NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR
McALLEN — PSJA Memorial’s Cruz Gomez ran hard on his way to three gold medals at the McAllen ISD invitational tournament. He finished the 1,600-meter run in 4 minutes, 24.54 seconds, never trailing McAllen Memorial’s Evan Williams, who ran a 4:39.15.
Gomez won comfortably, but the meet was an early chance to get his legs under him after he finished in fifth at state in the event last year.
“For right now it’s just, I did three events to build up some strength,” Gomez said. “It’s always a blessing just to run and compete with all these talented runners. Let’s say last season I ran 4:20 in this meet. This year, I’m going to see if I can run a 4:19.”
His best time in 2017 was a 4:14.29 at the Class 6A Region IV meet.
Gomez had a strong cross country season, finishing fifth at state and qualifying for the Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon in December.
“It was a really fun experience, getting to know nationwide talented athletes,” Gomez said. “Right now, I’m a national high school runner. It just built up my confidence a lot. It did a lot psychologically.”
Gomez also finished first in the 3,200-meter run and shared the high-point honors of the meet with McAllen High’s Gunnar Henderson.
Henderson won gold in the 100-meter dash with a 10.91, gold in the 300 hurdles with a 41.04 and was a part of McHi’s first place 800 relay (1:32.24). That relay edged out PSJA North, which finished in 1:33.19.
McAllen High thrower Tito Cantu continued his strong start to the season, earning double gold in the shot put and discus.
In the girls 1600 run, Weslaco High freshman Destinee Longoria won an exciting four-lap race. For three laps, the Panthers runner was in second behind Laredo Alexander’s Claudette Soto. Longoria made her move in the final lap.
She ended up finishing first with a time of 5:36.76, in front of Macy Henderson from McAllen Memorial and Soto.
“It was kind of hard to come back from being in the back, but I just kept with the win, because it helped me. I just wanted it, and I went for it,” Longoria said. “It shows me the competition, and I get to see where I’m standing right now, and I’ll just get better from here.”
Edcouch-Elsa girls shine at Rey Ramirez Relays
The Yellow Jackets girls track team earned first place behind the strength of some strong individual performances in Rio Grande City on Friday.
Junior Bianca Cardenas soared in the pole vault, clearing 12 feet, 3 inches. The jump was good for a personal and meet record.
Shana Alvarado also won jumping gold for the Jackets with a 15-9 in the long jump.
Cardenas also finished in second place in the 100 dash with a time of 13.24, behind RGC sophomore Daniella Muniz.
The Jackets’ 400 relay, consisting of Alvarado, Cardenas, Amethyst Cavazos and Briana Alvarado, finished second with a time of 51.79, behind Laredo United (50.82).
Laredo United (153) won the team title on the boys side over RGC (107.5) and La Joya High (82).