By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
The Port Isabel Tarpons track & field program is ready to fight for district bragging rights on its home turf.
Port Isabel hosts the District 32-4A track & field meet, starting with field events and preliminaries today and continuing with finals on Thursday at Tarpon Stadium in Port Isabel.
“It’s nerve-wracking,” boys track & field coach Joe Gonzales said. “The kids know it. The adrenaline for the kids is good, because it’s at home and we’re trying to dethrone La Feria.”
Port Isabel will compete with fellow 32-4A teams Grulla, Hidalgo, La Feria, Progreso, Raymondville, Rio Hondo and Zapata for boys and girls championships.
The Lady Tarpons come into the meet with momentum, having won two meet titles this season (the Tarpons Relays in Port Isabel and the Albert Tijerina Relays in Raymondville) and finishing with strong performances in the Meet of Champions.
“Our girls are (ready),” girls track & field coach Julie Breedlove said. “They’ve worked hard and we’re kind of hoping to peak at that right moment. We’re coming in ready to go.”
Breedlove has a versatile group of athletes looking to make a run at area and regional berths, including Ava Gomez (long jump, triple jump, 4 x 200-meter relay and 4 x 400 meter relay) Simone Harry (triple jump, 400-meter run, 4 x 200 relay and 4 x 400 relay), Natalie Garza (4 x 200, 4 x 400 and 400) Jasmine Saldivar (100-meter dash, 4 x 100 relay and 4 x 200 relay), Melisa Lopez (400 and 4 x 400 relay), Alex Martinez (pole vault), Jocelyn Padilla (shot put) and Erica Mier (100-meter hurdles and pole vault).
Garza has the fourth-best 400 meter time in the latest RGVSports.com mythical track standings (59.66) and Martinez is tied for fourth in pole vault (10 feet).
“Our girls are pretty good,” Garza said. “We have a lot of heart out there. We just have to believe in ourselves and do it for the team.”
La Feria, the defending district champs, boasts the Valley’s third-best 3200-meter runner in Tina Sierra (11.07.10) and fifth-best shot putter in Serena Rivera (37 feet, 10 inches).
For the boys competition, Gonzales expects La Feria, last year’s 32-4A district champs, to be Port Isabel’s toughest challenge and says the Tarpons have to be at their best to win the district crown.
“It’s going to take perfect running from everybody,” he said. “La Feria is real strong. They’re going to get their 60 points on the relays. They have one of the best relays I’ve seen in a long time. So we’ve got to come in second or third (in the relays) because if they get 20 and we get 18 or 16 points, it’s only a four-point difference.”
Shawn Shrewsbury, who runs on the 4 x 100, 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 relays, thinks all of the relay teams have a good chance to advance past district.
“I think we have a pretty good chance of taking the meet and also on the relays, I think we could make it to regionals as well,” Shrewsbury said. “We have high expectations for the relays, the whole team and all of that.”
Gonzales thinks the field events will also play a big part in Port Isabel’s success in the district meet and expects Trey Mock (discus throw) Raul Villarreal (discus and shot put), Nick Marquez (shot put), Fernando Garza (long jump) Travis Camacho (pole vault) and Daniel Martinez (pole vault) to compete for spots in the Area meet.
Trey Mock has the fifth-best discus throw in the Valley (154 feet, 11 inches).
La Feria has top six runners in the Rio Grande Valley’s mythical rankings in the 800-meter run (Carlos Rodriguez and Reyes Rodriguez), 300-meter hurdles (Joseph Lunn), high jump (Isiah Martinez) and 4 x 400-meter relay.
Another 32-4A athlete who ranks among the area’s best is Rio Hondo’s Mike Zuniga, who has the top shot-put distance and second-best discus throw in the Valley.
Joshua McKinney covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @joshuabvherald.