By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
While the Rio Grande Valley’s public schools have been busy with their track & field district meets in recent days, the St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds have had plenty of time to get ready for their next meet at the end of the month in Houston.
The SJA athletes are fine-tuning their preparations for the TAPPS regional meet April 30 and May 1 at Houston Awty International, which will be held one week before the TAPPS state meet May 8 and 9 in Waco.
Heading the list of competitors for the SJA squad are Megan Lopez, the defending TAPPS state champion in the pole vault, and Gaby Garza, a freshman who has times that are the Valley’s best this season in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles and also times among the Valley’s best in the 200- and 400-meter dashes.
“Things are going pretty smooth,” SJA coach Meme Garza said. “By the time we have our regional meet it will be a month without competition. Our junior high and junior varsity seasons have ended, so that means about 130 fewer athletes on the track. Practices have been pretty focused on the 25 varsity athletes that will be going to Houston. We have been able to spend extra time on details and have had some time trials to try to model the races they will competing in at regionals.
“I actually enjoy this time to be able to teach,” the SJA coach added. “It seems like the track season starts (so) immediately that we don’t get a lot of teaching in. We have been able to do this lately without the time pressure of getting ready for a meet. We can actually have Friday and Saturday practices to work and teach. It would be nice to have this at the beginning of the season, but it has been fun having the time to do it now.”
REGIONAL QUALIFIERS
At Saturday’s District 32-5A meet in Donna, three girls from Pace and one boy from Porter qualified for the Region IV-5A meet May 1 and 2 in San Antonio.
Unlike other districts in the Valley, there is no area meet this year for Districts 32-5A and 31-5A, so the top two finishers in each event at Donna on Saturday earned a ticket to regional competition.
For Pace, Maria Avila was a double-winner in the high jump and the 100 hurdles, Gertrudis Ruiz-Balli was second in the discus and Hope Ngo was second in the 1,600 meters.
Ngo missed out on advancing in the 3,200 meters with her third-place finish.
“It’s great,” Pace coach Sergio Sandoval said of his three regional qualifiers. “They’ve been working very hard, and it’s paying off. They never miss a practice.
“We have all this week to work, and then it will be a short week of practice next week (before we leave for San Antonio),” he added.
For Porter, Anthony Gonzalez was a regional qualifier in three events. At district, he placed second in the 100 and 200 meters along with the long jump.
AREA MEETS
Districts 32-6A and 31-6A will have their area meet Thursday at Weslaco ’s Bobby Lackey Stadium, while Districts 32-4A and 31-4A will hold their area meet Thursday in Kingsville .
The top four finishers at district qualified for the area meets and the top four at the area meet move on to regional competition.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.