By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
The Rivera Raiders have two more athletes moving on to the next level in their respective sports.
Manny Guerrero, an athlete on Rivera’s track & field team, and Yesenia Ortiz, who played on the girl’s soccer team, both signed with colleges in ceremonies Friday.
Guerrero is set to run cross country and track for Bethel University in McKenzie, Tenn. Ortiz will play soccer for DIII Concordia Lutheran University in Austin.
Guerrero has yet to step foot on Bethel University’s campus, but it already feels like home.
“I didn’t get many offers,” Guerrero said. “They were one of the few that I got. I have my former teammate (Cristian) Machuca, so it would be nice to go run with somebody I know. I won’t be the new kid. I’ll have someone there with me. I’ll have Anthony (Garza) as well, so we’ll both be going over there.”
The senior is following in the footsteps of Machuca and Garza, a current Rivera senior who in February also signed to run at Bethel, a Division I member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
The Brownsville-to-Bethel pipeline began with two Pace runners, Jesus Garza and Carlos Gonzalez, who signed with the university a few years ago.
The two athletes recommended Machuca, who ran well enough in his first season to keep Bethel interested in other Rivera runners like Guerrero and Garza.
Guerrero’s versatility is his greatest asset, and gives him the best chance to succeed at the collegiate level.
“I guess they saw me as a complete athlete, not just as a long-distance or mid-distance (runner),” he said. “They could put me in multiple events instead of one, and I guess that helps with their decision.”
Guerrero had a strong finish to his final high school track season by qualifying for the Region IV-6A track and field meet in the 800-meter run and the 300-meter hurdles in addition to being a member of Rivera’s qualifying 4 x 400-meter relay team.
Coach Arturo Hurtado thinks Guerrero’s ability to run just about any race has him in prime position to run the steeplechase, a race that combines distance running with hurldes, next spring.
“He can do everything,” coach Arturo Hurtado said. “So I was telling him when he gets to college to go for the steeplechase because it’s a hurdle (race) and he can get a full scholarship with that.”
ORTIZ EAGER TO HIT THE FIELD
It’s been four months since Oritz played in a live soccer game, so she’s dying to get back to the sport she loves.
Ortiz, a forward who’s scored 147 goals in her time playing for the Rivera Lady Raiders, is going to relish the chance to play again when Concordia’s season begins in the fall.
“It feels very crazy because I did go through a surgery in the summer and I could not play my senior year,” she said. “So it kind of feels overwhelming because you don’t know if you’re going to be 100 percent ready after a big surgery like that and having to put so much time into therapy.
“But at the end of the day, I feel like it’s worth it because it’s such a good school, the environment there and (coach Brad O’ Kelley, Concordia’s soccer coach). It’s such a great feeling.”
She only had the chance to play in one game this year, going down because of a stress fracture in her lower leg during the BISD Tournament at the beginning of the season.
Its Ortiz’s nose for goal that has her extending her soccer career potentially for another four years, says coach Thomas Brashear.
“She’s a natural goal scorer, so as a coach you can have all of the different players and stuff, but you don’t have someone to put it in the net it doesn’t matter,” Brashear said. “She’s the kind of girl who can put it in the net. She just has that natural instinct to score. You don’t teach it. You have to have it, and she has it.
“She’s got the shot. She’s got the speed. She’s got the ball control. She just has that second instinct that puts the ball away.”
Brashear said that Ortiz’s injury wasn’t a “career ender,” and her work ethic will help her return to playing like she did before getting hurt.
Ortiz said she’s able to do some work on the field but nothing compares to getting back to game speed.
“It’s just going to be so great to come back at such a high level of soccer. It’s going to be eye-opening because the difference between high school soccer and college soccer is way different, but I feel that I’m going to be a 100 percent ready for it. I’m not scared.”
Joshua McKinney covers high school sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @joshuabvherald.