By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
One year ago in summer track, Gaby Garza, then just 14, clocked the third-fastest time by a Rio Grande Valley female athlete in the 300-meter hurdles. At the time, she hadn’t even begun high school at St. Joseph Academy.
Her time of 44.13 seconds in the 300 hurdles at the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation meet in College Station last July was an indication of the capabilities she has in her showcase events, which includes the 100-meter hurdles. It ranks as the third-fastest time ever in the Valley behind Edinburg Economedes’ Leigha Brown (42.98 in 2013) and Harlingen South’s Zariah Noyola(43.80 in 2010), two girls who went on to compete in college.
The 5-foot-4 Garza, now 15 and soon to be a sophomore at SJA, continues to record some highly competitive times.
Last week, competing in the 15-16 age division at the USA Junior Olympic Region 12 Track & Field Championships in Abilene , Garza qualified for nationals by taking second place in a regional record-breaking photo finish in the 400 hurdles (64.28 seconds), and placed third in the 100 hurdles (14.77).
Although Garza went against athletes who were mostly one year older, she still made it to nationals by finishing in the top five in her events. The USA Junior Olympic National Championships are scheduled July 27 through Aug. 2 at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla.
Garza sees her participation in the national meet later this month as an opportunity to better her times and give her momentum going into her sophomore season of track at SJA.
“Most of all, I love the experiences of competing in meets like this (national one in Florida ),” said Garza, who first started running the hurdles during summer track as an incoming seventh-grader in 2012. “It’s really different from competing here in the Valley. The experience (of going against such high-level competition) is the best part.
“I feel good about where I’m at right now,” she added. “I know the road to becoming great is something that takes patience. As an athlete, you have to always try to get better, and it’s not something that just happens from one day to the next. You have to work at it and be very patient. Coach (Meme) Garza has taught me that.”
The coach and athlete are distant relatives, they say. Meme Garza, the veteran track and cross country coach at SJA, shakes his head and smiles when he notes there have been times that he has been asked if he is Gaby’s father or even her grandfather.
He said going to Florida is a chance for his standout hurdler to get a taste of national competition.
“You go to a meet like that to find out what you can do,” he said. “There are three rounds (of competition), and there may be as many as 80 competitors from around the country in each event. There’s the prelims, the semifinals and the finals — kind of like a mini-Olympic event. The top eight athletes that make it to the finals are designated All-Americans. The goal is always to be there in the finals.
“It’s a great opportunity for Gaby,” he added. “She’s in the younger (part) of her age group, which will make it pretty tough for her. But we’re looking at this as another opportunity for her to compete (nationally). She’s going to go over there, do the best she can, and hopefully use it as a springboard to next year’s (national) meet in Sacramento, Calif.
“It’s a process, and Gaby understands that. She’s very dedicated and she knows the amount of work it takes. We’re bringing her along little by little because she’s still very young. With someone like her with a lot of talent, you don’t want to drive them too hard because her track career might take her into her 20s (with competition in college) if she chooses to remain interested in this. We’re taking it one step at a time and we’re adding a little more to her work load every year.”
Gaby Garza said she appreciates the guidance of her coach and the support of her parents, Carlos and Lucia Garza.
“I had no idea what the hurdles were when I started (three years ago),” she said. “Coach Garza saw the potential in me. Now I love the hurdles. I have so much fun doing them.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.