By MARK MOLINA
Staff Writer
While the area meet was new territory for Lyford, a couple of their athletes looked right at home.
The Bulldogs took home first in the boys division with 132 points, narrowly besting Banquete’s 131 points thanks to big running days from Rodrigo Cedillo, Robert Herrera and Samson Sewell.
All qualified for the Region IV-3A meet in more than one event.
For the Lady Bulldogs, Thalia Polanco, Victoria Burns and Victoria Vela accomplished the same feat and led their team to a second place finish with 127 points.
Santa Gertrudis Academy took home first with 153 points.
The Region IV-3A meet will be May 1-2 in Converse-Judson.
Cedillo and Herrera had huge days on the track.
Cedillo placed first in the 400-meter run (50.58) and second in the 200-meter dash (23.12), while Herrera took home silver in both the 800-meter run (2:06.58) and the 1600-meter run (4:54.18).
Meanwhile Sewell finished second in the 100-meter dash (11.58), right behind teammate Francisco Moreno, who took silver (11.26).
Sewell won the long jump with a distance of 20-07.75 and qualified in fourth place in the high jump (5-06).
All three relay teams advanced for the Bulldogs as well.
For the Lady Bulldogs, Burns won the pole vault with a height of 7-06.00 and qualified for regionals in the long jump (4th, 14-07.50), the triple jump (3rd (31-02) and the 100-meter hurdles (2nd 17.97).
Teammate Polanco had her way in the long distance portion of the meet, winning both the 1600-meter run (5:33.08) and the 3200-meter run (11.55.00).
Vela also dominated in her two field events with gold in the shot put (33-04) and discus (101-01).
Lyford looked sharp, but the Edinburg Quest girls had some athletes shine as did the Santa Rosa boys.
Quest’s Valery Tobias took home gold in the 400-meter dash (59.28.00) and the 800-meter run (2:20.00), while teammate Jillian Terry qualified for regionals while finishing second in the high jump (4-10) and the 300-meter hurdles (52.62).
WARRIORS COME OUT TO PLAY
The Santa Rosa boys had a shadow cast over them by the Lyford boys.
The Warriors finished fourth as a team with 77 points led by Leo Lara Mark Perez, Leo Lara and Donovan Olivarez.
Perez took gold in the pole vault with a height of 10-06.
Lara, will go to regionals in three events.
Lara took second in the long jump (20-01.50) and the high jump (10-06), which he lost on attempts, and was the final leg in the 4×100-meter relay.
Olivarez had it going distance-wise and qualified for regionals in both the 3200-meter run (2nd, 11:02.41) and the 1600-meter run (3rd, 5:01.09).
Others qualifying for the Warriors were David Garza (4th in 110 hurdles), Alex Ayala (2nd in 300 hurdles) and Juan Castillo (3rd in discus).
See the full results here:
http://www.valleymorningstar.com/sports/pdf_25399b18-ea95-11e4-90fe-633842c22037.html