MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
SAN BENITO — So far, so good for the Port Isabel Lady Tarpons track and field team as they took home the top spot in the girls division at the Bobby Morrow Relays in San Benito on Friday.
The Lady Tarpons edged out 15 other schools after racking up 82 points.
Leading the way for the Lady Tarpons was returning two-time shot put state champion Daniela Murchison (18 points) and Gabby Torres (27 points).
Murchison finished first in the shot put with a distance of 44-04 and second in the discuss with a distance of 118-03.
Brownsville Veterans’ Clarissa Chavez placed first in the discuss with a mark of 134-09.
As for Torres, she finished first in the high jump with a mark of 5-04.00. She also competed in the long jump and the 100-meter hurdles where she placed second and third respectively.
The Harlingen South girls placed second overall with 80 points and Edinburg North placed third with 78.
On the boys side of things, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln ran away with the meet, recording 108 points.
Harlingen was second with 84 points.
Juarez-Lincoln had a good showing on the track winning the 4×200 relay with a time of 1:31.62 and placing second in both the 4×100 and the 4×400 relays.
Individually, Juarez-Lincoln’s Mike Lara took home gold in the 800 run and silver in the 1600.
Teammate Carlos Serna won the 110 hurdles, finishing with a time of 16.01.
Serna and Lara combined for 41 of the team’s points. Lara’s 22 were the most amoung the boys.
Felipe Flores of Brownsville Veterans scored 21 points and Rio Hondo’s Derek Salazar had twenty to round out the top three.
TOP POINT GETTERS: While the boys had some top individuals in terms of points, the top point getters came from the girls side.
However, nobody had more than Harlingen South’s Cierra Pena.
Pena took home first in the 100 dash (11.86), the 200 dash (25.18) and the long jump (17-10.00). She was also part of the winning 4×100 relay team (50.10).
South teammate Nicole Gonzalez scored 23 points, Port Isabel’s Torres scored 27 and Los Fresnos’ Jaleah Calvillo scored 25.
Calvillo had herself a day as well placing second in the 100m hurdles (15.27) and the high jump (5-02.00). She was also on the first-place 4×400 relay team (4:13.00) and the second-place 4×100 relay team (51.61).
RECORD-SETTING: DAY: Edinburg North’s Ariana-Beth Ramos set a Bobby Morrow Relay record in the 3200 run with a time of 10:50.89.
The time is not only tops for the meet, but is the second-best time in the Rio Grande Valley.