By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
Regardless of wherever Gaby Garza goes in life, she’ll always be known as one of the top female hurdlers from the Rio Grande Valley.
Garza’s storied path as an athlete is taking her to Ithaca, New York, where next school year she will run her hurdle events on scholarship at Cornell University, an Ivy League school.
A signing ceremony for her National Letter of Intent was held Wednesday at Garza’s home in Brownsville with the senior track standout and her family posing for pictures to mark the occasion.
“I’ve been looking forward to this day,” said Garza, who began her track career as a third-grader in Brownsville. “Even if it was going to be a small signing event (like this one), I’ve been dreaming of going to a real good school, so this means a lot to me.”
During her middle school years, through summer track and other competitions, Garza soon came to know coach Meme Garza (no relation), and their association eventually led her to spend her first three years of high school at St. Joseph Academy.
Now, actually, Garza’s path to Cornell is a journey that is taking her from Brownsville to Florida and then to New York.
While at SJA, Garza recorded times in the hurdles that rank among the all-time Valley bests. As a senior this school year, Garza now is attending and competing for IMG Academy, a high school for talented, college-bound athletes in Bradenton, Florida.
Going to a prestigious Ivy League school and continuing her athletic career in the hurdles at the NCAA Division I level is the realization of a long-held goal for Garza, who set personal bests in her events last March while competing in the high school division of the 90th Texas Relays in Austin.
At the Texas Relays, Garza ran the 300-meter hurdles in 43.5 seconds (second fastest time by a Valley female). Also at the Texas Relays, Garza ran the 100-meter hurdles in 14.27 seconds (third all-time best by a Valley female).
All-time track and field records by Valley high school athletes are kept by Carlos Vela, a former coach at PSJA High who became the Valley’s track historian.
Garza is anticipating a big challenge at Cornell in the classroom as well as on the track. She plans to pursue a degree in hotel administration. Cornell is rated the No. 1 school in the country for such a major, she said.
“I know it’s going to be tough trying to balance out my track life with my academic life,” she said. “(Once there) I just want to settle in and grow mentally, physically and spiritually so I can enjoy my college years.”
It’s already been something of a transition for Garza to go to another state to complete her senior year.
“It’s different,” Garza said of IMG. “Since it’s an academy and every single person going there is an athlete, they all want the same thing. They want to succeed as an athlete (in college). The environment is so much more positive and like 10 times more fun to just be around people who want to do great things (athletically).
“Over there (in Florida), I have other (very competitive) girls to train against,” Garza added. “Here, I was the only hurdler.”
Throughout everything, Garza’s coach has been her mentor and advocate.
“Coach Garza is the one who helped me realize the hurdles are my passion (when I was younger),” she said. “He’s shown a lot of loyalty to me from the seventh grade until now. We’re hundreds of miles away now and I still call him every day. He was the coach who was talking to the coach from Cornell. Coach Garza has been just amazing throughout this whole entire journey.”
Meme Garza, the longtime cross country and track coach at SJA, stepped down prior to the current school year and retired from his teaching/counseling position at the school as well. He’s enjoying seeing one of his best athletes do well and have her college future finalized.
“I’m extremely proud of Gaby,” said the coach, a member of the RGV Sports Hall of Fame. “I knew that Gaby was special when she was in seventh grade and I asked her about her goals. She said she wanted to go to a great college and she wanted to run track. When she said she wanted to go to a great school and then mentioned track, I knew her priorities were where they were supposed to be.
“Let’s face it, there are a lot of great schools across the country, but there are only eight Ivy League schools,” he added. “I’m proud of St. Joseph Academy for helping bring along Gaby to the level where she’s at now. She’s reached the level she needed to be at in order to get to an Ivy League school.
“Cornell has great facilities and Gaby loves the school. I couldn’t be happier for her. She is going to a great school and she is running track. The sky’s the limit for her.”
Gaby Garza is grateful for all those who have made an impact in her life.
“I, of course, want to thank my parents (Carlos and Lucia Garza) for being so supportive with everything that I do,” she said. “And, of course, I thank Coach Garza as well for making this all possible.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess