ELSA — Edcouch-Elsa senior thrower Jesse Contreras has been following in the footstep of his sister, Mackenzie Contreras, since he first started throwing in middle school.
He watched her go to state as a junior during his sophomore year. Contreras followed it up by making his own appearance at the state meet as a senior.
Last year, he stood behind her as she signed her national letter of intent to continue her academic and athletic career at Texas A&M-Kingsville, an NCAA Division II university that competes in the Lone Star Conference.
Wednesday, the roles were reversed, as Jesse signed his national letter of intent with his sister two seats down from him, committing to join her on the Javelinas’ throwing team next season.
“It feels great to be able to go and continue to do what I love and not having to stop,” he said. “Also, I get an academic career. It played a big part her (Mackenzie) being there. It helps a lot. We’ll be able to be there for each other. It’ll be just like high school.”
Contreras joins the Javelinas after a dominant senior season, taking first place in the shot put at nine out of his 10 meets this year, with his only loss coming at the Class 5A UIL State meet in which he finished seventh. Among those firsts was a first-place at the UIL Region IV-5A meet, with a throw of 53 feet, 9 inches.
He also put together a solid performance in the discus, taking home gold during seven of nine meets, qualifying for the regional meet where he finished fourth with a mark of 152-7, a personal record.
Contreras also set a personal record of 54-11 in the shot put during the Edcouch Invitational on Feb. 27, the second-farthest throw in program history.
He finishes his career with the Yellow Jackets as a two-time district champion, three-time area qualifier, two-time regional qualifier and a one-time state qualifier in the shot-put as a four-year letterman. He also added a district championship and area championship in the discus during his senior year.
Contreras gave all the credit to God and family for his success after having his junior season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I thank God for giving me the power to push through and come back from last year,” Contreras said. “He gave me the strength to do what I did. And my family, they supported me the whole way through.”
Yellow Jackets head track and field coach Victor Cardenas said Contreras’ passion for the sport is what made him special as an athlete.
“You heard about his accolades,” Cardenas said. “You heard about his accomplishments. You heard about all the things that make a great athlete. The thing about it is what’s always stood out to us about Jesse is his character, his pride and his passion for the sport.
“He is exactly what we want all of our boys and all of our girls to be. He’s got a great heart and he’s very passionate about what he does. The accolades are just a byproduct of his hard work. His character, his hard work, he was always the last man out there.”
He said he plans to major in computer science at Texas A&M-Kingsville.