By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
The arrival of April means it’s time for district golf and tennis.
Districts 32-6A and 32-5A have their golf and tennis tournaments scheduled this week at various sites in Cameron and Hidalgo counties.
For 32-6A, the golf tournament will be at Rancho Viejo Resort and Country Club today and Tuesday. The host school is Los Fresnos.
The 32-5A golf tournament is scheduled today and Tuesday at Tierra Santa Golf Club in Weslaco. The host school is Donna High. The 32-4A golf tournament begins today at Tony Butler Golf Course in Harlingen.
Of course, that’s weather permitting.
The district tennis tournaments in 32-6A and 32-5A also are scheduled this week in Harlingen and Brownsville, respectively.
Weather permitting, the 32-6A tennis tournament will be played Tuesday and Wednesday with Harlingen High as the host school. The 32-5A tennis tournament is scheduled Thursday and Friday at Brownsville Tennis Center.
In 32-5A golf, the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers will attempt to capture a third straight district crown as a team. The Lady Chargers have advanced to the UIL state tournament the past two seasons. They were led by now-graduated Julie Lucio, who is playing golf for the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley.
Although Lucio has graduated, there are still some strong players for the Lady Chargers. Among them is Fahtima Avila, a senior who has the third-best 18-hole average in the Valley for high school girls this school year. She averages 76.29 strokes over 18 holes and barely trails Mission High’s Mia Lerma (74.57) and La Joya Palmview’s Briana Silerio (76.25).
Avila was a member of the past two Brownsville Veterans teams that made it to state.
Brownsville Veterans coach Thomas Abete likes the chances of his girls and boys squads at the district tournament.
“Both (girls and boys) teams have a great chance at advancing to regionals,” Abete said. “They just need to stay focused and play one shot at a time. They can’t get wrapped up in the good or the bad. They just need to play tough and have minimal mistakes.
“We have played Tierra Santa several times, so our players are pretty familiar with the greens and layout,” he added. “Both teams are confident, and we hope we can execute the way we have planned.”
Besides Avila, other members of the Lady Chargers’ squad are Giovana Ramirez, Anisa Nieto, Lauren Serra and Faviola Nino.
Members of the boys squad for Brownsville Veterans are Daniel Yznaga, Michael Alvarez, Jose Fernandez, Isaac Sanchez and Jesse Saldana. Yznaga is a past regional qualifier as an individual player.
The top individual and team finishers at the district level advance to regional competition April 22-25.