By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer
PORT ISABEL — The Tarpon Relays got off to a lively start Friday at Tarpon Stadium with an electrifying display in the boys 3,200 meter race, featuring a late kick by Mercedes’ Lupe Reyes that allowed the senior to pull away for an easy victory in 9:53.41.
It was a battle between Reyes, Hanna’s John Abrego and San Benito’s Joaquin Medina for the first five laps. When Medina began to drop off the pace of the other two leaders, it went down to Reyes and Abrego, and the race seemed to be headed toward a photo finish.
That is, until Reyes turned on the jets as he headed around the last curve.
“(During) the last mile, I was starting to get tired,” Reyes. “(I told myself,) ‘Let’s go, one more lap,’ and the wind was kind of hard today. (I thought,) ‘Should I go now? Should I wait?’ And I just waited for the last 200 (meters) to kick, and I just felt good and started kicking all the way. … At the end, I just felt the adrenaline.”
Mercedes coach Pete Martinez has seen his top runner and Medina go head-to-head in several track and cross country meets, and Martinez added that the competition from Hanna has been another motivator for his team as well. The trio of Reyes, Abrego and Medina finished in the same order later in the 1,600, with Reyes clocking in at 4:31.33.
“You can tell (Medina) is a competitor, and Lupe is a competitor,” Martinez said. “They’re gonna go at it. (Reyes) looks forward to it. … He enjoys it. He likes for there to be some other top runners out there.”
The Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers (128 points) and San Benito Greyhounds (82.50 points) placed first in the final team standings.
San Benito vaulted past Edinburg High off of the strength of its performance in the last event of the day, winning the 1,600 relay in 3:37.63. The Greyhounds were led by Adan Pina, John Castro, Marco Salinas and Medina.
Brownsville Veterans’ Valeria Gamez won the 3,200 meter race in the girls division with a time of 12:42.28, running alongside her teammate, Sofia Ramirez, the runner-up who spent most of the race on Gamez’s heels before Gamez began to widen the gap.
“It was definitely a good first race,” Gamez said. “It was our first time running together as a team, so we were there to push each other. I hoped I could find my pace better, because I need to work on that. And I need to work on my sprinting. But I think meets like this will definitely help me get there.”
She also won the 1,600 with a time of 5:54.13.
In the 100, Gamez’s teammate, Carolina Davila (13.30), was the top finisher.
Josiah Cantu (11.33) was victorious in the boys division of the 100.
Other individual winners from the East Valley included Port Isabel’s Mac Strunk (22.56) and Danaka Camacho (28.55) in the 200 and Porter’s Estrella Medellin in the 400 (1:04.3) and 800 (2:33.06).
La Feria’s Jose Domínguez was first in the boys 400 (51.94) and 800 (2:01.89).
Tarpon Relays
Friday
At Tarpon Stadium, Port Isabel
Girls 100 Dash Finals
1, Davila, Carolina, Brownsville Veterans, 13.30. 2, Zepeda, Alexis, Brownsville Lopez, 13.76. 3, Barrientes, Kat, Brownsville Lopez, 13.84. 4, Galindo, Anahi, Mercedes, 13.93. 5, Mantilla, Joana, Brownsville Lopez, 13.97. 6, Mena, Dominique, Brownsville Veterans, 13.98. 7, Lozano, Hailee, La Feria, 13.99. 8, Heavin, Leah, Hidalgo, 14.00.
Girls 200 Dash
1, Camacho, Danaka, Port Isabel, 28.55. 2, Medellin, Estrella, Brownsville Porter, 28.57. 3, Lozano, Hailee, La Feria, 29.29. 4, Vallejo, Malaya, Mercedes, 29.47. 5, Galvan, Lora, Port Isabel, 29.59. 6, Ochoa, Caitlynn, Port Isabel, 29.86. 7, Zepeda, Alexis, Brownsville Lopez, 29.92. 8, Esparza, Ashley, Brownsville Porter, 29.94.
Girls 400 Dash
1, Medellin, Estrella, Brownsville Porter, 1:04.30. 2, Villanueva, Marina, La Feria, 1:05.17. 3, Rodriguez, Kassidie, Mercedes, 1:05.53. 4, Ayala, Jazaline, Rio Hondo, 1:06.90. 5, Rodriguez, Analiza, La Feria, 1:08.46. 6, Cesenes, Marlyn, Port Isabel, 1:09.77. 7, Martinez, Alexa, Brownsville Veterans, 1:09.94. 8, Garcia, Danisa, Raymondville, 1:10.68.
Girls 800 Run
1, Medellin, Estrella, Brownsville Porter, 2:33.06. 2, Villanueva, Marina, La Feria, 2:34.53. 3, Rodriguez, Analiza, La Feria, 2:37.68. 4, Martinez, Alexa, Brownsville Veterans, 2:45.79. 5, Mancha, Leeanne, Hidalgo, 2:47.81. 6, Ramirez, Cynthia, Brownsville Veterans, 2:53.36. 7, Olivares, Clarissa, Brownsville Rivera, 2:53.88. 8, Sanchez, Ariana, Port Isabel, 2:57.27.
Girls 1,600 Run
1, G?mez, Valeria, Brownsville Veterans, 5:54.13. 2, Ramirez, Sofia, Brownsville Veterans, 5:58.64. 3, Aleman, Kristen, Santa Maria, 6:07.29. 4, Mancha, Leeanne, Hidalgo, 6:09.68. 5, Ruiz, Rosa, La Feria, 6:12.03. 6, Moreno, Lizbeth, Mercedes, 6:37.57. 7, Torres, Elizabeth, Port Isabel, 6:43.95. 8, Olvera, Alissa, Brownsville Veterans, 7:02.73.
Girls 3,200 Run
1, G?mez, Valeria, Brownsville Veterans, 12:42.28. 2, Ramirez, Sofia, Brownsville Veterans, 12:42.79. 3, Ramirez, Cynthia, Brownsville Veterans, 12:48.05. 4, Guzman, Bethany, Brownsville Rivera, 13:14.24. 5, Ruiz, Rosa, La Feria, 13:19.81. 6, Aleman, Kristen, Santa Maria, 13:21.60. 7, Pablo, Angelia, Brownsville Rivera, 13:23.35. 8, Moreno, Lizbeth, Mercedes, 14:00.84.
Girls 100 Hurdles
1, Hernandez, Miranda, Raymondville, 16.13. 2, Garcia, Jacqueline, Hidalgo, 16.81. 3, Gonzalez, Savanna, Rio Hondo, 18.04. 4, Richeson, Natalie, Brownsville Veterans, 18.68. 5, Rodriguez, Janette, La Feria, 18.72. 6, Velasquez, Jacqueline, Brownsville Veterans, 19.13. 7, Mata, Amy, La Feria, 19.30. 8, Salinas, Brittney, Raymondville, 19.69.
Girls 300 Hurdles
1, Hernandez, Miranda, Raymondville, 48.28. 2, Gonzalez, Savanna, Rio Hondo, 51.25. 3, Garcia, Jacqueline, Hidalgo, 51.92. 4, Troncoso, Camila, Brownsville Rivera, 55.07. 5, Romero, Catalina, Port Isabel, 55.08. 6, Velasquez, Jacqueline, Brownsville Veterans, 55.29. 7, Mendoza, Daisy, Rio Hondo, 56.12. 8, Rodriguez, Janette, La Feria, 56.89.
Girls 400 Relay
1, Brownsville Veterans Memorial A (Davila, Carolina, Mena, Dominique, Calzada, Aaliyah, Flores, Mia), 53.77. 2, Mercedes A (Rangel, Angelique, Flores, Katie, Galindo, Anahi, Rodriguez, Kassidie), 54.02. 3, Raymondville A (Lopez, Emmalee, Thompson, Aliceanna, Gamez, Audrey, Hernandez, Miranda), 55.55. 4, Port Isabel A (Aguilera, Karina, Reyes, Allyson, Ochoa, Caitlynn, Lagos, Emily), 55.85. 5, Brownsville Rivera A (Chavez, Kim, Guzman, Bethany, Tapia, Ashlyn, Lara, Faith), 56.97. 6, Rio Hondo A (Moreno, Charley, Campbell, Tzipporah, Guerrero, Caya, Herrera, Alizae), 57.19. 7, Vanguard Beethoven A (Perez, Jesslyn, Velez, America, Lopez, Kailey, Rios, Jahdaly), 1:00.92. 8, Vanguard Rembrandt A (Hinojosa, Janelle, Pacheco, Leslie, Mendoza, Samara, Hernandez, April), 1:02.09.
Girls 800 Relay
1, Brownsville Veterans Memorial A (Davila, Carolina, Mena, Dominique, Calzada, Aaliyah, Flores, Mia), 1:54.10. 2, Port Isabel A (Reyes, Allyson, Galvan, Lora, Ramos, Madison, Camacho, Danaka), 1:57.28. 3, Mercedes A (Vallejo, Malaya, Castaneda, Riley, Lara, Riley, Zamarripa, Valeria), 1:58.38. 4, Rio Hondo A (Garcia, Gladys, Lopez, Celeen, Gonzalez, Savanna, Guerrero, Caya), 1:58.45. 5, Brownsville Rivera A (Ramos, Kaylee, Tello, Eikka, Tapia, Ashlyn, Lara, Faith), 2:00.72. 6, Hidalgo A (Hernandez, Ashley, Heavin, Leah, Martinez, Victoria, Cerda, Katelyn), 2:01.74.
Girls 1,600 Relay
1, Mercedes A (Garza, Hailey, Castaneda, Riley, Rodriguez, Kassidie, Lara, Riley), 4:38.27. 2, Rio Hondo A (Mendoza, Daisy, Rodriguez, Mikayla, Lopez, Celeen, Lozano, Karly), 4:59.68.
Girls High Jump
1, Franco, Brianna, Brownsville Porter, 4-10. 2, Ramos, Madison, Port Isabel, J4-08. 3, Wood, Bethany, La Feria, J4-08. 4, Hernandez, Miranda, Raymondville, J4-06. 5, Serna, Emma, Rio Hondo, J4-04. 6, Sumaya, Valerie, Brownsville Veterans, J4-04.
Girls Pole Vault
1, Lozano, Karly, Rio Hondo, 9-06.
Girls Long Jump
1, Rodriguez, Kassidie, Mercedes, 15-10.50. 2, Franco, Brianna, Brownsville Porter, 15-03. 3, Lopez, Emmalee, Raymondville, 14-09.50. 4, Medellin, Estrella, Brownsville Porter, 14-07.50. 5, Calzada, Aaliyah, Brownsville Veterans, 14-05.50. 6, Zamarripa, Valeria, Mercedes, 14-03. 7, Lozano, Karly, Rio Hondo, 13-10.50. 8, Tapia, Ashlyn, Brownsville Rivera, 13-09.50. 8, Flores, Mia, Brownsville Veterans, 13-09.50.
Girls Triple Jump
1, Garcia, Jacqueline, Hidalgo, 35-05. 2, Medellin, Estrella, Brownsville Porter, 33-09.50. 3, Thompson, Aliceanna, Raymondville, 33-06. 4, Cabrera, Alma Sophia, La Feria, 31-04. 5, Chavez, Kim, Brownsville Rivera, 30-10. 6, Sumaya, Valerie, Brownsville Veterans, 30-07. 7, Contrata, Emanuelle Elena, La Feria, 30-04. 8, Garcia, Danisa, Raymondville, 29-10.
Girls Shot Put
1, Moreno, Irlanda, Brownsville Veterans, 35-05. 2, Silguero, Alyssa, Rio Hondo, 34-07. 3, Garcia, Monica, Brownsville Veterans, 33-06. 4, Villarreal, Lynette, Mercedes, 30-06.50. 5, Prater, Aaliyah, Brownsville Porter, 30-02. 6, Rodriguez, Klariza, Raymondville, 29-09.50. 7, Silguero, Faith, Rio Hondo, 29-06. 8, Herebia, Litzy, Brownsville Porter, 28-08.
Girls Discus Throw
1, Hernandez olguin, Kelay, Brownsville Lopez, 113-06. 2, Villarreal, Lynette, Mercedes, 112-07. 3, Puente, Ximena, Mercedes, 107-00. 4, Garcia, Monica, Brownsville Veterans, 102-06. 5, Chavez, Catarina, Raymondville, 100-03.50. 6, Prater, Aaliyah, Brownsville Porter, 85-05. 7, Moreno, Irlanda, Brownsville Veterans, 81-08.50. 8, Silguero, Faith, Rio Hondo, 81-06.
Boys 100 Dash
1, Cantu, Josiah, Mercedes, 11.33. 2, Padilla, Ethan, La Feria, 11.34. 3, Strunk, Mac, Port Isabel, 11.36. 4, Zavala, Giovanni, Edinburg High, 11.48. 5, Davila, Austin, Mercedes, 11.61. 6, Davila, Ulisses, Brownsville Hanna, 11.66. 7, Armendarez, ZaRaiVion, Raymondville, 11.68. 8, Sanchez, Evin, San Benito, 11.71.
Boys 200 Dash
1, Strunk, Mac, Port Isabel, 22.56. 2, Cantu, Josiah, Mercedes, 23.21. 3, Davila, Austin, Mercedes, 23.75. 4, Nino, Adrian, Port Isabel, 23.86. 5, Alvarado, Daniel, Rembrandt, 24.04. 6, Reyes, Chris, Brownsville Porter, 24.23. 7, Gonzalez, Gabriel, Brownsville Porter, 24.24. 8, Sanchez, Evin, San Benito, 24.31.
Boys 400 Dash
1, Dominguez, Jose, La Feria, 51.94. 2, Armendarez, ZaRaiVion, Raymondville, 53.27. 3, Nino, Damian, Brownsville Porter, 53.30. 4, Ortiz, Chris, Brownsville Porter, 53.73. 5, Pina, Adan, San Benito, 54.11. 6, Solis, Alec, Brownsville Veterans, 54.16. 7, Garcia, Eduardo, Brownsville Hanna, 55.00. 8, Salinas, Marco, San Benito, 55.70.
Boys 800 Run
1, Dominguez, Jose, La Feria, 2:01.89. 2, Botello, Santos, La Feria, 2:03.64. 3, Salinas, Marco, San Benito, 2:06.71. 4, Dominguez, Julian, La Feria, 2:07.61. 5, Hinojosa, Aaron, Brownsville Hanna, 2:08.31. 6, Garcia, Eduardo, Brownsville Hanna, 2:09.48. 7, Gonzalez, Cristobal, Brownsville Lopez, 2:09.65. 8, Fuentes, Julian, Mercedes, 2:11.75.
Boys 1,600 Run
1, Reyes, Lupe, Mercedes, 4:31.33. 2, Abrego, John, Brownsville Hanna, 4:35.92. 3, Medina, Joaquin, San Benito, 4:37.80. 4, Arteaga, Anthony, Edinburg High, 4:40.75. 5, Botello, Santos, La Feria, 4:45.77. 6, Gomez, Rogerio, San Benito, 4:47.73. 7, Fuentes, Julian, Mercedes, 4:48.83. 8, Marroquin, Edelmiro, Edinburg High, 4:48.89.
Boys 3,200 Run
1, Reyes, Lupe, Mercedes, 9:53.41. 2, Abrego, John, Brownsville Hanna, 10:02.24. 3, Medina, Joaquin, San Benito, 10:10.86. 4, Arteaga, Anthony, Edinburg High, 10:22.36. 5, Aguirre, Timothy, Edinburg High, 10:22.47. 6, Marroquin, Edelmiro, Edinburg High, 10:27.31. 7, Tellez, Marcus, Brownsville Hanna, 10:30.90. 8, Gomez, Rogerio, San Benito, 10:33.40.
Boys 110 Hurdles
1, Garza, Mauricio, Brownsville Veterans, 16.95. 2, Castro, John, San Benito, 16.98. 3, Serrato, Devon, Raymondville, 17.76. 4, Cavazos, Jarod, Raymondville, 17.94. 5, Munoz, Jonathan, Brownsville Lopez, 18.14. 6, Hernandez, David, Port Isabel, 18.43. 7, Pompa, Jarlen, Brownsville Hanna, 19.07. 8, Vasquez, Joshua, San Benito, 19.59.
Boys 300 Hurdles
1, Castro, John, San Benito, 42.88. 2, Cavazos, Jarod, Raymondville, 43.23. 3, Roel, Jacob, Hidalgo, 44.96. 4, Medina, Matthew, Raymondville, 45.30. 5, Hernandez, David, Port Isabel, 46.20. 6, Pompa, Jarlen, Brownsville Hanna, 46.70. 7, Serrato, Devon, Raymondville, 47.48. 8, Munoz, Jonathan, Brownsville Lopez, 47.70.
Boys 400 Relay
1, Brownsville Porter A (Ortiz, Chris, Reyes, Chris, Nino, Damian, Gonzalez, Gabriel), 45.58. 2, Raymondville A (Cabrera, Devin, Armendarez, ZaRaiVion, Pena, Jose, Smith, Justin), 46.18. 3, San Benito A (Avalos, Hector, Sanchez, Evin, Lopez, Jarrid, Silva, Ismael), 46.25. 4, Edinburg A (Gonzalez, Abraham, Zavala, Giovanni, Vargas, Andre, Hernandez, Kaden), 46.63. 5, Brownsville Hanna A (Amaro, Aaron, Camarillo, Abraham, Zavala, Esteban, Garcia, Adolf), 47.68. 6, Vanguard Rembrandt A (Martinez, Bryan, Navarro, Alejandro, Garcia, Anthony, Alvarado, Daniel), 47.76. 7, Hidalgo A (Martinez, Jacob, Solis, Eric, Lince, Kevin, Esparza, Marco), 49.03. 8, Rio Hondo A (Lopez, Efrain, Rios, Dreagan, Moreno, Joaquin, Lopez, Jose), 53.33.
Boys 800 Relay
1, Brownsville Porter A (Nino, Damian, Ortiz, Chris, Reyes, Chris, Gonzalez, Gabriel), 1:34.40. 2, Brownsville Veterans Memorial A (Gonzalez, Jessie, Garza, Mauricio, Hinojosa, Diego, Nohpal, Edgar), 1:35.84. 3, Raymondville A (Cabrera, Devin, Cavazos, Jarod, Pena, Jose, Smith, Justin), 1:36.50. 4, La Feria A (Diaz, Christopher, Padilla, Ethan, Saenz, David, Torres, Kian), 1:36.59. 5, Edinburg A (Alfaro, Robert, Rodriguez, David, Zavala, Giovanni, Cura, Devin), 1:36.93. 6, Mercedes A (Aguilera, Simon, Belcher, Nick, De la fuentes, Josue, Cisneros, Mike), 1:37.52. 7, San Benito A (Alvarado, Christian, Lopez, Jarrid, Guy, Bomani, Jimenez, Eddie), 1:37.93. 8, Brownsville Lopez A (Martinez, Alejandro, Munoz, Jonathan, Munoz, Kenitay, Vega, Damian), 1:39.92.
Boys 1,600 Relay
1, San Benito A (Pina, Adan, Salinas, Marco, Castro, John, Medina, Joaquin), 3:37.63. 2, Edinburg A (Hernandez, Kaden, Rodriguez, Gerardo, Rodriguez, David, Cura, Devin), 3:39.90. 3, Brownsville Hanna A (Garcia, Eduardo, Hinojosa, Aaron, Abrego, John, Zamora, Samuel), 3:42.12. 4, Brownsville Veterans Memorial A (Solis, Alec, Paredes, Marcos, Ampadu, Alez, Garza, Michael), 3:43.42. 5, Brownsville Lopez A (Leija, Lemuel, Gonzalez, Cristobal, Munoz, Kenitay, Vega, Damian), 3:47.48. 6, Port Isabel A (Ferrone, Christian, Oritz, Devin, Pardo-Garcia, Angel, Nino, Adrian), 3:53.67.
Boys High Jump
1, Salinas, Marco, San Benito, 5-06. 2, Ampadu, Alez, Brownsville Veterans, J5-06. 3, Saenz, David, La Feria, J5-06. 4, Ferrone, Christian, Port Isabel, 5-04.
Boys Pole Vault
1, Garcia, Samuel, Edinburg High, 12-00. 2, Ortega, Jonah, Rio Hondo, 11-06. 3, Medina, Matthew, Raymondville, J11-00. 4, Hernandez, Frank A., Rio Hondo, J11-00. 5, Hernandez, David, Port Isabel, 10-06. 6, Alvarado, Christian, San Benito, 10-00. 7, Davila, Austin, Mercedes, 9-00.
Boys Long Jump
1, Garza, Michael, Brownsville Veterans, 22-00. 2, Cantu, Josiah, Mercedes, 20-05.50. 3, Gonzalez, Gabriel, Brownsville Porter, J19-10.50. 4, Nohpal, Edgar, Brownsville Veterans, J19-10.50. 5, Amaro, Aaron, Brownsville Hanna, 19-05. 6, Alvarado, Christian, San Benito, 19-02.50. 6, Zamora, Jaime, Edinburg High, 19-02.50. 8, Castro, John, San Benito, 18-08.50.
Boys Triple Jump
1, Zamora, Jaime, Edinburg High, 42-08. 2, Cantu, Josiah, Mercedes, 41-07.50. 3, Fuentes, Josue, Mercedes, 41-06. 4, Hinojosa, Diego, Brownsville Veterans, 41-02. 5, Ortiz, C.J., La Feria, 39-09.50. 6, Ortiz, Chris, Brownsville Porter, 39-02. 7, Gonzalez, Jessie, Brownsville Veterans, 38-06. 8, Ramirez, Christian, Edinburg High, 38-04.50.
Boys Shot Put
1, Rodriguez, Luis, Edinburg High, 42-05. 2, Earhart, Dustin, Hidalgo, 41-11.50. 3, Atkinson, Scott, Rio Hondo, 40-08.50. 4, Morales, Orlando, La Feria, 39-10. 5, Hernandez, Saul, Hidalgo, 39-05.50. 6, Hernandez, Shayne, Edinburg High, 39-01. 7, Rosales, Eduardo, La Feria, 38-01.50. 8, Garza, Alan, Brownsville Veterans, 38-00.
Boys Discus Throw
1, Ramirez, Angel, Brownsville Veterans, 132-05. 2, Earhart, Dustin, Hidalgo, 124-01. 3, Cavazos, Luis, Rio Hondo, 120-06. 4, Ayala, Jordan, Edinburg High, 115-03. 5, Villa, Adan, Brownsville Lopez, 109-09. 6, Alvarado, Josue, Mercedes, 108-10. 7, Sanchez, Dominick, San Benito, 106-08. 8, John, Nathan, Brownsville Veterans, 105-08.