MARK MOLINA | STAFF WRITER
The Los Fresnos track and field teams had good outings at last week’s Port Isabel invitational, with the girls finishing in first and the boys taking second.
Now, they hope they duplicate those performances when they host the 2019 Falcons Relays this afternoon at Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium.
Aside from the host team, the field is set to include Port Isabel, Brownsville Veterans Memorial, Pace, Harlingen High, San Benito, the Harlingen South boys team, PSJA Memorial, the PSJA North boys and the Lopez girls.
The field events will start at 2:30 p.m., followed by the 3,200-meter run shortly after. The track events are set to begin after 4:30 p.m.
For girl’s head coach Brent Blackman and boy’s head coach Jose Horner, this year’s relays will be a chance to improve on last year’s event.
“This is the second year since we’ve taken over the programs, Blackman said. “Last year we did do this and we had like a tri meet at our place, so this year we wanted to make it as big as we could make it. We wanted eight to 12 teams and to get good competition in here. We always like Friday meets because it’s get them in, get them out and try to get the kids a little bit of rest during this part of the season.”
Horner is looking forward to the competition as multiple teams that will rival his Falcons at the District 32-6A meet will be in attendance today.
“It’s going to be a pretty tough field,” he said. “We have Harlingen coming and Harlingen South and they both have pretty strong teams. I think it’ll be good for our kids to see that competition; our district is pretty tough. We have great throwers from Harlingen South coming and great sprinters from Harlingen High coming — I’m pretty excited to see that competition.”
Last week, the Lady Falcons ran away from the field at Port Isabel, scoring 145 points and that was without top hurdler Brianna Alex, who missed the meet to compete at a DECA event.
The Lady Falcons found gold in six events, highlighted by Luisa Cruz in the 100-meter dash (13.08 seconds), Julissa Larraga in the triple jump (33 feet, 4.5 inches) and Ashley Muniz in the discus throw (123-8). They also won the 800- and 1,600-meter relays.
The Lady Falcons will be without four seniors due to a powerlifting meet, but Blackman is eager to get his team out there in hopes of improving.
“Each week we’re trying to get better and better,” Blackman said. “We’re going to bring in some freshmen and sophomores to fill those senior spots on the relays and try not to take a step back”
The Falcons scored 91 points last week, just missing the meet title by 5 points to San Benito (96).
Still, they got had multiple gold-medal winners.
Michael Paredes claimed victory in the 400-meter dash (51.89) and the 800-meter run (2:01.15), Isaih Muniz won the 100-meter dash (11.42) and Art Quiroda took gold in the high jump (5-10)
Horner is hoping to continue ironing out the details, especially in the relay events.
“We have a couple of moving parts in our relays,” Horner said. “We’re still shaken on those relays, but we’re comfortable with how the guys are coming together. We’re just trying to better our relays chemistry at a track meet. A couple of guys are still learning how to run the race. We’re moving them around to see what best fits them.”