By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
PORT ISABEL — Even an ankle injury didn’t stop Porter’s Jerry Perez.
Perez was the top boys finisher with a time of 18:52.87 in the three-mile race and helped the Cowboys take the boys team title in the Port Isabel Invitational cross country meet Saturday.
“It did bother him a little bit, it effected his time,” said Perez, who suffered an ankle injury on Wednesday, through a translator. “He feels confident because he’s been working really hard. He’s going to continue to work hard, let his ankle heal so he can be ready for district.”
Eusebio Castro of Lopez was second (19:06.55) and teammate Julio Perez was third (19:09.09) as the Lobos tied Porter for the top spot at 47 points but lost the tiebreaker with a lower finishing fifth runner. Sebastian de la Garza (19:15.30) and David Johnson (19:20.12) of Sharyland High rounded out the top five finishers. IDEA Frontier was third with 54 points.
“(Jerry’s) been placing in the top five in every meet this year,” said Porter assistant coach Jose Espitia, who was filling in for coach Clemente Delgado. “He didn’t feel comfortable, but we felt he was going to do well. He’s been working really hard, but he’s going to have to take care of that in the next two weeks so he can do well in district.
“If he’s healthy, he should improve (his times) and do better.”
Sharyland High was the top girls team with 18 points as the Lady Rattlers, led by Samantha Guerrero (21:44.37), took six of the top seven places.
Teammate Cynthia Hernandez was second (22:36.19), Jennifer Hernandez of Lopez was third (23:09.51), and Sharyland High’s Nicole Aguilera (23:52.69) and Paloma Kuri (24:06.69) rounded out the top five finishers. No other school had a full team among the girls competition.
The Port Isabel girls team ran in the JV race because of the race length of two miles, which is what Class 4A and lower run in district meets. The Lady Tarpons, led by Gabby Torres’ first-place finish of 13:45.00, were the top girls team in that race. The Lady Tarpons’ Susana Torres (13:47.00) and Jennifer Martinez (14:15.00) finished second and third, respectively, and two teammates, Clara Christanson and Brisa Gonzalez, finished eighth and 10th for Port Isabel.
“Not personal bests, but they finished well,” Port Isabel girls coach Dawn Aguilar-Snyder said. “They really want to go to regionals as a team. I’m confident where we’re at and the way we’ve been getting better each race. It gives them some confidence heading to district.”
It was extra special for Gabby Torres, whose aunt is Sylvia H. Torres, the former coach who recently died after a long battle with cancer. The entire cross country team is wearing warmup shirts in her honor that display the message ‘We run for Coach Sylvia H. Torres’ around a heart.
“Shortly after she passed, a relative had a T-shirt design and she said she would be honored if the team would wear the shirt to warm up. The girls said that they would love to,” Aguilar-Snyder said. “We want to honor her because she was such an influence on Tarpons athletics. I know she’s looking down on us.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.