EDINBURG — Lexi Garcia and Ashley Gonzalez are best friends on and off the basketball court.

It wasn’t always that way.

“We played against each other, so we were enemies,” jowed Garcia, who played three years at Faith Christian Academy.

“Lexi and I are best friends,” Gonzalez added.

The Harvest Christian Academy freshmen have played key roles this season, leading their girls basketball team to a 21-2 record and a TAPPS 2A state quarterfinals matchup against at 6:30 tonight against Shiner St. Paul at Annapolis Christian School in Corpus Christi.

Gonzalez scored 34 points, Garcia added 14 and the Eagles blew past Bryan St. Joseph 60-32 on Tuesday, playing only their second home game of the season.

Garcia and Gonzalez had played basketball for the past three seasons in middle school, but at different middles schools so they fiercely competed against each other. Now, they complement one another.

“They look out for one another and they want for each other to succeed,” head coach Jaime Gonzalez said. “They know that if they play well it means more good things for the team. They are always together off the court hanging out, with their friendship.”

They, along with junior guard Hayley Vasquez, provide an uptempo offense with full-court man-to-man pressure from the tip-off until the end of the game. The Eagles score in waves, often off turnovers. Vasquez scored just five during Tuesday’s game but she has three games this season of more than 25 points and provides another dimension to the run-and-gun Eagles.

“Hayley is probably the most athletic on the team and just naturally fast,” Gonzalez said. “She’s the fastest and has natural instincts and if she gets hot she can score 20. If they try to box-and-one Ashley or if they double team someone, having a point guard like Lexi, she’ll get you the ball so it poses some options for us.”

Harvest Christian has played several quicker and bigger teams, Gonzalez said, but St. Paul is the fastest team he believes they will have played all year other than Roma, which they defeated along with other bigger UIL schools such as La Villa, Port Isabel and Mercedes.

Gonzalez is expecting to see somewhat of a mirror image defensively against St. Paul.

“From what I’ve gathered, they will play a full-court press in man and like to disrupt things. We have to be able to break their press,” Gonzalez said. “They’ve been known to have good athletes and doing well in sports. The key is going to be weathering the storm. They are a lot like us.”

Gonzalez said he has some high expectation from his post players, junior Laura Pena and freshman Samantha Muñoz, especially if history has anything to do with it.

“We haven’t been out-rebounded a lot this season, maybe four or five times,” Gonzalez said. “We were by eight on Tuesday. But something about this team that has been interesting is that every time we’ve lost the rebounding battle this year they’ve comeback to play better the next game and end up just playing great. I don’t know what it is but that’s been the history this season.”

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EDINBURG — The first 90 seconds of the third quarter TAPPS Girls’ 2A area round basketball game for Harvest Christian Academy went like this.

Steal. Fast break. Coast-to coast layup, Harvest Christian.

Steal. Give-and-go pass on the fast break. Layup, Harvest Christian.

Steal. Fast Break. Step-back 3-pointer, Harvest Christian.

In fact, much of the night followed that pattern as the Eagles ran, dove and shot their way into the Elite 8 with a dominant 62-32 over the Bryan Eagles on Tuesday at Harvest Christian Academy.

The win gives Harvest Christian a trip to the state quarterfinals either Friday night or Saturday with opponent and location to be determined.

Freshman Ashley Gonzalez scored a game-high 34 points, 4 short of her career-high, and freshman teammate Lexi Garcia added 14.

“It was a rough start for us, but we picked it up in the third quarter,” Gonzalez said. “Coach told us they would have the height on us and a deeper bench, so we just had to play our game.”

Their game focused on creating a ton of disruption with a full-court, man-to-man press the whole game. Clearly rattled, on multiple occasions, different Bryan players looked toward their bench in frustration and simply put their arms out, as if to ask what they should do.

Harvest Christian never trailed, jumping out to a 7-0 lead and Bryan did not get closer than 4, during the first quarter. At the end of the period, Harvest Christian led by 10 and upped it to 15 at 28-13 going into the break.

But it was the beginning of the third quarter that closed the book on the visiting Eagles as Garcia, the team’s point guard, and shooting guard Hayley Vasquez tallied steal after steal. They regularly stepped in front of passes or tipped the ball away from unsuspecting dribblers, and the duo ended the night with 13 steals and caused sheer havoc defensively all over the court.

“As the point guard, Coach wants me to push the ball,” Garcia said. “He wants us to be aggressive-minded all the time. Defensively, I like to keep my hands in front of them (opponents) so they are not able to do much with the ball.”

Harvest Christian improved to 21-2. The small school has beaten bigger teams such as La Villa, Roma and Mercedes, among other this, year and have their eyes set on three more wins, which would mean a state title.

“We needed that third quarter,” Harvest Christian head coach Jaime Gonzalez said. “That really helped get us going. When we get those easy buckets and transition baskets, get the momentum, everything else falls in place. Our guards get us a lot of points off turnovers.

“It’s been pretty much what we do and stay the course. We saw something today and it looked like they got a bit rattled and it (full-court man-to-man pressure) worked for us, so we’ll milk it as much as we can and have to.

“In TAPPS, you have to win five to win it all. We’ve got two down.”

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MISSION — A trip to the zoo has mutated into multiple trips to the UIL girls swimming and diving state meet for Sharyland High’s Gabby Gonzalez.

Gonzalez will compete in the 100-yard freestyle Tuesday at the Bill Walker Pool and Josh Davis Natatorium in San Antonio. For Gonzalez, it’s her third trip to the state meet and her goal is to finish in the top eight. She won her regional meet in 53.11 seconds, setting a personal record with that time. Mission Veterans’ Ryann Ramirez will also compete at state as part of Tuesday’s diving competition.

It all started when Gonzalez and her family took a break to eat some snacks while enjoying a day at the zoo.

“Everyone left that table and I was trying to catch up and running,” the junior Rattlers swimmer said. “I didn’t look down and just feel left arm first and it twisted and I broke my arm.”

That led to water therapy.

Henceforth, the star was born.

“I had tried soccer but got tired getting hit in the face with the ball, and really didn’t like softball,” Gonzalez said. “But I enjoyed swimming and then, when I was 12, I started swimming competitively.”

Gonzalez and Sharyland High head coach Tina Jensen have their eyes set on dropping that 53.11 mark to the low 52s. Jensen said Gonzalez’s dedication and hard work, and not letting COVID-19 slow her down, has been key to her success.

“From Day 1, she had the extreme drive and her times in junior high were already good,” Jensen said.

“She has true power in the middle of the pool.”

Gonzalez credits her parents for pointing her toward strength and conditioning as a freshman.

“They noticed I wasn’t improving on my individual events and put me in training to help my strength and conditioning,” Gonzalez said. “That’s helped me a lot the past three years and I’ve been doing crossfit for more strength and conditioning.”

In the long run, Gonzalez said she’d like to crack 49.16, the top time in the state this year.

“Her start is getting better but it’s an area for improvement,” Jensen said. “If you have a bad start, you’re usually done but she’s so strong in the middle of the pool, she can catch you off the wall. And she never slows down.”

Ramirez is making her first trip to state, continuing what has become an annual trip for Mission Veterans’ divers.

The senior diver became interested in that event during a swimming class in junior high, her head coach, Melissa Reyna, said. Now she’s reached the pinnacle of Class 5A diving.

“This was one of her goals,” said Reyna, whose team has taken the top three spots in the district championship meet in each of the past four years. “All three year prior to this she came in third and finally won the district and placed second in the regionals.”

Reyna’s scored skyrocketed since her junior season by close to 25 points, a significant increase in the sport, especially in just one year, and amid a COVID-19 season at that. Now she’s hoping for a little more improvement from her personal scoring record of 282 points. The goal is now to break 300 and, if everything works out, break the school record of 316, owned by Jayden Longoria.

“Her dives have stayed the same. She’s just gotten a lot more confident in herself. We knew she was a good diver, but she just didn’t believe it,” Reyna said. “This year it all came together. Her execution was completely different, she showed so much more confidence on the board and her dives have been extremely impressive.”

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Kaila Gonzalez, Alyssa Echazarreta and Maggie Zepeda each won their weight class, and the McAllen High girls powerlifting team won its first district championship in program history Saturday at DeLeon Middle School in McAllen.

The Bulldogs and McAllen Rowe were tied with 35 points apiece. The tiebreaker was based on the number of individual winners, which McAllen had three and Rowe two. McAllen Memorial took third with 31 points and was followed by Sharyland Pioneer (19) and Valley View (16).

Echazarreta, a senior, set personal records in all three of her lifts in the 165-pound division. She squatted 380, bench pressed 220 and deadlifted 340 for a total lift of 940 pounds.

“She went above and beyond,” McHi head coach Dan Rodriguez said. “She was a strong lifter last year and we were expecting good things from her. She was training quite a bit over the summer to get through COVID and maintain her strength.”

McAllen Memorial also had three winners, led by Kassandra Mendiola. The junior lifter totaled a meet-best 1,000 pounds (410 squat, 410 deadlift, 180 bench). Memorial head coach Joe Guerra said he has five girls who have qualified for regionals, scheduled for March 6 at Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg.

Guerra and his Memorial boys won the boys district title, their second championship. Rowe totaled 47 points and had three winners to outdistance McHi with three winners and 31 points.

Memorial won the 220, 275 and super heavyweight divisions with Damien Barrera, Alex Mendiola and Marcos De Ochoa, respectively. De Ochoa, a junior, had a monster day, lifting a meet-best 1,660 pounds between his three events, with a 725-pound squat, 585 deadlift and 350-pound bench. This is De Ochoa’s first year competing in powerlifting.

“He’s an amazing football player, too,” Guerra said. “We’re lucky enough to get him on our team and happy to have him here.

“This sport is fairly new to McAllen and to the area, but there are a lot of state champion schools down here, more than anywhere else in the state,” Guerra said. “Los Fresnos is one of them; they’re a six-time state champion. There are a lot of amazing powerlifters down here.”

The boys regional meet will be held March 13 at Weslaco East High School.

“This was another stepping stone for the program,” said Henderson, who, like Guerra, has been with the program since its inception six years ago. “They did what they had to do and I’m very proud of them. We all understand that there are individual things and goals, but the goal is winning the district title. There’s been so much going on and I’m very proud of them.”

The girls’ state meet will take place March 20 in Corpus Christi, and the boys state meet will be March 27 in Abilene.

EDINBURG — Teams in District 31-6A have devised countless ways to defend Taylor Campbell. Few, if any, have succeeded.

While these teams have focused on stopping the senior scoring phenom, however, Edinburg Vela has developed a team of powerful offensive weapons around Campbell. Saturday’s match was a perfect example as Campbell scored twice while four other SaberCats each put the ball into the back of the net en route to an overpowering 6-0 road victory against Edinburg High.

Cary Kylene Richards, Crystal Palma, Lauren Vega and Odessa Leal each put a goal on the scoreboard and the SaberCats claimed their second shutout over the Bobcats, winning 5-0 in first meeting between the two teams this season.

The win moved Edinburg Vela closer to a rematch against Edinburg North for what could be the District 31-6A title. The teams played to a 1-1 draw earlier this year and the Cougars have been a thorn in the SaberCats’ side for the past four seasons. North has only lost once, during PKs in overtime, to Vela in those four years.

Vela plays La Joya High on Monday and PSJA High on Tuesday before the rematch with North on Wednesday.

Campbell scored the game’s opening goal off a PK due to a handball call in the box, tucking it into the left-middle side of the goal during the 12th minute. It marked her 148th career goal. She added her 149th on a quick turn and left-footed shot at the top of the box for a 4-0 lead.

In between, Richards found herself one-on-one with a defender, crossed the ball over to her left foot and scored on a low ball into the right corner of the net.

Sophomore Crystal Palma missed a chance with a header midway through the half, overshooting the crossbar. Two minutes later, and 73 seconds after Richards’ score, Palma took a high-bounce pass from Campbell and hammered it home with a header.

“There are points when you’re going to be cautious going in with your head because you don’t want to get injured, but at that time I was just in the moment,” Palma said. “I think, ‘I have it here and I need to make it.’”

“The first one didn’t go in, but as soon as I hit the second one I knew that it was going to be enough to go in and enough where the goalie couldn’t get it.”

Vela, with the wind behind them offensively, led 4-0 at halftime. But it was in the second half when the Bobcats — though only scoring twice — launched a barrage of shots, missing several but clearly flexing their muscles, and their multiple offensive threats. Having those multiple threats offensively makes Campbell’s job easier, she said.

“Our team is very good this year,” said the senior who, on Friday, signed her national letter of intent to play soccer at Trinity University. “We have a lot of shooters and a lot of attackers and the defense is playing awesome too. If I’m having a rough day, I know they are there and can do the same thing I can do. I know they’ll find me or shoot.

“This is a confidence boost. Usually we’ll win one and they’ll (Edinburg High) will win one. But to come out and win both makes us realize we can play and we’re ready to face whoever else we have left in district and playoffs.”

Junior Lauren Vega scored just two minutes into the second half for a 5-0 lead. Senior Odessa Leal added the final goal with a shot wide from the wing to the far post.

“It’s a matter of adjusting right now during the second half of play,” Vela head coach America Cortez said. “We’re adjusting on the back and seeing that different girls can play in the middle or the front and now the back.

“We have a variety of movements. We getting a variety of players and that helps with different strategies. We may change the formation, but we never change our style of play, touching the ball and crossing, looking for the middles to take some shots and these are the things that happen when you try to mark a player. They mark (No.) 9 (Campbell) or 10 (Natalia Cortez) or 2 (Leal) or whoever, but we ended up going with someone else. They’re a talented group and they communicate.

“Most of the teams have marked Taylor but she still scores. She understands playing as a team. She gets up set when she doesn’t score, but she’s always there. They can all shoot from the outside. We have a good variety and getting used to the touch and team environment.”

Edinburg Vela improved its overall record to 9-0-1 with the win.

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McALLEN — If history is truly a predictor of the future, Trinity University and Taylor Campbell have some more great years ahead.

Campbell, one of the most prolific scoring machines in Rio Grande Valley girls’ soccer history, signed her national letter of intent Friday at Cavazos Sports Institute to continue her academic and athletic careers at the Division III school that competes in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.

The “partnership” didn’t happen by chance. Campbell had visited the school on many occasions for Prospect ID camps. It was the perfect fit for the Edinburg Vela standout, whose decision was first based on academics, and soccer being an attractive additional incentive.

“The first time I went there, the summer going into eighth grade I fell in love with the school and coaches. The school is small and beautiful,” said Campbell, adding she plans to pursue a degree in political science. “They came to see me play finally and we were on the phone talking about committing and they offered and I was more than happy to commit.

“It was an anxious night that was supposed to happen Wednesday, but because of the weather it didn’t. I just wanted to express by thankfulness for everyone that helped me.”

In an unprecedented season — one that is on the heels of another unprecedented season that was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Campbell is one of three Valley seniors to have broken the previous scoring record, held by Sharyland High’s Katie Watson with 146. Campbell scored her 147th goal last week but hasn’t been able to add to that due to yet more challenges of the weird — this time a nearly week long winter storm that cut electricity and water to thousands of people in Hidalgo County alone.

Teammates, coaches, trainers and family came to what Campbell’s father, Mario Campbell, called an intentional invitation event. Among those was CSI owner Jaime Cavazos, who has trained Campbell for six years. He said he remembers when Campbell, who was always a coachable and hard-working athlete, took everything to another level.

“Honestly, it started from her junior year. I saw a switch flip and she started to come to training during season, and that takes a hard toll on the body,” Cavazos said. “She saw and believed that everything she was doing was working and she wanted to continue her training so she wouldn’t lose progress. She took it to a new level her junior year.”

Campbell wasn’t searching for a sport; it’s almost like it was calling out to her at an early age.

“According to my parents,” Campbell said, “I played my first soccer game when I was 4 years old and they could tell I was a natural the way I was moving through people and touching the ball. They said then that they knew they had to keep me in this.”

The SaberCats are undefeated this year at 6-0-1 and lead District 31-6A. They are at scheduled to return to the field for a 2 p.m. match today against Edinburg High at Edinburg Stadium.

“There was nothing to do over the summer so I was just training like crazy; going at it, and that helped me so much. Thankfully we are able to play. I’m a completely different player mentally and physically this year.

“Jaime has helped me a lot mentally and physically. That’s something I maybe didn’t have last year. He’s also the first one I go to when I need to discuss dumb soccer problems and he’s great to talk to as well with helping me with my speed and quickness on the field. I didn’t even think I could get to this level and now I just want to have fun for the next four years.”

Campbell is the daughter of Mario and Veronica Campbell and sister to Edinburg Vela junior Chase Campbell.

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MISSION — With 45 seconds remaining during the first half, the Valley’s all-time leading goal scorer looked down and found the ball at her feet, 30 yards from the net.

Like a gunslinger from the Old West, Xochitl Nguma took no time to let a shot rip. The ball, however, was directly at goalkeeper Grace Kelly, who made the save. It was one of the few moments when Nguma had any breathing room away from Melanie Saldana, or the rest of the McAllen High defense.

Saldana led the defense, Mallory Henderson and Savannah Ruiz provided the offense and McAllen High dominated time of possession en route to a 4-0 victory over Sharyland High during the most highly anticipated girls soccer match of the season Tuesday night at Richard Thomson Stadium.

Sharyland High came into the match ranked No. 2 in the state by the Texas Girls Coaches Association, while McAllen High came in ranked No. 4.

Henderson scored three times, Ruiz came up big again in a big game and the Bulldogs turned a 1-0 halftime lead into a runaway with three second-half goals.

“To begin with, they are a great team,” Sharyland head coach Mario Ribera said. “They are amazing, no doubt. We did what we could with what we have and we were hanging with them in the first half, the best half we played and against a great team. But we had to be defensive and we got tired chasing the ball.

“Something that great teams do it finish, and the put it in the net.”

McHi improves to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in District 31-5A while Sharyland falls to 9-1, 4-1.

The game plan on paper was simple: stop Nguma, coming off a year when she scored 68 and currently has 156 in her career. Saldana was given that unenviable task. If she wasn’t there pestering Nguma, a host of Bulldogs converged on the scoring phenom like bees on a honeycomb.

The rest of the game plan was to do what the Bulldogs have accomplished all season: keep the ball with crisp passing, revering field and dominate time of possession.

“That’s not something you want to do, to man mark, but Melanie did the job and did it really well,” McHi head coach Pat Arney said. “(Xochi) is a great player and we had to keep a clamp on her and the girls did a really good job collapsing on her. It was here’s your best player and here’s out best player. Kudos to Melanie for doing a great job.”

McAllen High also won the battle of speed, using Henderson on the wing and splitting the defense with long passes for her to chase down. The first goal came from a Haley Nixon pass cross field for about 35 yards to a streaking Henderson, who fired a shot to the top left of the goal, out of reach of the keeper and a 1-0 lead.

“We worked super hard as a team this week and we were practicing through balls like that,” Henderson said. “Haley did a phenomenal job of finding me in open space and I finished.”

Henderson also scored in final goal on a similar play as the Bulldogs counter attacked after a Sharyland free kick. Briana Claudio brought the ball up the wing and saw Henderson in that same lane on the other side of the field. She laid the pass out perfectly, Henderson rocketed past the defenders and completed her hat trick.

“I saw that Briana had a lot of space and I had the whole back side and she found me. Perfect,” Henderson said.

Henderson’s goal came on a free kick from Ruiz. The ball came in low, bounced once the Henderson one-timed it for a 3-0 lead.

Ruiz, who scored twice in a match against city rival McAllen Rowe, also scored on a free kick from about 25 yards out.

“The coaches had both been telling me to shoot, so I figured I’d do exactly what they told me and hit that top corner,” Ruiz said. “I needed to play really aggressive and be more confident of my play and I think that helped me finish that free kick.”

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McAllen High became the first girls’ soccer team from the Valley to advance to the state tournament, breaking that barrier in 2018.

It was one of the most significant accomplishments in Valley girls’ soccer. Following that, players and coaches began talking about “making state” instead of just hoping for “deep runs” into the playoffs.

The Bulldogs are part of another significant event Tuesday at they play on the road at Sharyland High. The 6 p.m. match is a battle for first place between two undefeated powerhouses in District 31-5A.

That, however, is a mere asterisk to the real significance. According to coaches and Valley sports aficionados, it may be the first time two Valley teams – in any sport – are facing each other while both ranked in the top 5 (or top 4 in this case) in the state.

McHi (6-0, 2-0) comes into the marquee matchup sitting at No. 4 according to the Texas Girls Coaches Association’s most recent poll while the Rattlers (9-0, 4-0) hold the No. 2 spot.

Soccer has been a successful sport for Valley teams, especially for the boys. Brownsville Porter has two state titles while Brownsville Rivera, Brownsville Lopez, Hidalgo and Sharyland High all have one apiece. Rivera, during the 2014-15 season, was ranked by some polls as not just No. 1 in the state, but No. 1 in the nation as well.

But, for at least today – and maybe throughout the year to postseason play – all eyes are on the Bulldogs and Rattlers in the first of two meetings this year.

“I’ve never heard of it. I’ve been doing this for 25 years and it’s nice to see other places in the state thing that we can play good soccer down here,” McHi head coach Pat Arney said. “It’s a big deal.”

McHi is coming off a season in which the team had high expectations. They were one win away from officially clinching a district title when the pandemic struck. Going into this season they lost three girls to major Division I soccer programs and others who were being recruited at that level but decided to focus fully on education.

Still, they keep churning out great players and have dominated all season with a highly-skilled offense and defense. An extremely technical squad with short, crisp and accurate passing, along with plenty of speed helps keep the Bulldogs with an advantage in time of possession over most opponents. And the longer they have the ball, the fewer chances opponents have to score – and the more opportunities there are for McHi.

Ten different girls have scored for the Bulldogs this year in six matches, eight of them have two or more goals. Briana Claudio leads them with 10 goals followed by Mallory Henderson with eight and Chloe Fallek with six.

Sharyland has a different style of play, more of a quick strike team that focuses on getting the ball to senior star Xochitl Nguma who, earlier this season, broke the all time Valley girls scoring record of 146 goals in a career and heads into Tuesday’s match with 156 career scores. Head coach Mario Ribera calls it a “1-2 get the ball to Xochi” style of play. Much more straight forward and focused on longer passes and longer shots, from just about anywhere on the field.

“McHi has gotten to state and continues to be a powerful team. They have a seriously strong opponent in Sharyland,” said Juan De Dios, president of the RGV Soccer Coaches Association and former Valley coach for more than 30 years. “Where they are ranked is quite and honor and recognition. It’s going to be a great game.”

Neither coach is taking this matchup lightly and they know the significance of it, for the district race and for a glimpse of the future and postseason play.

“My biggest concern for my girls is not to get scared, playing a giant like McHi,” Ribera said. “I said since the beginning of the year that I though we could hang with the McAllen schools and beating (McAllen) Memorial and (McAllen) Rowe gives us a lot of confidence. And it’s always good to play against great teams and ranked teams, especially McAllen. It’s exciting. I hope things come our way, but if not we’ll get back to it the next day.”

While the scoring machine Nguma will deservedly attract a lot of attention, the Rattlers also have other threats including Chloe Ribera and freshman Yhoalibeth Alvarez. All three are powerful strikers who will take shots on a moment’s notice.

“We need to execute and do what we do well. Use our speed and play like a team, We can’t rely on just one or two people,” Arney said. “Defensively we have to stop Xochi and Chloe, make them have to make better plays, but keep an eye on the other girls.

“I think it will be interesting to see who makes a mistake. You make a mistake against a good team and you will be punished for it. We both have huge scoring teams but it could be a 1-0 game. If it is, hopefully it’s a good goal and not a fumble or something cruel or a mistake… but, that’s soccer.”

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PSJA Southwest’s Isaac Velasquez and McAllen High’s Nilton Dos Santos were dominant in their events Saturday at the Region VIII-5A swimming championship at the Corpus Christi ISD Natatorium and are now heading the state swim meet in three events.

The Valley’s contingent had a strong showing throughout the day. Dos Santos won in three events, Velasquez won two events and McAllen Memorial’s Dayan Rodriguez also qualified for the state meet by winning his event. The UIL Swimming and Diving Championship is scheduled for Feb. 27-28 at the Bill Walker Pool and Josh Davis Natatorium in San Antonio.

Velasquez won the 50 freestyle by .09 seconds before also swimming to first place in the 100 free. Velasquez, a junior, was also named the Region VIII-5A boys swimmer of the meet. He’s going to state for the thirsd straight year, and in completely different events. Last year, he advanced in the 100 fly and 500 freestyle.

“He has always liked the sprint events, but we felt he had a better chance in those other events last year to help the team win,” PSJA ISD aquatics director Jonathan Landero said. “This year, everything lined up for him to be in the events he really wanted and he went with it. He knows what he wants and he doesn’t let distractions get in his way. He’s so focused.”

Landero added that Velasquez is extremely versatile and his ability to successfully compete in almost any event is an issue when head coach Erika Amador is choosing the events.

“Coach Amador and I thought he could do anything, so why not let him do what he wants,” Landero said. “He allows us to build a team around him and if we need to do anything else for the team to do better, he’s willing to do that.”

Velasquez not only set personal marks in each event, but he also set PSJA Southwest and school district records in both events.

Dos Santos touched the wall first in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly individually. He also anchored the winning 400 relay team with Travis Wilkins, Nyles Dos Santos and Ethan Lizzotte. That quartet beat city rival McAllen Memorial and the team of Ethan Rodriguez, Dayan Rodriguez, Austin Barton and Sebastian Restrepo by .01 seconds.

Santos, the District 31-5A boys swimmer of the meet, took first in the 200 free and 100 butterfly, as well as the relay.

McHi junior Alex Rodriguez advanced to the state meet in the 1-meter diving category earlier in the week. Rodriguez captured second in the event, behind Alexander Pisarek of Corpus Christi Ray. The top two finished in the diving event advance to the state meet.

In the girls diving event, Mission Veterans’ Ryann Ramirez also captured second place, behind Mia Stevens, to move on to the state meet in San Antonio.

When Sharyland High’s Gabby Gonzalez touched the wall at the end of the girls Region VIII-5A 100-yard freestyle finals Friday in Corpus Christi, she figured that Rachel Huang had once again beaten her.

“She always beats me,” Gonzalez said of the Corpus Christi Flour Bluff standout swimmer.

Gonzalez will never be able to say that again. The Sharyland High junior led from start to finish in a side-by-side finish and won the race to advance to the state meet for the third year in a row. Gonzalez clocked in with a personal best time of 53.11 seconds, less than a half second faster than Huang’s 53.52.

Gonzalez is the lone area competitor from the 5A regional meet who will advance to state. Her time in the 50-yard freestyle placed her in second but Sharyland head coach Tina Jensen said she believes Gonzalez’s time will be fast enough to be called up to state. This year, only the event winners automatically earn a berth at state, then the next eight fastest times will also be called up.

Gonzalez led at the halfway point by .16 seconds and actually extended her lead in the 100. She didn’t feel that way, though, during the event.

“I was very anxious about today’s race and at the end of the race I was relieved it was over,” she said. “It didn’t feel like I was in the lead and (Rachel) and I were neck and neck, so when I looked up and saw I took first place and beat Rachel I was surprised.”

Jensen said the team didn’t have many opportunities to compete due to COVID-19 and UIL safety protocol. Most meets could only be duals or tri-meets. Gonzalez ended up competing against the boys most of the year.

“She actually asked if she could go against the boys,” Jensen said. “What a great idea it was.

“Her work ethic is impeccable. She doesn’t ever quit and is always striving to do better. It has been a rough season, but we made. Just two more weeks.”

The state meet is scheduled to take place at the Bill Walker Pool at Josh Davis Natatorium in San Antonio on Feb. 18-19. The boys Region VIII-5A meet will take place today, also at the CCISD Natatorium. Prelims will take place in the morning and finals in the afternoon.

McAllen Rowe finished with the top team performance of area schools, collecting 1,131 points for fourth place, edging McAllen High, the District 31-5A champion, which finished fourth with 1,088 points. Flour Bluff easily won the event with 3,478 followed by San Antonio Great Hearts Monte Vista with 1,939 points. Sharyland High was sixth, Brownsville Veterans seventh and Sharyland Pioneer rounded out the top 10 teams in 10th.

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