can push harder, knowing how much pain she went through.”
Throughout her second exchange with cancer, Sylvia fought. She lived by Jimmy Valvano’s classic speech, his “Don’t Give Up … Don’t Ever Give Up” address delivered at the ESPYs on March 3, 1993.
“Cancer may take my body, but it will never take my soul.”
“She was always determined to overcome it,” Martinez said. “It was just a challenge. Athletics was in her blood. She had brothers who played sports. She was always encouraging the kids, always emphasized staying competitive and fighting for the right thing.”
During recent months, Tigers boys and girls runners rallied around Martinez.
The team had long before grown to love being around Sylvia, whom Martinez referred to as “my little girlfriend” around them. Their job became more than running. They had to be there for one of their coaches.
The boys and girls sent Martinez, whom runners refer to as “Coach Grandpa,” texts and calls, constantly staying in contact.
“As I look back, I needed all the support I could get to stay strong for her,” Martinez said. “I can’t thank the team and Captain Pete enough. We are a family.”
“Captain” Pete Martinez, the Tigers’ cross country head coach who goes by the nickname to differentiate himself from his assistant, gave Sylvia a Mercedes hoodie jacket last Christmas when she returned from Houston after going into remission from fighting cancer the first time. Sylvia “bled orange,” attending almost all Tigers sporting events.
Pete and Sylvia had two sons, Pete and Matthew, who were all-district football lettermen for the Tigers in the 90’s and a daughter Melody who played basketball and ran track for the Tigers in the early 90’s.
Just last spring, Pete and Sylvia ventured to Mercedes girls basketball games, watching their sophomore granddaughter Emily and her team’s spirited playoff run.
Mercedes’ teams were Sylvia’s teams, despite her growing up in Brownfield, not far from Lubbock.
“No matter what happens to me,” she told Martinez, who has coached at Mercedes for 26 of his 39 years and the last three as assistant to Captain Pete Martinez, “make sure you stay with your team.”
Devastation and sadness have marred the program of late. The boys team has had to somehow find a way to run and hold up its high ranking while coping with Martinez’s loss.
Like on the course, it’s been a team effort.
“The teams came together when she was battling cancer,” Captain Pete Martinez said. “They pulled together. She fought real hard. She left an example of how to fight to that finish line. Our kids are using that as a drive.”
“We have desire,” Peynado said. “You can’t really coach it. You have to have it, and this is what this team has.”
Captain Pete Martinez has always emphasized family. Togetherness. No season has been more trying of that than this one, but it’s helped the Tigers cope.
It’s helped them put their best foot forward.
“We’re taught to not give up, run with heart,” senior Victor Gonzalez said. “That’s the backbone of this team.
“If we run together, stay together, we’re going to be successful.”