BY JON R. LAFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
SAN ANTONIO — Saturday kept getting better for the Edinburg Vela boys track team as their medal collection grew. The SaberCats won two golds and a silver during Saturday’s track finals at the Region IV championships at Alamo Stadium, good enough for 72 team points and the first regional championship among Valley schools from Class 5A.
Distance runner Reagan Olguin was the first Vela athlete to top the podium Saturday after winning the 800-meter run in 1 minutes, 53.12 seconds. Olguin’s time is a new regional meet record in addition to a personal record and Valley’s best this season. The senior, along with all other top-two finishers, automatically qualifies for the UIL state track meet which runs from May 14-16 in Austin.
“I didn’t think I’d make up the gap between me and the leader in the last 300 (meters),” Olguin said. “But at about the 600-meter mark, everyone else kind of slowed down. Everyone hit their maxspeed, and, for me, I had more energy left over. I was still going fast, but I wasn’t taking much energy. I was confident. I’m a sit-and-kick guy. I was ready to kick that last 100-meter.”
In addition to his solo showing, Olguin competed in two relays. He served as second leg in the 4×200 and was the anchor in the 4×400. Both relays placed well enough to punch a ticket to state. The 4×200 team came in second with a time of 1:28.44 – clipping third place San Antonio Houston by .01 seconds.
“The beginning was a little gray,” coach Hernan Figueroa said. “We weren’t quite where we wanted to be, but the kids kept pushing and pushing. Our third and fourth legs are our fastest guys, and they put us in position there at the end.”
The third and fourth legs were Gabriel Jackson and Johnny Davila, respectively. Both runners also competed in the 4×400 relay. Where the 200 was a photo-finish to determine who would advance to state, the SaberCats controlled the 400 from start to finish. Second leg Isaac Arevalo passed an athlete from Medina Valley on the north side of the track to take the lead. From there, Davilla and Olguin only extended the lead, finishing in 3:17.93, setting a new record for the regional meet.
“It was a business trip for us,” Davila, a junior, said. “We knew we could compete. We wanted to show it. The past year, we had teams that could have done it, and we came up short. I think this year we finally put it together. And what better way, because these seniors have been with us all… I think we took some people by surprise today.”
Vela high jumper Brendon Rivera qualified for state with a first-place showing in the high jump with a height of 6 feet, 10 inches on Friday.