BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
ELSA — Before Edcouch-Elsa junior pole vaulter Bianca Cardenas began Thursday’s meet, she already owned an impressive resume.
On March 31, Cardenas jumped 12 feet, 7 inches at the 91st Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin, setting a new Valley record. With the new best mark in hand, Cardenas wanted to step her game up for the District 31/32-5A area meet.
Cardenas captured the area championship Thursday morning with a jump of 12 feet, 6 inches, but she wanted to see how high she could push herself.
“I’ve been working really hard since day one,” Cardenas said. “I’ve come out all year, since the summer up to now. I feel like the hours I’ve put in have brought me a long way.”
Cardenas successfully completed a jump of 12 feet, 9 inches which was then a new Valley record. But she followed that up with another all-time best, clearing the bar at 13 feet for her second new Valley record of the day.
“I just wanted to get the feel of jumping at 12-09, because if I made it to regionals, the height that kind of competition jumps at is around 12-09,” Cardenas said. “I got the feeling of how to jump it, and that’s why I wanted to try to go higher, to see if I’m capable of going higher.”
Cardenas proved she could.
“I have an amazing (vaulting) coach (Jaime Ochoa),” Cardenas said. “He’s guided me on technique and my positioning of where I need to be.”
“It’s very exciting. I was jumping up and down a little while ago,” Edcouch-Elsa girls track coach Juan Aguinaga said. “It’s a joy to watch her perform. She’s peaking at the right time. We hope she can continue this going into next week (at regionals).”
Shattering a Valley record took on a new light for Cardenas as the 2018 area meet took place within the friendly confines of Benny Layton Sr. Memorial Stadium.
“I didn’t expect to do so much,” Cardenas said. “Competing at a place where I’m always practicing makes me nervous, because everything is so familiar. I’m happy that I even got over the bar to win.”
Sharyland Pioneer senior thrower Johnny Howell qualified for Thursday’s area meet, but he did so with two uncharacteristic second-place finishes in the shot put and discus at the District 31-5A meet.
“After districts, I took some time to reflect and see what I needed to fix,” Howell said. “I spent the week in between district and area to fix my technique and get back to where I need to be.”
Howell came back strong in the shot put, throwing a 57-08 to eclipse the old area record by 7 inches. He also qualified for regionals with a third-place finish in the discus.
“I’ve been throwing hard this past week and getting myself mentally ready to perform,” Howell said. “My first throw today was a little relaxed. Second throw was a 56, and I felt a little bit off. Before my last throw, I thought, ‘This is where I need to take it to the next level.’ Everything connected. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had the record. I didn’t get the area record last year, but I knew I had to get the area record somehow today.”
“He came out with a fire today,” Sharyland Pioneer boys track coach Thomas Lee said. “His job today was to get us 16 points, and that’s exactly what he did for us. He’s got a goal of reaching 60 feet at the regional meet in San Antonio. He had a PR (personal record) up there last year, so we’re hoping for the same thing as last year.”
The Mercedes boys owned the long distance events — the early morning 3,200-meter run as well as the 1,600 on Thursday evening — taking the top two spots in both races. Senior Dominic Cavazos won both, first with a time of 9 minutes, 31.19 seconds in the two-mile followed a 4:20.70 in the mile.
“I was coming out here to win and not so much for time,” Cavazos said. “The first mile (of the 3,200) was slow, but we picked up the pace pretty good.”
Cavazos was followed by Tigers sophomore Lupe Reyes, who took second with a new PR of 9:36.66.
“I thought I was going to get fourth (place) and barely make it,” Reyes said. “I was super nervous running the race. I was strong running the first mile, but I was tired (during the second mile). I had to push myself in the end.”
“He (Lupe) was pretty serious after the district meet,” Mercedes boys track coach Pete Martinez said. “He knew he’d be running against some of the top guys in the Valley. He really wanted to go out there and show what a sophomore can do. He emptied the tank. For him to do what he did as a sophomore, I’m all excited. I can’t wait to see him as a junior.”
Not to be outdone, Julian Fuentes, another Tigers sophomore, took second in the 1,600 run (4:31.35) to qualify for regionals.
“Last year, we went to the regional meet to support Jonathan (Reyes) and Dominic,” Fuentes said. “Now, we’re going to run at regionals. It’s a great feeling.”
The final girls race, the 1,600 relay, was the most anticipated of the night. Before the relay, the Edcouch-Elsa Yellow Jackets stood in first place as a team with 84 points, but the Mission Veterans Patriots were nipping at their heels with 83 points. With the Yellow Jackets and Patriots tabbed as the favorites in the race, an area championship hung in the balance.
The Mission Veterans cohort of Nyla Vela, Alyssa Villarreal, Lizeth Sanchez and Charlize De La Garza built a big enough lead to allow the Patriots to coast to a six-second win (4:03.31) over the Yellow Jackets (4:09.57).
“A couple of the mile relay girls weren’t feeling too great, but I told them that they were going to have to do this for the team,” Mission Veterans coach Kathy Howell said. “‘If you want the Area trophy, go get it.’ And they did.
“These kids have no problem stepping up when it’s important. They do it for each other. That’s one of the things that is unique about this squad.”
The 4:03.31 broke the school record and the area record en route to netting the Patriots their second area championship in as many years.
“I think about my teammates and our coaches because they’ve prepared us all season long for this one race,” De La Garza said. “I told my teammates, ‘I’ve got you if you’ve got me.’ I knew we could do it. We just had to do our best.”