Donna North may be peaking at the right time.

Playing a perennially strong La Joya Juarez-Lincoln squad, the Chiefs jumped out to a three-goal halftime lead en route to a 4-2 victory in their UIL Class 6A bi-district girls soccer match Friday at Donna North.

With the win, the Chiefs have now won five straight games after falling to district champion and Texas Girls Coaches Association state-raked Harlingen High, 3-2.

Senior Gabby Aviles scored twice while Nancy Espino and Kelly Alvarado also found the back of the net. It was the 176th career goal for Aviles, second all-time among Valley girls.

“I feel like we are working more as a team and all putting in 120%,” Aviles said. “Us seniors know that if we lose, that’s it so we’re all doing our best to motivate each other and just make sure we get the best out of our teammates.”

Donna North head coach Tony Garcia said the win was a testament to his team’s hard work and grind it out style of play.

“Glory be to God for his holy guidance this season and the credit goes to every single one of our girls for being resilient throughout our season,” an exuberant Garcia said in a text message. “We will continue playing one game at a time and represent Donna North High School in the area round of the state playoffs.”

Donna North will play San Antonio O’Connor, 9-0 winners over Laredo Nixon in their bi-district match, in the area round with details to be provided later.

Even after Shaine Casas won the NCAA Championship on Thursday in the 200 IM at the at he NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships held at Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, he was already focused on “what’s next.”

But that’s how Casas, a McAllen High graduate, and possibly the hottest trending athlete in collegiate swimming, has always been – determined and focused.

Mature beyond his age, now 21, Casas has an innate ability to see a goal in his mind and regularly do what it takes to reach that.

Thursday was no different and he finished the race in a personal best time of 1 minute, 39.53 seconds to beat out powerful University of California swimmers Hugo Gonzalez (1:39.99) and Destin Lasco (1:40.01) to win the title. Casas still had a relay race later on Thursday.

It was the first NCAA Championship title for Casas and the first men’s individual title in Texas A&M swimming history.

“It’s incredible to be the first and I hope I will never be the last its incredible and definitely an honor to be the first,” Casas said in a video Tweet posted by Texas A&M Swimming and Diving. “The real thing is getting the job done and taking home the gold.

“It’s double the reward. I felt like I was ready last year and they said no (because of COVID) so it was even better getting it this time around.

In an article earlier this month for Swimming World Magazine, previewing the NCAA Championships, David Rieder wrote that “the 21-year-old McAllen, Texas, native and Texas A&M junior enters the college championship season with the top time in the country in four events while threatening American records. He has never competed internationally, but he has become a contender, if not a favorite, to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

And the person least surprised by all that success?

Shaine Casas.”

Casas was also part of the Texas A&M 200-yard freestyle race later during the final event of the night and still has two individual events qualifiers today and Saturday. He’s the top seed in both events. In the 100 back preliminary, Casas holds almost a one-second lead over his closest competitor’s time and in the 200 back preliminary, which takes place Saturday, his time is more than 1.5 seconds over the No. 2 seeded swimmer.

McAllen volleyball head coach Paula Dodge announced her retirement Thursday.

Dodge has been head coach for the Bulldogs for the past 25 years, and one year prior as the junior varsity coach.

Dodge, from R Wing, Minnesota, has compiled a career record of 584-280 (.676). She most recently directed her team to the UIL Sweet 16 in each of the past two years.

”I just think it’s time to move forward and do some things with family and relax a little bit,” Dodge said. “I love volleyball and what I do and have done for the past 37 years and am going to miss it immensely. But it’s time for a new chapter and time to relax a little bit. How long that will last? I don’t know.”

She was elected into the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 2020 and will be inducted later this year.

Dodge moved to Brownsville in 1984, driving 24 hours alongside her brother from Minnesota for her first job as a 23-year-old.

“It was 108 degrees that first week (of work),” Dodge said to The Monitor after being named The Monitor’s All-Area Volleyball Coach of the Year, a honor she also garnered in 2016. “That heat was hard for me to adjust to that first year.”

Dodge was a three-year letterman in three sports in high school before graduating in 1980. She played collegiate basketball at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, where she was a member of the 1981 AIAW Division III national champion team. She earned her bachelor’s degree from UWL in 1984 and moved to the Valley, according to the RGV Sports Hall of Fame website.

She began her coaching career at Brownsville Hanna, as the varsity track coach and assistant volleyball coach at Hanna High School from 1985 to 1993, coaching a state silver medalist.

Her Bulldog teams have won five district championships and have advanced to the state playoffs 18 times – reaching the regional tournament six times.

”The McAllen school district has been blessed to have a person like her working with our kids,” McAllen School District athletic director Paula Gonzalez said. “She has had such a great impact on so many kids and the sports. Like always, she had her athletes first on the list and she wanted them all to hear it from her first.

”She is something special for sure.“

She will continue teaching but will step down at the end of the semester, according to school officials

“Most of my family is back in Minnesota so I’ll have the freedom to travel when and a where I want,” she said. “People had been asking me for the past five to 10 years about retiring and I would say soon but I didn’t really start thinking about it and then thought I would wait until I’m 60 well I’m 59 1/2 and that seemed good, so I rounded up.”

When last year’s girls high school season was abruptly cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, McAllen High head coach Patrick Arney knew he had one major question to answer for this year’s season.

What will be the Bulldogs’ identity moving forward? With no traveling and very little time before practice begins and the season starts, the biggest goal was for the team to find out who they were and what type of team they could become.

The team graduated three seniors from last year’s powerhouse team to Division I universities — Houston, Texas A&M and Arkansas.

They also saw three others who Arney believes could have easily moved on to the next level but decided not to continue playing in college. Most teams would’ve begun the rebuilding process. Many teams would’ve collapsed.

McHi won the District 31-5A title.

“We had played the style of those girls for the past three years and everybody worked into their system,” Arney said. “This group was going to have to find their identity. I knew what we had as far as the core group and the strength of that group but we just didn’t get to see each other until the season almost started. But they’ve stepped up from our goalie Grace Kelly to our freshmen and sophomores.”

But even then, he didn’t realize how strong a season his Bulldogs would put together, a season many coaches couldn’t fathom having a year with that many graduating stars. In summary, here’s how is ended: District champs for the sixth straight year, an 18-0 record, ranked most of the year in the top 10 in the state according to the Texas Girls Coaches Association and now with eyes on another run to the state tournament.

“The biggest hurdle for sure was losing six of our best players. We realized we still had a core of very good players and we decided that we needed to regroup and continue playing at the level that we did at the end of las year,” senior defender Melanie Saldana said. “I think we can go really far this year.”

That quest begins at 7 p.m. Thursday on the road against District 32-5A’s fourth-place Edcouch-Elsa Yellow Jackets.

Henderson leads the team in goals this year with 23, usually using her speed to blaze down the sideline track down a through pass and find herself one on one with the goalkeeper. Junior Briana Claudio has 18 goals and Chloe Fallek has found the back of the net 15 times. The team outscored its opponents this year 106-9, using pinpoint accurate passing, ball possession and a multitude of offensive looks and ways to attack.

“I think this year we’re not as dependent on individuals to carry us,” Henderson said. “Each one of us is more comfortable carrying more of a load. As the season has gone along, I have noticed that all of my teammates are very comfortable in our own roles, whether it be defensively or offensively. We are all very unselfish and ultimately just focused on winning.”

Other District 31-5A versus 32-5A matches include McAllen Memorial at Brownsville Porter at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sharyland High at Brownsville Veterans at 7:30 p.m. Friday, and Brownsville Lopez at McAllen Rowe at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

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Rick Hinojosa took over the Edinburg IDEA Quest Trailblazers girls’ soccer team when head coach Teresa Gomez had to deal with a medical emergency.

It was a seamless transition. Hinojosa said his biggest goal and challenge was to “maintain the reputation Quest has built,” he said. “They’ve had some really good years here and I was stepping into an already-established program.

Mission accomplished.

The Trailblazers lived up to their name, running through District 30-4A unscathed with a 10-0 mark to win the district title. The Trailblazers will play their Class 4A bi-district matchup at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Tuloso-Midway High School.

Edinburg IDEA Quest is in the playoffs a year after finishing second. However, last year, the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic and there was no postseason.

Hinojosa said this year’s team gained a lot of experience, however, and now the senior-heavy team with nine seniors and only 13 players has their eyes set on a deep run. But first, they’re focusing on District 29-4A’s fourth seed, Tuloso-Midway.

The Trailblazers go into their bi-district game ranked as the No. 7 team in the state according to the Texas Girls Coaches Association’s latest poll.

Senior Karen Ramirez leads the offense with 21 goals and 16 assists. She was District 30-4A’s top scorer this season. Freshman Alma Ramirez was right behind her with 20 goals and senior Kayla Nunez added seven scores.

Defensively, senior Karla Barroso leads the team with 39 tackles. The Trailblazers gave up just eight goals in their 10-0 season, with four shutouts.

Tuloso-Midway comes into the match with a 0-4-1 district record, squeaking into the final playoff spot.

Despite the record and what seems to be a lop-sided matchup, Hinojosa said in the playoffs and in the sport, anything can happen.

“We don’t take them lightly,” Hinojosa said. “They come from a tough district and we will play them just like any top 10 team in the state. We hope to score quick and come out on top.”

The Trailblazers took on District 31-5A powerhouse Sharyland High as a warmup for both teams. Hinojosa said he was impressed with Xochitl Nguma, the Valley’s all-time leading scorer, and the rest of the Rattlers, who finished second in district, losing just two games, both to McAllen High.

“Sharyland is a different type of monster,” Hinojosa said. “Their passing and they way they play it flows so natural. They are the best team we played throughout the year.”

Still, Hinojosa saw a lot of positives with his Trailblazers.

“We did penetrate and got into their box and took some shots on goal,” he said. “We had a few opportunities to put it in the net but couldn’t get it to the back post. I was impressed with our girls, who worked hard and faced a lot of adversity this year and pulled through it. We had a couple opportunities to put it in the net.

“We’re excited and ready. The girls are motivating each other and it has worked all year. Now, our goal is to make a deep run. This program has never been past the second round, so that’s our goal. We have to win the first one though.”

The winner will play the winner of Port Isabel and Donna IDEA with time and date yet to be determined.

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The Donna High girls soccer season has been like none other, even beyond the battles and struggles of dealing with the daily scenarios and hurdles during the COVID-19 pandemic-ravaged past year.

When the season started, the Bravettes were ranked No. 25 in the state in Class 5A, according to the Texas Girls Coaches Association.

Last week, another history-making event occurred when junior Madalyn Park scored her 100th career goal, a milestone never reached by anyone in the history of the Donna girls soccer program.

“My friend, Nydia Selvera, was in the midfield and dribbled past two defender and they were playing up,” Park said. “I was all by myself and calling for her and she lobbed the ball over them and I was one-on-one with the goalie and put it in the left corner.”

The junior scored her 101st goal on a penalty kick in overtime, but Donna fell 4-2 in PKs to Brownsville Porter, the District 32-5A leader, on Friday night as the Bravettes looked to take another step closer to a playoff berth. A week ago, Park had 92 goals but exploded with a six-goal performance against Brownsville Pace during an 8-0 victory at home to celebrate her 17th birthday.

“I was trying for two more but came up short,” she said.

She scored twice during the first half at Edcouch-Elsa for a 3-1 lead, before Edcouch came roaring back for a 4-3 win. The Bravettes and Yellow Jackets are in a battle for the fourth and final playoff spot.

The schedule until the end of the season favors Donna. Edcouch’s final three games of the regular season are against second-place Brownsville Lopez, first-place Brownsville Porter and third-place Brownsville Veterans. Donna still has to play Veterans, fifth-place Weslaco East and Mercedes.

Park has scored one goals this season and has three matches remaining before the postseason. She scored 27 as a freshman and 42 as a sophomore. There’s probably no coincidence that the state ranking and Park’s offensive firepower are intertwined.

MISSION — The greatest athletes seem to be crowned with a single name, recognizable around the world. There’s Maradona, Messi, Pele or Ronaldo. It’s in every sport — there’s Babe, Brady, Tiger and Jordan, lone monikers earned by being the elite of the elite in their sport.

When one has accomplished individual great things, one name will suffice.

Xochi.

In the Rio Grande Valley girls soccer scene, there’s no reason for more. She didn’t ask for it. It’s catchy, unique and something that has been earned over time. Now is Xochitl Nguma’s time.

During a year still dominated by COVID-19, Nguma is one of three Valley girls soccer players who are amazingly rewriting the record book. Coming into the 2021 season, former Sharyland High star Katie Watson (and one-time teammate with Nguma) held the Valley’s all-time career scoring record with 146 goals. This season, Campbell, Donna North’s Gabriella Aviles, and Sharyland High’s Xochitl Nguma have all shattered that record and continue to score at a breakneck pace.

Today, Aviles has 162 career goals, while Campbell sits at 170. Nguma is the Valley’s all-time leading scorer, with 176. The three have dominated the pitch throughout their careers, scoring a combined 508 goals.

Donna North has five district matches remaining, Sharyland High has two and Edinburg Vela is done with regular season. All three teams are bound for the playoffs.

“When you talk about Xochi at Sharyland, you’re talking about history,” Sharyland head coach Mario Ribera said. “What she has done is incredible; what she has done at the high school level is phenomenal.”

Ribera is in his fourth year coaching the Rattlers and his daughter, Chloe, who is also a senior like Nguma. The two have known each other since they were 6 years old and in the local youth leagues. Their chemistry on the field is obvious.

“Our chemistry on the off the field is unbelievable,” Chloe Ribera said. “I’ve never felt so comfortable with any other player before in my life. I’m proud to call her my best friend, if not my soulmate. She’s my other half.”

Ribera said Nguma was always a scorer, even at 5 years old. He also knew when he took the job at Sharyland that not only would Watson — who went on to set the Valley record — be on the team, but that “something big was coming up — Xochi,” he said.

“She could do what we call bells at 5 years old, where she dribbled the ball back and forth between her legs, all the way up and down the field,” Ribera said. “She even had a small goal setup, I think, in her house.”

Nguma couldn’t recall her first high school goal (“there’s been too many of them,” Campbell said, jokingly during an interview with all three), but she remembers the nerves of her first Rattlers practice.

“I was super nervous,” Nguma said. “I had been thinking about how I would get along with them since elementary school. Meeting them for the first time I thought they would be like full-grown adults and so well put together and intimidating. But they were nice and so super chill. It was a whole lot easier than I expected.”

Nguma has grown into a stunning player, an soccer assassin of sorts. Leave her alone for even the shortest amount of time and the ball will crash into the back of the net from just about anywhere on the field. She’s strong, fast with the ball and an incredibly powerful shooter — with either leg.

Ribera vividly recalled a game where, for some reason, Nguma was feeling a lot of pressure.

“She was nervous for this game,” Ribera said. “Late in the game she got the ball from about 45 yards out, made a move to the left and put it in the upper corner of the goal. It happened so fast and it was phenomenal. It felt like the game had stopped after that.”

When Nguma arrived as a freshman at Sharyland, the Rattlers were led by Watson. Ribera said that by the time district play arrived, the two had found a connection, one that wasn’t very pleasant for opposing defenses — the current all-time goal leader and the future all-time goal leader on the same side. Every game they played was like an all-star game, and they were the stars.

“Katie was a star, and she would do what she knew, push the ball forward and score,” Ribera said. “But when we started playing in district, the chemistry started as well. There were a lot of assists between them to one another. I think Katie inspired Xochi to score and she has, ever since.”

Nguma scored 68 goals as a junior and has 48 during this shortened season with one regular-season match and the Class 5A playoffs remaining. Ribera said that the impact she has made on the team and the program will be long-lasting.

“Xochi has shown that it’s possible, that anything is possible,” Ribera said. “She is leaving very high expectations for future classes and has been a great model. The legacy she is leaving behind will serve for many many years.”

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EDINBURG — Her voice is often heard above the other 21 players on the field. It resonates; it’s never critical but both demanding and congratulatory, like that of a teacher, coach, teammate and leader all rolled into one

“Good idea on that,” she yells out to one teammate.

“Great defense,” she hollers to another. “In the middle,” she advises another, as she calls for the ball.

Once she gets that ball, a goal is usually the outcome.

Edinburg Vela’s Taylor Campbell holds a treasure chest of star qualities. On the soccer field, she’s one of the greatest goal scorers in Rio Grande Valley girls soccer history. In the classroom, the National Honor Society member shines just as bright.

Combined, she’s a soccer coach’s dream and an opponent’s nightmare.

During a year still dominated by COVID-19, Campbell is one of three Valley girls soccer players who are amazingly rewriting the record book. Coming into the 2021 season, former Sharyland High star Katie Watson held the Valley’s all-time career scoring record with 146 goals. This season, Campbell, Donna North’s Gabriella Aviles, and Sharyland High’s Xochitl Nguma have all shattered that record and continue to score at a breakneck pace.

Today, Aviles has 162 career goals, while Campbell sits at 170. Nguma leads the pack at 176. The three have dominated the pitch throughout their careers, scoring a combined 505 goals.

Donna North has four district matches remaining, Sharyland High has one and Edinburg Vela is done with regular season. All three teams are bound for the playoffs.

“All three of those girls are making history,” Edinburg Vela head coach Americo Cortez said. “What they have done in the past three years is going to stay and be talked about for a long time. They are excellent soccer players.”

Of course, he’s seen Campbell for years and he knows to what level his forward can play the game. Last month, Campbell signed her letter of intent to play college soccer at Trinity, the school she longed to attend since she first participated in a soccer I.D. camp.

A model student off the field, Cortez said she’s the type of player that makes others around her better and is a coach on the field.

“I can’t be out there telling everyone where to go and what to do,” Cortez said. “But she does that. She is a student of the sport. She can shoot hard, she has great field vision and moves to the open spots. The main thing is she scores and scores right away.

“I’ve seen her score on so many hard shots, ones that you can’t believe she scored on and from far away too.”

Cortez recalled a shot recently when the ball went flying into the box and Campbell punched it with her foot mid-air and into the goal, seemingly like it had been planned exactly that way. Another time, Campbell got the ball at the top of the penalty box and before anyone could hardly move, she turned and drilled a shot past a stunned keeper, who could only watch the bullet fly by. The celebration was over before everyone realized the ball was in the net.

“It’s been amazing to see her score so many goals,” Cortez said. “And she’s been doing it since she first played on the varsity.”

Cavazos Sports Institute owner Jaime Cavazos, who trains Campbell off the soccer field, said while her talent is superior, it’s the intangibles that she brings to everyday life that moves her from good to great.

“She’s no drama and that’s a difficult thing,” Cavazos said. “Last year a switched flipped and she took everything to another level but she possesses so many things outside of her skill set that will help her achieve more and more. That’s what makes her so special.”

During Campbell’s freshman year, she remembers playing a tough Harlingen squad.

“We lost the game 6-5, but I remember scoring three goals and each goal tied the game up,” she said. “I realized then that I could do well in this sport.”

She’s done more than well. She’s made the team around her better. Throughout the season, more and more teammates were growing into the offense. While Campbell finished the 15-0-1 District 31-6A championship season with 54 goals, the SaberCats exploded for 130 total goals while surrendering seven.

Ky Richards, Campbell’s teammate and friend, said Campbell is not just a scorer, but a playmaker. The two “stuck to the grind,” Richards said during the pandemic, spending almost every day together, training, just hanging out, “or both.”

“Taylor is the most calm, cool and collected person I know, which is a great trait to have on and off the field,” Richards said. “I love playing alongside her and seeing her creativity on the field. As focused and competitive as she is, she actually makes playing soccer with her so much fun.

“She has the ability to not only do great things on the field, but make other players look good, too.”

“People were constantly marking Taylor, but she would still score. It didn’t matter,” Cortez said. “Then the girls around her started scoring more and teams saw we had several girls who could score.

“She can change a game and has been a great and special player. For years to come, when you talk about Edinburg Vela soccer, you’ll be talking about Taylor”

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(First in a three-part series)
Three girls in the Rio Grande Valley have broken the previous all-time scoring record, which was 146 at the beginning of the season. Beginning today and for the next three days, The Monitor and RGVSports.com will feature each of these athletes for their accomplishments.

For years, Edinburg North’s girls soccer team has been a large, sharp thorn in the sides of its opponents. Its defense has gone multiple games at a time, and hundreds of minutes, without giving up a goal during recent seasons.

So, when Donna North’s Gabriella Aviles, then a junior, ran down a perfectly placed through pass from teammate Nancy Espino and found herself one-one-one with a charging Edinburg North first-team all-district goalkeeper, Aviles did what she’s made a high school career of doing — she scored. Donna North won that District 31-6A battle, 1-0.

During a year still dominated by COVID-19, Aviles is one of three Rio Grande Valley girls soccer players who are amazingly rewriting the record book. Coming into the 2021 season, former Sharyland High star Katie Watson held the Valley’s all-time career scoring record with 146 goals. This season, Aviles, Edinburg Vela’s Taylor Campbell and Sharyland High’s Xochitl Nguma have all broken — well, shattered — that record and continue to score at hyperspeed.

Today, Aviles has 160 career goals, while Campbell sits at 170. Nguma leads the pack at 175. The three have dominated the pitch throughout their careers, scoring a combined 505 goals.

Donna North has five district matches left, Sharyland High has two and Edinburg Vela is done with regular season. All three teams are bound for the playoffs.

“There were about six minutes remaining and Gabby scored on a play that developed so beautifully,” Donna North head coach Tony Garcia said of the Edinburg North match. “Nancy (Espino) got the ball, dribbled it and passed it to Gabby who gave it back to Nancy and then Nancy sent that pass. Gabby outran one defender and their keeper came out, one on one.

“Gabby majestically put it between her legs and we went crazy with that goal.”

It was Aviles’ 17th birthday, and her 100th career goal.

“I talked to her dad about it the prior weekend,” Garcia said. “We didn’t want to tell her and add pressure.”

Aviles is a natural on the soccer field, especially at scoring. She takes that responsibility as if it was a job, and she performs her job duties at the highest level.

“Her mentality is this: She’s not worried about how many she’s scored. She goes into each game thinking my defense and keeper are going to make the stop. The midfielders are going to push the ball and they will set me up. It’s just that’s what is required of her and she does her job just like that.

“She knows she’s going to score because that’s her task, but she’s also thankful for the rest of the players for getting her that ball,” Garcia said. “She’s not about ‘me,’ but ‘we.’”

Espino — Aviles’ classmate, teammate and friend — said Aviles is an amazing player who is always an example to follow. While Espino is effective putting the ball in the back of the net, she also knows that setting up Aviles is her task. Their specific “job descriptions” make them one of the most dangerous and successful combinations in South Texas.

“She’s a very important factor to our team, not just as a player but a leader,” said Espino, adding she and Aviles have been friends since middle school while playing for the McAllen Sharks club team. “Her energy and willingness to always do her best radiates throughout our team and pushes ourselves to do better.”

It was during her early teen years, when Aviles realized this could be a sport she could not only enjoy, but also excel in. She was already a solid defensive specialist on the volleyball court but took her soccer skills to another level.

“I was playing in a club game in a tournament and it was really close and toward the end I scored and we ended up winning,” Aviles said. “I knew then I could do well in this sport, as long as I put the work in.”

It may look easy for all three soccer stars the way they score; all their graceful yet lethal moves seem choreographed as they dance around — and sometimes over or through — traffic jams of defenders whose only goal is to stop the offensive train coming at them — then going by them. Each girl is marked, sometimes by multiple defenders, but the goals keep coming.

Aviles has a unique mixture of skills, technical abilities and the ferocity to go into a crowd and physically battle until she comes out of the scrum with the ball. Like the best of the best at any level of athletics, the most common denominator is immense discipline and an even greater work ethic. This is the same for Aviles, who said during the harshest part of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it seemed everything was under lock and key, she was still practicing with her father and working on keeping her high-level skills as close to their peak as possible.

“I tried to make every practice, and go to any extra practices, just trying to prepare for the upcoming season,” Aviles said.

“Just as she’s a great teammate, she’s even a greater friend,” Espino said. “She always makes sure everything gets done, regardless of how much is going on. She’s such an inspiration and I love sharing the field with her along with having her as a friend.”

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EDINBURG — Aisha Garcia had a different look about her at the Region V Div. 1 girls Texas High School Women’s Powerlifting Association meet Saturday at Bert Ogden Arena.

Garcia, a junior competing in the 259-plus weight class, set personal bests in the bench press and the squat en route to a three-lift total of 1,035 pounds, securing the individual regional title and a trip to the state meet in that weight class.

Her finish also helped lead Edcouch-Elsa, a Class 5A school, to second place overall in the regional meet with 27 points, only behind perennial power and Class 6A Los Fresnos with 29 points. The two classes compete in the regional meet as one meet but then are separated for the state meet. Class 6A was held in the morning and 5A in the afternoon.

Garcia made what she called “a random decision” earlier in the week, dying her hair bright pink.

“I wanted to ‘Go Pink’ for regionals,” said Garcia, who has qualified now for three years, not being able to attend last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic that shut athletics down quickly in the Rio Grande Valley and around the country last spring. “I think it helped a bit.”

Garcia, who plans to shoot for a 490-pound squat at state, came into the region as the top-ranked lifter in her division, advancing to regionals with a total weight of 1,035 pounds. The total weight comes from a lifter’s best squat, bench press and dead lift. For Garcia, she hit personal bests of 475 pounds in the squat and 230 in the bench press to go with her 330 in the dead lift. Also qualifying for state and finishing second in the weight class was Weslaco’s Leslie Montelongo with a 1,010-pound total.

Edinburg Economedes took third in the combined 5A/6A event with 26 points and the Jaguars Princess Rios qualified for state, winning her 132-pound weight class.

Rounding out the top five in the event, which had 280 lifters competing, was McAllen High (23 points) and McAllen Memorial (15 points). The top two lifters in each weight division, along with those who qualify by surpassing a minimum total weight, advance to the state meet.

McHi’s Alyssa Echazarreta totaled 975 pounds in the 165-pound category, far surpassing her 895 total from the Bulldog Tri-City Meet in February according to the Texas High School Women’s Powerlifting Association website (thwpa.com). Teammate Maggie Cepeda also captured first with 925 pound in the 198 division.

Mission High’s Erika Guerrero totaled the most weight on the day, winning the 259-pound division with a total weight of 1,175 pounds. She squatted 530 pounds, benched 305 and deadlifted 340.

Cassandra Mendiola captured first in the 148-pound division with a total weight of 980 pounds, just shy of her 1,000 pounds she cleared at the Girls 31st District Championship.

Mendiola said she’s using the same pair of shoes now as she did as a freshman and those shoed aren’t going anywhere after the McAllen Memorial junior broke the regional meet record with a 420-pound deadlift, the final lift of the competition.

Now her eyes are set on challenging for a state record, said Mendiola, adding that her routine prior to a match included family prayers the night before and then a dose of the same three heavy metal songs prior to her lifts.

“I feel like I could’ve done better on my squat,” said Mendiola, who qualified for state for the second consecutive year. “Now I have different goals for state, hopefully breaking a couple state records and lifting higher than my personal record.”

The THSWPA girls’ state meet will be held March 18-20 at the American Bank Center Arena in Corpus Christi.

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