By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — The Harlingen High boys track & field team was fueled up and ready to take on what it calls “championship season” in 2020.
The Cardinals had five team titles under their belt heading into Spring Break, with consecutive victories at the Harlingen Relays, Sams Relays in Brownsville, Los Fresnos Falcons Relays, Mission Veterans Memorial Patriots Relays and Jimmy Platt Relays in Weslaco.
With the District 32-6A, area, regional and UIL state track meets on deck, the Cardinals were aiming to collect championship titles just like they racked up victories throughout the season.
Then the coronavirus pandemic caused the UIL to suspend and eventually cancel all spring sports seasons. It was heartbreaking for the Cardinals to see such a promising season cut short.
“When we found out it was over, it was a really big blow to the whole senior class and to our coach (Efrain Ambriz),” Harlingen High senior Manuel Conde said. “This was the team that he’s been waiting for the 10-plus years he’s been coaching track. He had sprinters, distance guys, hurdlers … he had three great relay teams that honestly all would have qualified to run at Texas Relays, which is a big goal.”
Ambriz has been at Harlingen High for more than 20 years, serving as the boys head track & field coach since 2013. He had high hopes for the 2020 group, which he called one of the best he’s seen during his time with the Cardinals.
Conde, Jaylen Salas and Jesiah Uribe were three seniors Ambriz said developed into key contributors for the program and were especially vital for the solid Cardinals relays. All three were on the 1,600-meter relay that put together Harlingen High’s top performance of the year, in the final event of what became the last meet in which those seniors competed.
“At the last meet, at Jimmy Platt, they knew they needed to do well in the mile relay in order to secure that victory. They’re competitive, so they weren’t out there just to run, they wanted to win and get to five in a row. To me, that race was the highlight (of the season),” Ambriz said.
Despite the strength of that relay and the team in general, the Cardinals weren’t favored to win the highly anticipated race. Crosstown rival Harlingen South was the team to beat, with three straight wins in the relay and a top time almost five seconds faster than Harlingen High’s best.
“(Ambriz) told us that might be our last race for a while, and he said, ‘If it is our last race, let’s just make sure we go out and run the best we can, and not leave with any regrets,’” Conde said.
The three seniors, along with junior anchor Eric Quilantan, came from behind to win the race and the meet by setting a new Jimmy Platt Relays 1,600 relay record with a time of 3 minutes, 23.01 seconds.
“It was the best, knowing that you made your teammates proud and your coaches happy. I just looked forward to that, making them happy and smile because we won. We ran our hearts out,” Uribe said.
Uribe’s career didn’t start as well as it ended. Early on, he said he didn’t take track very seriously. But after a rough sophomore year, he decided to turn things around.
“I hated losing, so after that year, all summer I ran and just kept grinding. Coming into my junior year, I started trying and listening to the coaches and killing myself through the workouts, and that’s when I started improving,” Uribe said.
The extra effort earned Uribe two years on the varsity team and spots in the 800 and 1,600 relays. He also competed in the 400. Ambriz said Uribe and Salas developed into leaders because of how hard they worked to contribute to the team’s success.
With his track career behind him, Uribe wants to become an electrical engineer and attend UTRGV. He called running with the Cardinals the best experience of his life and said he misses being with his brothers.
Conde was a four-year track letterman and said he went from being a freshman who had to refill water bottles for the upperclassmen to a leader in the track family. He competed in the 300-meter hurdles and the 400 and 1,600 relays. Two of his best memories were the Jimmy Platt record-breaking relay and setting a personal best with a second-place finish at the Patriots Relays after running a 40.16 in the 300 hurdles.
Ambriz called Conde “a multi-talented, do everything guy” who excelled as a teammate and off the track. Conde, Eric Martinez and Kilyn Munoz earned THSCA academic all-state honors, and Conde also found success with the Harlingen High choir. He’ll be attending UTRGV and majoring in biology as he pursues a career in the medical field.
“(Being a part of this program) is going to be something I carry forever, I’ll tell my kids about it,” Conde said. “I’d like to be remembered as a guy that was humble and was all about the team. Everything that I did was for the team, for my coach, for our track family as one, not just for myself.”
Even though the graduating seniors will be tough to replace and Ambriz said he already misses them, he knows the program is in good hands with the underclassmen who helped make this shortened season one for the record books.
“I think one of the great things was that we had a good mix of seniors, juniors and sophomores, and it was like a perfect storm. They really bonded, and I think that’s the kind of thing that makes a team even better,” Ambriz said. “I’m very proud of this group. I really wish we could’ve seen what they could do at area, regionals, state. It’ll be a big ‘what if’ for us.”