STAFF REPORTS
It was a good day for the St. Joseph Academy track & field team on Thursday at the TAPPS South Regional 5A meet at Houston Awty International.
The Bloodhounds had four athletes qualify in the field events for the TAPPS state meet on May 8 and Baylor University’s Hart Patterson Track & Field Complex in Waco.
Megan Lopez, the defending state champion in the pole vault, won the regional with a vault of 11 feet and will return to defend her title next week. She’ll be joined by fellow vaulter Marifer Valencia, who is returning from an injury and was second with a top vault of 9-6.
“I was really happy with Megan, she went a really good height for her,” St. Joseph coach Meme Garza said. “I was pleased to see Marifer,she’s just a tough competitor, mentally tough kid. That’s a pretty hard event to come back from an injury. She was the state champion as a freshman, so this is a great comeback story for her. Hopefully during her senior year she can get another state title. She persevered and I’m really happy for her.”
Also qualifying were Desi Rae Cortinas, who was second in the discus with a throw of 99-10, and Kai Money, who was second in the long jump with a leap of 21-3.
St. Joseph has athletes in seven events in the running finals, including Gaby Garza in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles and the boys relay teams in the 400, 800 and 1,600 that are slated for today.
“I’m very happy with the way things turned out,” Garza said. “The kids competed well.”