NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR

MISSION — The Roma Gladiators girls swimming team needed a comeback, and that’s exactly what it got on its way to a fifth consecutive district swimming and diving championship.
Roma edged out Mission Veterans 144-131 in the District 31-5A team standings to overcome the 20-point lead the Patriots had built thanks to a strong day diving Thursday. The swimming finals were Friday at Bannworth Aquatic Center in Mission.

Gladiators senior team captain Isabella Gonzalez is a veteran of the meet but said she needed some positive thinking to remind her of her own abilities.

“I just had to come in with a good mentality, that I was going to do well, because the meets before (district) I hadn’t dropped time,” Gonzalez said. “When I got on the block, I was just telling myself, ‘I’m going to do good, I’m going to do good.’ And it ended up working out. I’ve trained hard enough to do well. I just have to think to myself that I will do good.”

Gonzalez won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:25.98, more than 20 second better than the next swimmer. She had similar success in the breaststroke, finishing nine seconds quicker than the silver medalist with a time of 1:14.25 on her way to female swimmer of the meet honors.
Rebecca Canales fought through a shoulder injury to win the 50 sprint freestyle and give the Gladiators another 9 points in the standings. Roma girls also took first in the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay.

The district title was the first for head coach Blanca Tello, who took over the program after longtime coach Calvin Synder retired.

Mission Veterans’ Karla Castillo had a special day, winning both the 200 and 100 freestyle races.
Her biggest triumph was reaching a four-year goal of finishing the 100 freestyle in less than one minute. She was seeded at 1:00.04 but touched the wall in 59.17 for the gold.

“Since my freshman year, I’ve always wanted to break the minute. That was my first time. I was really happy,” Castillo said. “I was focused on dropping time, not my competition.”

“It’s my last day, my senior year, and I wanted to leave it all,” Castillo said. “It’s one of my last meets in the Valley, and I wanted to do my best.”

In the boys competition, Sharyland Pioneer followed up its dramatic first district title in school history a season ago with a strong meet, leading from start to finish.

Coach Arnold Perez said coming in as champions was a new perspective, but he was obviously pleased with the result.

“Last year, we were behind like 20-some points or so,” Perez said. “This year, we were ahead by 10, so it’s a little different. Now, we had the target on our back, but the guys pulled through and pulled away. These guys are something special, for sure.”

The Diamondbacks were led by sophomores Trevor Heath and Ethan Saenz. Heath took individual gold in the 200 IM and 500 freestyle for the second straight year. Andrew Adkins also added a breaststroke and 200 freestyle gold to the Diamondbacks’ collection.

Saenz finished second in the butterfly to Sharyland High’s Luciano Farias-Ramirez but set a school record in the process.

Saenz was a part of one of the most competitive individual races of the day — the 50 freestyle. The Pioneer sophomore entered the race seeded behind Sharyland High’s Javier Suarez Moreno by more than a second.

“Just coming out of that, that just felt amazing,” Saenz said. “Honestly, it was all God’s glory, everything’s from him. I just say that I feel very honored. It feels amazing to be a part of my team. I love all my friends. They’re like brothers and sisters to me. I’m just glad to be able to contribute to this team.”

Saenz swam a 22.94, just ahead of Moreno’s time of 23.18 to clinch gold in the sprint. He said the feeling of chasing a higher ranked swimmer helped him raise his game.

“It just pushes me to become the best, or at least try,” Saenz said. “I always want something over me so I can have the motivation to overcome that person.”

Farias-Ramirez won gold in the butterfly with a 54.45 and swam a 55.92 for backstroke gold to earn top male swimmer honors.

[email protected]

VALLEY HS GIRLS SOCCER SCHEDULE
Friday’s Games
District 31-6A
Edinburg Vela at Edinburg North, 6 p.m.
PSJA North at PSJA Memorial, 6 p.m.
PSJA High at PSJA Southwest, 6 p.m.
Edinburg Economedes at Edinburg High, 6 p.m.
District 32-6A
Weslaco East at Wesalco High, 7:30 p.m.
District 31-5A
Sharyland Pioneer at Mission Veterans, 7 p.m.
Roma at Sharyland High, 7 p.m.
Laredo Martin at Valley View, 7 p.m.
District 32-5A
Edcouch-Elsa at Donna North, 5:30 p.m.
Mercedes at Donna High, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 27
La Joya High at Monte Alto, 10 a.m.

VALLEY HS BOYS SOCCER SCHEDULE
Friday’s Games
District 31-6A
Edinburg Vela at Edinburg North, 8 p.m.
Edinburg Economedes at Edinburg High, 8 p.m.
PSJA Southwest at PSJA High, 8 p.m.
PSJA North at PSJA Memorial, 8 p.m.
District 32-6A
Weslaco East at Weslaco High, 5:30 p.m.
District 31-5A
Valley View at Laredo Martin, 7 p.m.
Mission Veterans at Sharyland Pioneer, 7 p.m.
Roma at Sharyland High, 7 p.m.
District 32-5A
Edcouch-Elsa at Donna North, 7:30 p.m.
Mercedes at Donna High, 7:30 p.m.

NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR

MISSION — A year ago, Mission Veterans diver Victoria Bonilla finished second in the 1-meter dive at the District 31-5A meet with 199.10 points. She didn’t dive her best but improved to a 244.60 at the regional meet, advancing to the state competition as a freshman.

Former district champion Sandra Valdez graduated from Sharyland High after last season and now dives at the University of the Incarnate Word, making room for the young group at Mission Veterans to shine. Bonilla led the way, earning gold with a score of 275.10 on Thursday during the District 31-5A diving meet at the Bannworth Aquatic Center.

“I’m very passionate about diving, so I’m thankful for my coach, and I’m thankful for my teammates. They’re incoming freshmen,” Bonilla said. “We’ve just been practicing a lot, and we have been working hard, and I’m really dedicated.”

She completed a 1 1/2 forward somersault on dive 11 to hold off Sharyland Pioneer’s Viany Carver, who scored 229.05. In third and fourth were Patriots freshmen Jayden Longoria and Ryann Ramirez, with both eclipsing Bonilla’s ninth-grade score.

Bonilla said she is glad she can provide leadership and support to her teammates as only a 10th-grader.

“I just want them to be the best that they can,” Bonilla said. “They both have a lot of potential, and I know they can both possibly make it to state. I know my coach is very supportive of me and so are my teammates.”

Mission Veterans coach Melissa Reyna was fighting the flu but was still poolside judging and supporting her trio of divers behind a surgical mask.

“They were pretty nervous, so I just feel they did a really good job, even though they were nervous,” Reyna said. “Our first goal was to go regionals. We did that. Our next goal was to come in 1, 2, 3, and we almost did that. Our next goal is to hopefully get them all to state.”

On the boys side, Marc Rodriguez led the Pioneer charge with a gold medal as part of a podium sweep. Rodriguez scored a 308.0, Luis Ponce scored a 287.0, and Julian Perez finished with 219.75 points for the Diamondbacks.

Roma’s Juan Gonzalez placed fourth with a 195.05.

Rodriguez was last year’s district champion as a sophomore. This season, he blew past his score from last year with a 308.00 — a 51.65-point improvement.

His strong day came even after he said he got off to a slow start.

“Toward the beginning of the meet, I was getting 3 1/2s, and I was thinking, ‘I don’t think I can do it.’ I was sitting down by myself just thinking,” Rodriguez said. “Once I started scoring sixes and fives, that’s when my energy started to go up, and I had more confidence in myself.”

The confidence Rodriguez built came from some of the more technical and difficult dives, which weigh more in the scoring. He said back 1 1/2 somersault is his favorite dive to complete.

Aesthetics aside, Rodriguez posted a strong day of difficult dives, and the early hiccups were no concern for Sharyland diving coach Tina Jensen.

“I think it might just be a little bit of the anxiousness for the meet,” Jensen said. “I know he’s looking forward to the regionals. That’s where’s he’s going to have to make sure he has a perfect meet. He does stand a great chance of advancing to the state level.”

“Marc puts in a lot of extra time beyond,” Jensen said. “He’s always staying extra, working harder to get better, and this year he’s had a significant gain.”

[email protected]

NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR

PHARR — Most swimming programs share a pool. Often, the schedule is predetermined. Athletic periods are crafted to align with bus routes that transport athletes from their home campus to the water.

January is a valuable time to prepare for district meets, which get underway this week. Most coaches keep their cards close to their chest and away from the other schools with which they share a facility.

In PSJA, the scenario is a little different. All four high schools — PSJA High, PSJA North, PSJA Memorial and PSJA Southwest — practice in the same place at the same time.

Every morning at 7, about 30 swimmers from the high schools convene and work under the motto “four teams, one heart.”

“Seeing regional qualifiers and, this past year, state qualifiers, it’s really cool,” PSJA High’s Jose “Josie” Gomez said. “When I joined, it was only the second year. Even though I qualified for regionals, I know there’s something more that we can do. I guess it’s just seeing our dreams being fulfilled going from district to regionals, and now state.”

Jonathan Landero, who oversees all four teams as PSJA ISD’s swimming director, said that the setup wasn’t originally designed to create a competitive advantage when the program started in the 2013-14 season with the completion of Pharr Aquatic Center.

“The model that we are applying has definitely worked for us. It was almost absolutely necessary, because the program was brand new. It never existed before,” Landero said. “If we separated all our kids, we would have had two kids swimming per school, alone.”

As the size of the team grew, the philosophy of sticking together remained the same. The four high schools have been on a mostly upward progression. They have produced qualifiers for the regional meet while earning team district titles for the PSJA North girls and PSJA Southwest boys teams.

The school district and Landero owe a lot of success to Joshua and Joseph Velasquez from PSJA Southwest. While Joshua has moved on to college at Lindenwood University, he and now-senior Joseph represented the Javelinas and tri-city area as the school district’s first state qualifiers.

As the season reaches its most important meets, with the District 31-6A meet running Thursday and Friday at the Pharr Aquatics Center, the younger Velasquez knows the process and work required to get back to the final day of racing on Feb. 17.

“Honestly, I work really hard for it,” Joseph Velasquez said. “When I want to achieve, when I want to get that goal of going to state every year. It’s really hard, but you always need to keep training, especially when it’s so close. Since it’s so close to state, you have to push yourself that much harder.”

Last year, the Javelinas sent their 200-yard freestyle and 200 medley relay teams to state. Juan Mejia and Joseph Velasquez return from those historic groups.

“I’m not a fatalist, but it does seem almost a little bit like fate,” Landero said. “We were in a position of growth at the time with PSJA. We were working really hard. And their arrival really kind of took some of the better swimmers already at PSJA, and it showed them if they worked really hard, they can get to a level that the brothers were at.”

Landero feels the elite swimmers raise the level of competition for everyone in the water, leading to widespread improvement.

“As a program group, it really just became a big benefit for us, because you have the fastest swimmers of all four schools possibly swimming with each other,” Landero said. “Then the kids that are aspiring to do that, they get to see the type of work ethic that takes place.”

While Landero hopes all competitors can make progress, PSJA High’s Gomez made such a leap that he’s become the team captain and an example of what effort can produce.

During his early days, he hardly knew how to move around in the water.

“I guess the biggest difference for me is being able to cross the pool,” Jose Gomez said. “I joined swimming because I wanted to learn how to swim, so when I first got in the water, I was just doggy paddling across the pool. But even after my first year, there was a big difference. Comparing my freshman year to this year right now, other than me getting faster, the team has grown.”

Elsewhere in the Valley, the District 31-5A meet will be held Thursday and Friday at the Bannworth Aquatic Center in Mission, while District 30-6A will compete Friday and Saturday at the McAllen ISD Natatorium at McAllen Rowe.

[email protected]

VALLEY HS GIRLS SOCCER SCHEDULE
Tuesday, Jan. 23
District 31-5A
Sharyland Pioneer 2, Laredo Nixon 0.
Sharyland High 6, Laredo Martin 1
Mission Veterans 4, Laredo Cigarroa 1.
Non-District
McAllen Rowe 3, Laredo Alexander 2
McAllen High 7, San Benito 0.
Edinburg Economedes 2, La Joya Palmview 1
Edinburg North 2, La Joya High 0
La Joya Juarez-Lincoln 2, PSJA Memorial 1
Brownsville Pace 9, Mission High 0

VALLEY HS GIRLS SOCCER BOX SCORES
Tuesday’s Game
District 31-5A
SHARYLAND HIGH 6, LAREDO MARTIN 1
Laredo Martin 1 0 — 1
Sharyland High 1 5 — 6
SHARYLAND HIGH (5): Kaitie Watson (4), Xochitl Nguma (2)

SHARYLAND PIONEER 2, LAREDO NIXON 0
Laredo Nixon 0 0 — 0
Sharyland Pioneer 2 0 — 2
Sharyland Pioneer (2): Jocelyn Boyle, Andrea Reyes

Non-District
McALLEN ROWE 3, LAREDO ALEXANDER 2
McAllen Rowe – – — 3
Laredo Alexander – – — 2
McALLEN ROWE (3): Emily Morin, Sabina Sanchez Veronica Dougherty,

McALLEN HIGH 7, SAN BENITO 0
San Benito 0 0 — 0
McAllen High 5 2 — 7
McAllen High (7): Paola Alvarez, Westyn Henderson, Ava Alaniz, Chloe Fallek, Sophia Soto, Zoe Flores, Rylie Flores.

Friday, Jan. 26
District 31-6A
Edinburg Vela at Edinburg North, 6 p.m.
PSJA North at PSJA Memorial, 6 p.m.
PSJA High at PSJA Southwest, 6 p.m.
District 31-5A
Sharyland Pioneer at Mission Veterans, 7 p.m.
Roma at Sharyland High, 7 p.m.
District 32-5A
Edcouch-Elsa at Donna North, 5:30 p.m.
Mercedes at Donna High, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 27
La Joya High at Monte Alto, 10 a.m.

NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR

McALLEN — After 60 minutes of empty excitement, the first shot that found the twine picked up the pace. McAllen High and Weslaco East found the net in the later stages of the second half to play to a 1-1 draw on Tuesday.

A through pass from Antonio Hernandez found the foot of the Bulldogs’ leading goal scorer, forward Emmanuel Llanas, and he made no mistake with 21 minutes to play in the final game before both teams start district play.

“ We’ve been working in practice a lot, and it showed in the game,” Llanas said. “We did our best. Just that goal that they scored, we need to take that out. Just (need to) keep working hard until district.”

For most of the game, McAllen High’s Camacho was the most creative player in a white uniform, but he was often outnumbered on the rush. The lack of numbers downfield contributed to McAllen not recording a shot on goal until the second half.

Llanas said that the strong start to his season offensively has a lot to do with teammate Francisco Camacho’s pace and skill complementing Llanas’s ability to make plays.

“ He’s a really good player, and he scores goals, but thank God I’ve been scoring more goals this year,” Llanas said. “He’s been playing more as a team player than last year. I think that’s been helping me score more.”

Wildcats midfielder Saul Muñoz was clutch in answering the Bulldogs’ tally just less than two minutes later. A free kick was sent into the box, but McHi’s defense and goalkeeper couldn’t contain the ball. The result was a tap-in equalizer.

“ The mentality was just to go fight for it, like it always is,” Muñoz said. “I think we had plenty of chances in the first and second half to score. We got that free kick, it fell to me, and I scored it.”

The man with the captain’s armband had a pleased assessment of his team’s performance in non-district play.

“ We just try to fight hard every single minute of the game,” Muñoz said. “I think it definitely helps. This game, it was a very hard-fought draw. I think we saw very good things in the game. Some things we have to correct, but the majority very good things.”

During the 13th minute, Camacho had the wheels to get into attack position, but defender Chris Delarosa stayed in pursuit and blocked the shot.

Weslaco East coach David Castro was happy with his team’s emphasis on defense, which has been a strong suit of the team so far.

“ We pride ourselves in our defense,” Castro said. “You know sometimes we break down, but every game we go into, we’re going to try to shut them down. And hopefully, our forwards or our midfielders or anyone can have the chance to score.”

McAllen High’s best chance during the first 40 minutes was from Bryan Perez, who was all alone after a corner kick, but his volley attempt went high over the crossbar.

On Weslaco East’s side, Orlando Fuentes had a glorious chance in tight but was denied by McAllen’s Edgar Barbosa. The keeper played an outstanding first half, also stopping East’s Ricardo Avendaño Jr., who was named MVP in the team’s Corpus Christi Tournament championship two weekends ago.

In the 36th minute, Barbosa made another key save against Luis Ramirez.

McAllen High’s first shot that required a save came from Camacho with 27 minutes to play. His dribbling and control made the play happen. As the play developed in the second half, more space was available for both teams, and the movements were crisper, according to McAllen High coach Fernando Segovia.

“ It must have been the halftime speech, right?” Segovia said. “Halftime, I corrected the mistakes. They weren’t doing the correct movements as far as my forward and swinging midfielders. The defense was touching the ball more, and we had a few more chances. We just need to work on finishing.”

After both goals had been scored and 16:30 remained in the game, Camacho was fouled just outside the penalty box. Llanas had a bid for his second goal of the evening, but the dropping shot didn’t fall quickly enough to avoid the crossbar.

“ We have a lot to work in practice,” Llanas said. “They were good games for practice, but we have a lot of work to do, because it’s going to be a tough district this year.”

The Wildcats start district play against Weslaco High on Friday. McAllen open District 30-6A play on Feb. 2 against La Joya High.

[email protected]

NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR

MISSION — Serena Cervantes needed more time to get into her wrestling gear than to pin her opponent in the 128-pound championship match of the All-Valley Championship on Saturday afternoon. Unless she put her uniform, pads and headgear on in 51 seconds, the match lasted longer than the wardrobe change.

Cervantes has taken a busy path to become one of Texas’s top wrestlers. A few short years ago, the sport wasn’t really on her radar.

Entering high school, Cervantes was excited to wear the purple and gold on the soccer field for the McHi Bulldogs. Along with soccer, she figured she could contribute on the basketball court and the softball diamond for the school. She still manages to play those sports, but now she has a new love.

“My passion used to be for soccer my freshman and sophomore year,” Cervantes said. “Once I joined wrestling my freshman year and how far I got, I realized that I’m better at it. My passion changed throughout my sophomore year.”

Cervantes gives a lot of credit to Gina Reed, one of McAllen’s assistant wrestling coaches who was a middle school teacher at Morris when she noticed Cervantes’s raw strength.

Reed suggested that Cervantes squeeze one wrestling practice per week into her busy freshman schedule. Even as a ninth-grader, Cervantes qualified for state as an alternate.

“I was winning most of my tournaments, but that was just off of strength,” Cervantes said. “I didn’t know any technique. I was new. Junior year, that’s when I got a better mental game in the sport.”

Her strength hasn’t gone anywhere, but with the help of second-year McAllen coach Hilario Compean, she has combined it with attention and focus on the finer details of the sport. Her coach said it’s a joy to have an exceptional athlete who is also coachable.

“It’s awesome. It makes things a lot easier,” Compean said. “Especially when she starts to understand why we do things, the strategy that we implement, why we’re attacking this leg and not that leg, why we move inside, why the head goes here and so on and so forth.”

Her obsession with improvement is part of the reason her latest trip to state as a junior last year resulted in a fourth-place finish.

“Once she understands those details and she implements them and sees it work, she buys into it and she grows afterward,” Compean said.

The quick starts and early pins that Cervantes is making habit are a product of deliberate effort and training.

“It’s a lot of my mental game. If I’m confident enough in all my matches, I know I’m going to get it, for sure,” Cervantes said. “I just know I have to score first and score last to know that I’m dominating a match.”

Sometimes Compean will ask Cervantes to extend the match to earn points or train cardio, but in tournament play he wants her to “pin and win” to save energy.

Cervantes is working toward a state title, but the road won’t be easy. The defending state champion has graduated, but last season’s gold and silver medalists at 138 pounds are competing at 128 this year, in Cervantes’s path.

Compean says she’s up for the challenge of becoming the school’s first state champion since Sam Mangum earned two, including the Valley’s first wrestling state title in 2009. Cervantes is currently ranked No. 2 among Class 6A wrestlers at 128 pounds on WrestlingTexas.com

Cervantes said juggling sports has gotten easier now that she’s a senior and has been splitting her time for some years now. Her coaches have gotten used to the routine, but they still expect her productivity.

“It was tough in the beginning, but I manage, so right after one practice I go to another,” Cervantes said. “(McAllen High girls soccer coach Pat Arney) wants me there every day, but he knows that I have a good chance at wrestling, so he lets me go to wrestling. And as soon as it’s done, I go to him, and it’s all for him.”

“Serena is a great kid, she’s got tons of athletic ability,” Arney said in a text message. “All the soccer team is hoping she can bring home a state (title)”

[email protected]

VALLEY HS BOYS SOCCER

District 31-5A

Roma 2, Mission Veterans 1

Copa La Frontera

Saturday’s Games

Group 1 (Hidalgo’s Bill Pate Stadium)

Brownsville Rivera 2, Hidalgo 1

Los Fresnos 2, Mercedes 2

La Joya Juarez-Lincoln 1, Laredo Alexander 0

McAllen Rowe 3, Monte Alto 0

Hidalgo 2, Mercedes 1

Brownsville Rivera 1, Los Fresnos 1

McAllen Rowe 0, Laredo Alexander 0

La Joya Juarez-Lincoln 2, Monte Alto 0

Group 2 (Valley View ISD Stadium)

McAllen High 1, La Joya Palmview 1

McAllen Memorial 3, Grulla 0

Mission High 5, Laredo United South 3

Brownsville Porter 4, Edinburg IDEA Quest

McAllen High 0, McAllen Memorial 0

La Joya Palmview 3, Grulla 0

Laredo United South 1, Edinburg IDEA Quest 0

Brownsville Porter 1, Mission High 0

Semifinals

La Joya Juarez-Lincoln 3, McAllen Memorial 0

McAllen High 2, Los Fresnos 0

Third place

Los Fresnos 1, McAllen Memorial 0

Championship

La Joya Juarez-Lincoln 2, McAllen High 0

Tuesday’s Games
District 31-5A
Laredo Cigarroa at Mission Veterans, 7 p.m.
Laredo Martin at Sharyland High, 7 p.m.
Sharyland Pioneer at Laredo Nixon, 7 p.m.
Non-District
Weslaco East at McAllen High, 6 p.m.
Harlingen South at Edinburg Economedes, 6 p.m.
Weslaco High at Progreso, 7:30 p.m.
Hidalgo at McAllen Memorial, 7:30 p.m.

VALLEY HS GIRLS SOCCER SCHEDULE

District 31-5A

Roma 1, Mission Veterans 0

Governor’s Cup (Georgetown)

McAllen High 4, Round Rock Stoney Point 1

Non-district

Edinburg Economedes 3, Weslaco High 1

VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS SOCCER BOX SCORES

Saturday’s Game

Non-district

Edinburg Economedes 3, Weslaco High 1

ECONOMEDES 2 1 — 3

WESLACO HIGH 0 1 — 1

Edinburg Economedes (3): Maria Rocha (2), Laura Gonzalez