BY JON R. LAFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
SAN ANTONIO — Angel Espinoza attempted just one successful throw, but it was good enough to punch a ticket to Austin. The Brownsville Rivera thrower won the Class 6A boys discus title during Friday’s Region IV track and field championships at Alamo Stadium in San Antonio with a gold-medal throw of 162 feet, 6 inches.
Espinoza’s podium-topping attempt occurred on his first effort. Each of his five follow-up throws were disqualified due to error on the part of Espinoza.
“My focus was really off this meet,” Espinoza said despite his championship day. “I don’t know why, maybe the throwing circle was slippery or maybe I’m not that focused, but I should be hitting around 170 (feet). I got first place, but that wasn’t my goal. My goal was to throw a 183, which would be a personal best for me.”
Espinoza and the other competitors threw without the luxury of a strong wind, meaning no help from Mother Nature to carry the discus a few extra feet. Adding to the degree of difficulty was the throwing field itself, which was awkwardly positioned on a slight embankment, meaning athletes were throwing slightly uphill.
“It’s intimidating,” Espinoza said of the less than ideal conditions. “You can’t really tell if (the discus) is going to be up there where you want it or not. It was unpredictable really. I had to fix my throwing angle because of the field, which isn’t good. It’s never good to change things this late in the game.”
Espinoza was joined by familiar faces in the event, as six of the eight finalists were Valley athletes. PSJA Memorial’s Mike Gonzalez finished third (159-05). McAllen Memorial teammates Edward Pequeno (148-07) and Lucas Rios (145-04) finished fifth and seventh, respectively. John Banda of Weslaco East placed sixth (147-00) and Harlingen South’s Abel Villarreal came in eighth (145-00).
And as Espinoza continued to scratch his attempts, he could only watch as the competition aimed for his mark.
“I was really scared throughout,” he said. “I was biting my nails. My nerves were wrecking. It was a bad feeling. I’m glad I came out on top. Coach (Edward Garcia) was trying to calm me down and tell me what I should do, but it could only help so much.”
Garcia was as equally flustered as Espinoza.
“We had set goals at the beginning of the season,” he said. “And that goal was to win every meet. We did that today, but we also had secondary goals, and one of those goals was to be consistent, and we weren’t consistent today, and that was the frustrating part. But throwing like that, we can’t win like that.”
Espinoza will have two weeks to regain his desired level of consistency, as the UIL state track meet begins May 14 in Austin. All athletes and relay teams that place in the top two automatically qualify for state.
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