BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — It’s easy to miss Valery Tobias. The Edinburg IDEA Quest sophomore competes for a Class 3A school at sparsely attended meets for a program with minuscule resources.
But Tobias is happy flying under the radar. Away from the track, she’s as quiet as she is fast. Indeed, Tobias is content to let her times do the talking. Yet her uber-casual demeanor is befitting of her background. IDEA Quest lacks proper practice facilities, so she and her teammates run at UTRGV throughout the season. When that’s not an option, they make do running laps around their school.
Despite those meager origins, Tobias knows what it takes to compete at the highest level. She consistently ranks among the Valley’s elite middle distance runners, winning silver in the girls 800-meter run last season at the state meet.
This year finds Tobias making a return visit to Austin for the same event, where she looks to earn a medal once more. Though she’s familiar the with the pressure that comes with running on a grandiose stage, her march back to state has been a slower campaign than usual.
Where Tobias consistently hit times around the 2 minutes, 20 second mark as a freshman, her times this year have been uneven. She ran a 2:31.10 at a Santa Rosa meet in March before hitting a 2:16.97 at the Meet of Champions in Weslaco. That performance was followed by a 2:24.00 at the district.
But where some see inconsistencies, others see it as part of the plan.
“In the end, it’s about winning state,” IDEA Quest coach Robbie Cruz said. “We don’t want her peaking at the wrong time. We don’t want her hitting 2:15 in the middle of February and March and then she starts dropping. To qualify for state, that is the main goal, just to get here at this time, getting ready for Austin. That’s the main objective, where she is right now.”
Tobias will race at 6 p.m. Friday, entering with a seed time of 2:21.24, third slowest in the nine-girl field. But she’s proven her ability to run near the front. The fastest seed time of 2:17.26 (Jenna Brazeal, Little River Arca) is two seconds slower than Tobias’ personal record (2:15.21).
The intended strategy is to run with the pack leaders and kick with roughly 200 to 150 meters remaining. Technique and game planning are eras in which Tobias has demonstrated maturity. Where she got by on athleticism and speed as a freshman, this year she’s learned to trust her instincts and hold back for the final push.
“My race is only two laps, so that means I have to get every single detail right, but that will only make me better, and I’m aiming for that,” Tobias said. “I want to do better than last year, that’s one of my goals. I just want to go out and run strong and be persistent.”
Not just persistent, but faster. Tobias is focusing on longer kicks to ready herself for the level of speed and endurance she’ll encounter. But those elements are already instilled in her. Tobias also runs cross country and plays soccer for the Trail Blazers, sports that endear themselves to the quickness and stamina associated with middle distance running.
Should she win another medal, it would further cement her standing in the Valley as well as the state and demonstrate the power of hard work over meager athletic budgets.
“Just the fact that she was able to advance was huge, especially for our school,” Cruz said. “I just want her to go out there and enjoy it. I tell her, ‘It’s for you, Val. They’re going to come up to me and say congratulations, but it’s all you.’ I tell her that all the time. ‘I’m not the one running, it’s all you.’”