All Armando Montes did was offer to play goalkeeper during a practice in eighth grade. At that time, it was nothing more than a simple gesture.

Already known as a fierce striker, that decision wound up being bad news for those who faced him in the future. What was supposed to be a one-time test run turned into a career-changing move as Montes grew into not just a game-changer, but one of the most dominant forces in goal for Sharyland High, helping lead the Rattlers to a District 31-5A title with an unblemished 14-0 district record.

With Montes in goal, the Rattlers flourished, scoring 61 goals during district competition while allowing just eight. Because of his shutdown play, Montes is The Monitor’s All-Area Boys Soccer Goalkeeper of the Year.

“I was just playing with some friends, some of the same ones on the team and our keeper was missing so I said, ‘Let me try it out,’” Montes said. “I loved it, so I stayed. It wouldn’t ever have crossed my mind that I would stay. I never saw myself as a goalkeeper. Now, I love the thing that I do.”

As the Rattlers looked to complete their undefeated district season alive, it became even more difficult to get a shot past the 6-foot-1 Montes. He allowed just two shots on goal to get past him in the final seven matches of the season, claiming five shutouts during that run.

“Going undefeated to win district made us proud. It hadn’t been done for 10 years at the high school,” Montes said. “We thought we could go pretty far in state — we thought we could win it. We had everything to make us capable of reaching our goal.

“I thought we could get as far as we wanted to. All the hard work, the countless hours running in the heat of the day, running bleachers and six miles a day. It hit me hard when the season got shut down.”

The COVID-19 virus pandemic was the cause of the early shutdown, ending his season and high school athletic career. But the hoards of shutouts and the numerous goals he saved still remain.

With a defense that pushes up as far as it can, Montes can be found pushing up as far as perhaps any goalie. His strategy is to cut off any long balls that opponents may send to start a counter attack. It certainly worked during his senior season. He’s not just athletic, but he’s technically savvy and being a former offensive player helps him understand what’s coming at him.

“The first thing to position myself depending on where the ball is coming from,” Montes said. “I want to cut off angles before they have a chance. Sometimes I’ll charge one on ones — they always expect the keeper to stay back but I play pretty aggressive and I’ll slide tackle them if I need to.”

Using that strategy, Montes was successful eight of the nine times he did that as offensive players would become hesitant watching him come charging at them.

“Since I played a lot as a striker, I know and could see what the attacker is going to do a lot,” Montes said. “It helped me in so many ways to position myself and make the correct dive.”

Montes started playing soccer when he was 5 years old. He was always an attacking player. Even though he has been in goal the past two seasons, the 17-year-old cornerstone of the Rattlers’ soccer team still has some flash from his “younger” days. He played striker and scored a goal this past season in a tournament.

“We were missing several players, so I had to play forward,” Montes said. “I can still score some goals; sometimes I miss that, but I love what I do. Scoring a goal or saving a goal has as much a reward as the other.”

After the abrupt halt to the season, Montes said he didn’t think about playing again in the future. Now, however, he is back to training and said he is going to look for some colleges to play for.

“My plan, for the summer, is to keep on training and be the best I can be,” he said. “If I have the chance, I will try out for some colleges. I don’t know why I wanted to be in goal back then. It was just something to try. Now, I love what I do.”

The PSJA, Weslaco and Edinburg school districts strength and conditioning programs have been postponed until further notice.

According to a statement on the Weslaco ISD website, “students have tested positive for COVID-19. The students who contracted the virus were not experiencing any symptoms. We believe the illness was not contracted on school grounds.”

The district continued to state that individuals who may have come in contact with those who were infected have already been notified.

“Out of abundance of caution and for the safety and well being of others, the Weslaco ISD strength and conditioning program has been canceled until further notice.”

The school district also announced that ticket sales for the upcoming football season have been postponed.

The Edinburg school district has also delayed its program, which wasn’t scheduled to start until June 22. However, that program also is postponed until further notice.

Edinburg CISD Superintendent Gilbert Garza said the district it looking at options to begin the program in July, but added they cannot say definitely and “things could change by tomorrow,” he said.

“Out of the safety of our students we have decided to suspend the conditioning program until further notice,” Garza said. “The deciding factor had nothing to do with testing or the students in the school district but mainly because of the county’s numbers spiking with more and more cases.”

The PSJA school district has suspended its training, as well, and is holding a meeting at 1 p.m. today to discuss its plans regarding the situation.

Brownsville ISD also suspended its strength program after an athlete tested positive for COVID-19. The school district stated that it would monitor events for two weeks and determine whether or not to resume the summer program.

Check back throughout the day for more details.

When Pat Arney moved to the Rio Grande Valley and took a job at McAllen High School, he became the program’s first girls soccer coach.

That program, now a powerhouse, has accumulated 519 wins and 18 district titles under his 24-year stewardship.

With a 20-2 record this season, one that not only had extremely high expectations only to be cruelly cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, Arney has been named The Monitor All-Area Girls Soccer Coach of the Year.

Before Arney arrived in deep South Texas, the Stillwater, Minnesota native had sent his resume all throughout his hometown state “to some towns I had never heard of,” he said. Searching for a social studies teaching job, Arney said there was one available in Stillwater, but, “that’s the Twin Cities and there were 1,000 resumes.”

He had some friends in the Valley and his grandparents had been Winter Texans, so he was familiar with the area and found his job at McHi.

The year he arrived was the first year for girls soccer in the Valley.

Coincidence? More like fate.

Now he has a program that was ranked among the top five in the state this year, according to TopDrawerSoccer.com. The Bulldogs have three Division I commits on the team (with possibly more) and were focused on a deep playoff run. Senior goalkeeper and The Monitor’s All-Area Girls Soccer Player of the Year, Lexi Gonzalez, was also placed on the site’s “Watch List” for being among the best in the nation. She has announced her intention to play at perennial national power Arkansas.

He said that commitment was confirmed when two of his players — seniors Westyn Henderson (committed to Texas A&M) and Ava Alaniz (committed to Houston) — came to him one day and said they didn’t want to do conditioning in the afternoon, during a time when they would split conditioning and actual practice.

“They wanted to condition at 6 a.m. instead so they would have more time to practice on plays in the afternoon,” Arney said. “They were focused. This is what we have to do to get better.

“If you’re asking to get up an hour or 90 minutes earlier to run stadiums or do whatever, that shows a commitment level. The girls realize that it really matters. I’ve seen teams that have great talent and great potential but did things like go away for spring break and there have been years where we’ve won because somebody else didn’t care enough. For our girls it’s not, ‘I’ll play whenever,’ it’s, ‘These things matter.’”

The Bulldogs’ first and only girls soccer head coach remembers early in his career how he and other coaches would travel to the annual coaches clinic, held during and at the site of the state championship. He marveled while watching those teams play.

“Some of those teams would go five, six, eight or 10 deep,” Arney said. “We didn’t have that kind of depth. Now, I can sub people and we will run you down. We’ve been extremely successful and the girls buy into the goals and believe they are really important.”

Arney said the tradition of winning is something the program takes pride in. He said he also sees a greater commitment level with players wanting to be better.

“I have JV players that play club and can’t make the varsity because of our depth,” he said. “That’s them wanting to get better. They want that at an earlier age now. Learning and playing at a higher level is getting younger now.”

The 2018 Bulldogs became the first girls team from the Valley to ever to advance to the state semifinals. He said that team had girls who would play all over the country with their club teams. It’s something that was unheard of 20 years ago.

“It wasn’t too long ago that if you had three or four club players on your team, you were going to win district,” Arney said. “But when you have great players, they want that competitiveness. And great players want to go at each other. When our girls go after it when they are scrimmaging each other, that’s a great day, a great practice. The gloves come off and they start teasing one another but they go hard.”

Arney added that there’s no time to slow down and the goal remains getting better because there are teams across the Valley that want to set the same standard that McHi has grown into the past 24 years.

“I don’t now if people realize how good the Valley is with teams like Harlingen South and (La Joya) Juarez-Lincoln, which has improved by leaps and bounds, and McAllen Memorial and Los Fresnos and Edinburg Vela. It’s great to see that,” he said.

What else is great to see, Arney said, is that next year the Class 5A regional tournament will be held at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium. McHi, McAllen Memorial and McAllen Rowe all will be in Class 5A next year after UIL’s redistricting.

“I’m excited about next year. If we play our cards right, we could be playing in front of our home fans on our home field to return to state,” Arney said. “That would be unbelievably amazing, especially after playing teams like San Antonio Johnson and San Antonio Reagan on their home fields for the past 24 years. It’s a dream come true and a testament to how important the Valley is to soccer.”

Arney said he remembers telling the group of now seniors to “leave a legacy” during their freshman year.

“They’ve done that and more,” Arney said. “And it matters.”

Lexi Gonzalez had a decision to make.

She was already committed to Oregon St. to play volleyball.

But she felt so right on the soccer field — her second home — and, especially, in goal.

After an internal struggle and much self-debate, she approached her mom and said, “I think I want to play soccer instead.” Her mom was a little stunned but jumped on board and soccer became the goal.

First, however, she needed to tell the coaches at Oregon St.

“It would have been disrespectful and not right to not tell them,” Gonzalez said. “I didn’t go to any camps until after I told them.”

Good decisions seem to be the norm for Gonzalez, especially in the sports arena whether she’s playing soccer or volleyball. Those decisions during the soccer season led McHi to a 20-2 record and a ranking among the top five in the state, according to TopDrawerSoccer.com. Because of her performance during the 2019-20 season, Gonzalez has been named The Monitor’s All-Area Girls Soccer Player of the Year.

Gonzalez, who plans to sign later this month with the nationally ranked University of Arkansas soccer program, allowed just seven goals all year. She’s definitely glad she made her decision to pursue a future in soccer.

“Something changed in me, and on the field I realized that I would miss playing soccer. It was a part of me,” Gonzalez said. “During the soccer season (her junior year) is when I realized that this is what I want to do for the next four years and more. It was a difficult decision but I’m glad I made it.”

Gonzalez, who was also The Monitor’s All-Area Volleyball Player of the Year, had an electric year in goal for the Bulldogs, becoming the first team to advance to the state semifinals during her sophomore season.

During a game against Katy Tompkins, the then-ranked No. 2 team in the nation and a former No. 1 team the year prior, Gonzalez saved attempt after attempt from the powerhouse team. She suffered two injuries during that match. The first was during a corner kick when Gonzalez and a player from Katy hit heads. Gonzalez went down and had to be taken out for a short while based on concussion protocol.

The second time she came out of the game was following getting kicked/spiked in the ankle. She went down to the ground but popped back up trying to avoid being taken out. It didn’t work, and she was sent back to the sidelines by the officials. In the two minutes she waited to return, Tompkins scored the only goal of the match and won 1-0.

“I was so proud of our team to play against a team with so many talented players and stay with them like we did,” Gonzalez said. “I felt like I was in the zone for that match, as well. That game was one of the best I ever played. I felt so healthy. I didn’t want anything to go into the goal and was diving all over the place.”

Gonzalez, who gave up just seven goals and had 16 shutouts this year (and scored four goals as well), compared this season’s team to the team that advanced to state two years ago. She said the year after going to state was a heavy learning year.

“We definitely learned a lot from that season,” she said. “We went in strong but didn’t play our best in the last game (a playoff loss to Harlingen South). It was a good lesson for us and we talked about it and watched film to see what we could so that it didn’t happen again our senior year.”

It didn’t. The COVID-19 pandemic hit South Texas like it has most of the world and took with it graduations, jobs and all high school sports. McHi had one regular season game remaining before starting the playoffs.

“It was sad the way it all ended, especially right before the playoffs,” Gonzalez said. “This team recovered from last season and we were really hoping to make another deep run in the playoffs.

After four amazing years in which Gonzalez dominated in two sports, she said one of the keys to being successful is keeping a positive attitude.

“You’re going to fail at times but you need to pick yourself up from all those obstacles you’re going to go through and handle the pressure when it’s on,” she said. “But always stay positive and keep a good attitude.”

And, like Gonzalez, make the right choices.

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Xochitl Nguma couldn’t figure why her ankle and foot kept hurting. Surely, she had stayed off it long enough after rolling it before her sophomore season began to be able to play.

Something wasn’t right. That’s when she found out she also had a foot fracture. Her sophomore season — 16 goals and just one district game in — was suddenly over.

This past season, she wanted to make up for that lost time. So, she scored 68 goals before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic just prior to Sharyland High playing in the first round of the playoffs.

Those 68 goals — and 18 assists — were more than enough to name the junior The Monitor’s All-Area Girls Soccer Co-Offensive Player of the Year for the 2019-20 season.

Her scoring output tied the girls Valley record, set by Los Fresnos’ Tanya Prazelina in 2017.

Her resume this past year was more than just impressive. It was jaw dropping.

Nguma was named the Brownsville and Donna North tournaments MVP, scoring six and nine goals, respectively, in the two events. She scored 35 district goals and set a team and district record with 10 goals in a game. (She scored seven against the same team earlier in the season.) She was named MVP of District 31-5A and her Rattlers won the district title.

And she believes there’s more to come.

“The fact that I didn’t play last year made me really upset and I wanted to come out and prove myself as a player,” Nguma said. “I wanted to do something momentous in my career and do something important and get noticed because I want to play soccer in college. That was the individual goal of the year and my coaches and teammates knew it.”

It wasn’t easy to achieve. As the district coaches and players started to recognize the superhero type talents in the forward, their strategy changed — and usually ended up with two or even three players marking her. The concept: stop Nguma and you stop Sharyland.

The plan was much easier said than done.

“There was a lot of pushing and pulling. It was very physical, especially when there’s a girl in front and a girl behind. Where do you move?” Nguma said. “Sometimes I would have to push the girl behind me and get in front of the other or get in front of all of them, pass the ball out and ask for a pass back. Sometimes when I would go out for a few minutes, the other team would take the girls out who were marking me, as well. It was insane.

“If a team marked me, I would come back to the ball around midfield. I’d turn and try to dribble past one player and take it down the line then lay it off to a teammate and lay it off to teammate, or dribble past the last player and take the shot. I had to end it.”

She ended it more often than not.

Nguma seemed destined for a certain greatness from an early age. She said her dad knew before she was born that he wanted her to play soccer and would put a ball in the walker with her to start kicking around. She started playing at age 3 and hasn’t stopped.

Her first name, which sounds like “so chill,” is definitely not an apt description of the offensive powerhouse who realized as a freshman (and maybe earlier) that her feet were gifted. Even with a shortened sophomore campaign she has 124 goals and she’s looking not only to break the tie for most goals in a season, but has her eyes set on the all-time goal-scoring record, unofficially at 164.

Even if she breaks those individual records, however, she’s quick to point at what she said is the real reason she’s had those opportunities.

“It’s because of my teammates, my coaches and my family,” she said, adding that she and defender/sweeper/midfielder and coach’s daughter Chloe Ribera have developed a bond over the years. “We’ve been playing together for a long time and I can always count on her. Us playing soccer is all that matters.

“Setting and going for that record could not have been done without everyone. It stressed me a lot this year and it put a lot on me. Without the people I have in my life, there’s no way I would have come close to that record. They all knew I wanted to break that record and they helped me so much.”

She’s not done yet, either.

“There are always more things to do and you have to keep your standards always high,” she said.

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Taylor Campbell is a self-described “boring person.”

Try selling that to the teams she played against this year and you probably won’t make a nickel.

The Edinburg Vela junior forward scored 45 goals this season, bringing her career mark to 117, and led the SaberCats to a tie for the District 31-6A title with Donna North. For her dominant performance this season — which was cut short by one regular season game and consequently the postseason — Campbell was named The Monitor’s All-Area Girls Soccer Co-Offensive Player of the Year for the 2019-20 season.

“Getting onto the field and competing turns you into a whole new person,” Campbell said.

Campbell was certainly a new player this year. Still a dominant force as in the past two years, but this season she said she was more comfortable with the ball, and she added some muscle, which made a huge difference as opponents attempted to mark her, so often unsuccessfully.

“I trained a lot more than before and got physically bigger,” Campbell said. “My freshman and sophomore years I was constantly being marked by one, sometimes two players — in district sometimes by two or three — and they were constantly pushing and nudging me. So I took into consideration that I needed to get bigger, stronger. It really helped.”

Campbell was a good player by the time she reached high school, but it was at the end of her freshman year — and during a loss none the less — that she moved from good to great and gave the rest of the Valley a peak of what was to come.

During a first-round playoff game against Harlingen High, the SaberCats went down 3-0 in the game’s first 20 minutes.

“At halftime I told the team that we can do something, still. They had lost the previous year, like, 5-0, so (they) probably felt like it was happening again,” Campbell said. “I thought this was a moment to do something and let people see these girls can do something.”

Campbell went out and scored three second-half goals, tying the game with each goal before the Cardinals finally held on for a hard fought 6-5 victory.

“It was a really awesome moment. It was on a whole different level and I realized that there were things I could do,” Campbell said.

As a sophomore, she scored a career-best seven goals against Incarnate Word during a tournament game. This past season, she knocked in six against district foe Weslaco High.

This year, she had another breakthrough. Despite the ferocity she plays with, Campbell said she would still be hesitant to try new and different things. That changed during the season.

“I learned there was a lot more I could do than I thought I could, both in club and school,” she said. “I would be hesitant to try something because I would over think it. This year, I got over that mentality and was able to do so much more.

Campbell was one of three junior girls to eclipse the 100-goal mark this season. Also doing it was Donna North’s Gabby Aviles (49 goals) and Sharyland High’s Xochitl Nguma (68 goals). If they continue at the torrid pace they’ve been scoring, all three will have a shot to break the Valley’s all-time career scoring record of, unofficially, 160 goals.

“That would be awesome,” Campbell said. “When we leave, we will have done some great things.”

While she may consider herself boring, Campbell is definitely interesting. She has a lengthy set of superstitions — more like a routine — that she needs to go through before every match.

“I’m very superstitious. I do certain things for every single game and if I don’t, I swear I will have a bad game,” she said. “I put on my shin guard left first and (then) right. I have a bible verse on the left shin guard, I touch the bible verse first before putting them on. Then, I wrap my shin guards in two different colors — like purple and green.

“I always wear double socks, and I double knot my tight shoelace and triple my left shoelace. And before a game I always drink two full bottles of water.

Then, there’s the food — a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (“strawberry jelly with crunchy peanut butter.”)

“If I don’t eat the sandwich my teammates are all around offering a banana or whatever else they have,” she said.

Westyn Henderson’s eyes darted briefly right, then left, as she thought about how to answer the question just posed to her.

She had just finished having her photo taken after being named The Monitor’s All-Area Girls Soccer Midfield/Defensive Player of the Year, and she was still wearing her purple and gold McAllen High jersey — maybe for the last time.

A senior on a powerhouse team with three future Division I players — maybe more by the time all their high school careers are over — Henderson scored 10 goals and dished out 21 assists for the Bulldogs, who finished the season 20-2 overall and 11-1 in district, losing only to La Joya Juarez-Lincoln and to Katy Tompkins, the nation’s second-ranked team, according to TopDrawerSoccer.com.

Expectations were incredibly high for a team that just two years ago became the first girls soccer team from the Valley to advance to the state’s final four.

The expectations were especially high after what Henderson agreed was somewhat of letdown year last year.

“There were different expectations for this year,” she said. “We approached this season with a lot of goals that we knew we could accomplish if we worked hard. It was different than any other season. We always work hard at McHi soccer but this was the hardest we every worked.”

Henderson, just as in past years, played a key role in the Bulldogs’ success. In fact, she played several pivotal roles during a year in which it looked like another long run in the playoffs was probable. McHi head coach Patrick Arney used Henderson all over the field, taking advantage of her versatility in every game.

“This year I was more of a utility player,” said Henderson, who will continue her education and athletic career at Texas A&M next year. “I was willing to play anywhere, be that missing piece, and it changed every game.

“We faced adversity with injuries and people being out for different reasons. I feel this year my job was to step in anywhere and I did. I enjoyed switching a lot throughout the year. It kept me on me feet, it was never dull and there was always something different.”

What may separate Henderson from other players is a flair for the creative. Not only can she be tough as nails defensively, but she can also dribble around players, score from tough angles and connect with a teammate effortlessly with a perfect pass.

“I pride myself in my passing,” she said, adding she had no idea how many goals or assists she had during the season. “I honestly try to stat away from stats as much as possible. Ava (Alaniz) and I do that. Whether we are assisting or scoring, it’s all about helping the team.

“There was a certain comfort playing with this team this year. When we scored eight in a game there may have been eight different girls scoring. Everyone would get excited about that.”

Heading to the next level, Henderson is already planning to work first and foremost on her defense, forecasting that defense may be where the sees playing time.

Still, she wouldn’t mind getting a shot on the offensive side of the field, especially against SEC foe Arkansas, where she would love to score on longtime friend andd fellow teammate, goalkeeper Lexi Gonzalez.

“I’d love to get a chance to score on her,” Henderson said. “Of course, she’ll say, ‘Heck no.’”

Gonzalez and Alaniz, who will be playing at the University of Houston, had all planned to go out in style for the 2019-20 season. But, the same fate that hit so many others, showed no favors to the purple and gold, or any color combination as the COVID-19 virus put a sudden, and shocking early ending to high school careers and seasons. For McHi and District 30-6A, it came with one match to go before the postseason.

“It has been hard to grasp the idea that it was cut short, but trying to think about it positively this was my best season — not just because of wins and losses, but because of how I grew as a player and watched so many of the girls grow as well,” she said, her voice cracking just a bit with emotion after thinking how to answer the question.

“Still, having the season stripped away from you within a couple weeks, it’s still hard two wrap your head around. We had so much we wanted to do and could do. Now, we’re never gonna know how things would’ve turned out.

“But, still, it was fun while it lasted.”

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Ayloni Garcia recalls her Mission High girls soccer head coach William Proctor tell her that he had scored 25 goals once in a season during high school.

The freshman then went out and scored 26 herself this season.

“Of course I had to beat that,” Garcia said. “That was my challenge.”

Her scoring output not only led the team but also vaulted her to being named The Monitor’s All-Area Girls Soccer Newcomer of the Year.

“We could count on her every single game,” said Proctor, who has been a coach in Mission CSID for the past six years and is on his second run with the Mission girls, coaching them for three years this time around after an earlier six-year stint. “I went to see some of her junior high games as a seventh grader. She was a very good player. I couldn’t wait to get her in high school.”

Garcia made her impact felt early and often with the Eagles. Her season highlight came in a District 30-6A matchup against PSJA North that, ultimately, the Eagles won 5-4. Mission trailed at halftime, 2-0 but in the second they had the wind to their back.

Mission tied it then took a 4-3 lead, three of those goals coming from Garcia. Then PSJA North tied it at 4 late in the match.

Garcia refused to let the match end that way.

“She put the team on her back,” Proctor said. “Right after they scored the fourth goal she took the ball and scored the game-winner.”

“I just blocked everyone out of my mind and it was just me and the keeper,” Garcia said. “I went to the far post, straight to the corner.”

Garcia said she wanted to actually score 30 goals for the season. The COVID-19 pandemic put a strain on that, ending the regular season one game short, and ending her shot at the 30-goal mark.

The freshman phenom doesn’t come across dominant if one sizes her up by height alone. One of her nicknames at home is shorty, but maybe that’s also what makes her so very good, not letting that stature get in the way but being led by drive and determination. She’s more than just sound technically, knows the sport — she just turned 15 in April and has been playing for 11 years — and, according to Proctor, has a work ethic that’s second to none.

“She didn’t have much trouble with anyone,” Proctor said. “Skill-wise, they were trying to keep up with her so she rarely got pushed around. Sometimes she got knocked down but it wasn’t anything where they were pushing her around. When she had the ball more than likely they were just trying to take it away from her and they had trouble doing that.”

Garcia said the only injury she sustained was when she fell on her wrist.

“I just got it wrapped up and went back out there,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I had to get back to the game.”

Garcia, who has a 7-year-old brother, comes from a sports-oriented family. Her mom played high school basketball and she has several cousins and other family members who played or are playing sports now.

Her dad races dragsters, and Garcia is a junior dragster herself, having eclipsed 100 miles per hour behind the wheel. They can be both found at the Edinburg dragstrip at times competing.

“Its good knowing that I have another talent, for racing, just like my dad,” she said. “When I hit 100 my dad freaked out the first time.”

Proctor said having a talent like Garcia on a team — especially as a freshman — not only means three more years of watching her grow and get stronger and more dominant, but it’s also a great way to raise the bar when it comes to the entire team.

“All athletes want to be good and a lot of times girls may like a sport and having someone like that who sets the bar where the top athletes can gauge it and see it right in front of them,” Proctor said. “Sometimes they don’t see it every day because there isn’t someone in front of them every day to show what it takes. We’re gonna try to do everything we can to get the most out of her. She’s a heck of an athlete.”

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Alex Rodriguez has no doubt.

In fact, for the La Joya High senior discus/shotput thrower, that’s been a mantra that he has taken to heart this novel coronavirus shortened season.

With all spring sports canceled, the individual sports — track and golf at least — may have the best chance to complete their seasons. Whether or not that hope becomes a reality, Rodriguez is leaving no doubt behind as he continues to practice wherever he can, albeit by himself. His goals are simple: make it to state in the discus event and win state in the shot put.

“That’s been his rallying point: ‘No doubt,’” said Joe Garza, one of two throwing coaches for the La Joya High track and field teams, along with Juan Guajardo. “He knows he can’t take anything for granted. We are lucky to have two throwing coaches, and we sat and talked with him that he has to leave no doubt this year.

“Don’t leave it up to anything — it’s just you against the ring. It’s you against yourself and whatever happens, happens.”

Rodriguez is ranked No. 4 in the state, according to tx.milesplit.com. His personal record of 60 feet, 7 1/2 inches came at the Bear Relays on Feb. 14 at PSJA High. He is one of just five throwers who have eclipsed that magical 60-foot mark. He surpassed that plateau again in his post recent competition at the Steve Stark Relays at Sharyland High. He threw 60-6 during the second day of competition to win that event. He has won all five meets he’s competed in this season.

“He’s always been a strong kid,” La Joya track head coach Joe Magallan said. “At times, it may look like he’s lifting heavy, but he’s just strong. During football season, we ease off the weights some. He’s also very specific with footwork, and being an offensive lineman helps him maintain that. He’s quick — really quick — on his feet.

“As an individual he’s a great kid. He stays out of trouble — he has his head on his shoulders. He has non-negotiables too, certain things that are not negotiable — things he would not even get close to that would get him in trouble. His mom is his biggest motivation. You absolutely want one of those (like him) at home.”

Rodriguez said that his season was off to a great start until the virus came around. Still, he said he’s moving forward with his eyes on a state championship.

“I’m still training and still putting in the time I need,” said Rodriguez, who is also 28th in the state in the discus with a throw of 162-2. “Hopefully it will pay off at the end of the season, if we have one still. I’m working a lot more on my technique right now by myself. I remember what coach told me and I’m working hard by myself and spending time working.”

Rodriguez has bettered his PR every year. His freshman year, he started throwing about 38 feet but set him personal best at 49-1 1/2 feet. As a sophomore he upped that to 58-5 3/4 feet. Those first two PRs each game in the Region 4-6A meet. He hit the 60 mark as a sophomore at the Mission Eagles Invitational.

He’s focusing on breaking his current PR. He hopes that happens especially at state, no matter what his PR is by then.

“Back then (as a freshman) I competed for fun and just showed up for practice once a day,” he said. “It has turned into three to four practices throughout the day, working on one thing sometimes that may result in just giving me a couple of inches. You never know when it will come and help you out. It can make a huge difference.”

“Every time I go to practice, I go in believing whatever we train and whatever drills we do that they are the right move to get further distances and become a state champion.”

Rodriguez said he believes that a throw of 65 or 66 feet will win the state title. Katy Taylor High School junior Bryce Foster holds the farthest throw this season at 61-7 3/4.

“My biggest challenge is to never lose hope that the season will come back,” Rodriguez said. “Whether I’m working with my coaches or by myself I need to remember never to take anything for granted.

“I have to prepare myself when I’m in a meet not to worry about anyone else, just do what I’m capable of and have no doubt.”

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DONNA — More than 40 high school wrestlers will represent the Rio Grande Valley at the UIL wrestling state tournament beginning Friday at the Berry Center in Cypress.

Sixteen wrestlers in each of the 10 girls and 14 boys weight divisions — the top four places from each of the four Texas regions — will battle on the mat for the opportunity to wrestle, and win, a state championship.

Five of those local wrestlers are Region IV champions. They include PSJA Memorial’s Abel Alvarado (22-1) in the Class 5A at 106 pounds, Donna North’s Monica Resendez (17-6) in the Class 6A at 95 pounds, McAllen Memorial’s Serenity De la Garza (36-5) in Class 6A at 138, and two other Class 5A representatives with Donna High’s Precious Hernandez (21-1) at 215 and La Joya Palmview’s Judith Rivas (38-4) at 165.

Rivas was not available for the photo shoot and interviews for this story.

Abel Alvarado, Sr.

PSJA Memorial

22-1; 106 pounds

Alvarado is making his second straight trip to the biggest tournament of the year. He finished second in last year’s district tournament.

“It feels amazing to win the regional; that was a big goal of mine.

“I knew he (Sharyland’s Alberto Mendoza) had been taking everyone out, so I really had to wrestle smart against him and not give him any chances.

“The biggest key for this year is my recovery. Last year I faced a lot of injuries and this year it was focusing more on my enduring and recovering the right way.”

On how he feels wrestling at 106 after wrestling at 113 most of the year: “It’s tiring, but I feel like I’m unbeatable now and the wrestlers who are ranked higher than me I saw them wrestle last year at state and I feel like I can compete with them. The key is just treating them like any other opponent.”

Precious Hernandez, Sr.

Donna High

21-1; 215 pounds

Hernandez defeated the top-ranked Region IV wrestler in the division, Sharyland Pioneer junior Camile Flores (28-4), just two weeks after Flores sent Hernandez to her only loss of the season in the district finals.

“She was without a doubt my most challenging opponent. She was second in the state and had already beaten me in the district final. In district I was really emotional. My best friend (Ozzy Guerra) had just dislocated his elbow in this match and this was going to be our year — me and him going to state — I wasn’t in it. I had been crying. My head wasn’t in the game and I took the loss.

“At regional I said she wasn’t going to take this from me so I took it to her and beat her. The difference was she didn’t have the opportunity to control me. I was in full control.

“It’s my third time to state and my best finish will hopefully be this year. Hopefully I can bring something back to my community.

“Last year I was in a different weight class, 185, and now this year at 215. It’s quite a stretch, but I felt like I could be more successful at this weight, so I went up.”

Serenity De la Garza, Freshman

McAllen Memorial

36-5; 138 pounds

De la Garza, a first-year wrestler who was convinced to wrestle by her uncle, has stormed onto the scene. She defeated four seniors in a row en route to the regional title and her first trip to the state championships.

“I didn’t have an idea to wrestle, my uncle gave me the idea and I tried it out and started to like it after a while.

“I started at 148 and the wrestlers were kind of slower and at 138 they were quicker and I liked moving quicker better. I think my strength gives me a little bit of an advantage. I like to watch the videos of my matches and see what the things are that I did wrong so I can improve on them, like my shots and drops.

“I really didn’t have any concerns about my match in the finals. I just had to think positive and go out there and give it whatever I had, and I did.

“I didn’t think I would make it this far, but I’ve worked hard to make it as far as possible. Once I placed first in regional I realized I was pretty good at this. When I saw my record the first time I was 18-0 and then went to San Antonio and was crying when I lost and Coach came up to me and said to get ready because I would see them at regionals and I saw them and fought back at them. I worked hard, thought positive. The first time I went to San Antonio I was scared. Now I feel I’m prepared.”

Monica Resendez, Sr.

Donna North

17-6; 95 pounds

Resendez is making her fist trip to state. She said she’s a bit nervous but is focusing on thinking positive. This is her third year in the Donna North wrestling program.

“This year, mentally I have a different mindset. I go in thinking positive and knowing I’m going to be the one coming out the winner. Physically I just kept attacking at regionals. They’d get back up and I’d bring them right back down.

“A perfect match for me would be shots and a pin. I was in it just to try it out and ended up liking it and staying. I originally joined because of my weight. I was a basketball player first and the wrestling coaches were asking me how much I weighed. I said 97 and they were like, ‘We need a girl in the 95-pound weight class. Take of your shoes and get on the mat.’

“I had no idea how to wrestle. They said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll teach you.’ I got a win in my first match (against someone from rival Donna High) and I was hooked.”

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