By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
The Falcon Relays were all about the home team.
The Los Fresnos boys and girls track & field teams took home team titles in the Falcon Relays on Saturday at Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium in Los Fresnos.
The Falcons earned a total of 180 points for the boys championship, 31 points more than runner-up Mission Veterans Memorial. The Lady Falcons won the girls championship with a team score of 155 to beat Mission Veterans by 39 points.
Los Fresnos was without Christian Perales, who had the Rio Grande Valley’s fastest times in the 200-meter dash (22.22) and second-best in the 100 (10.82), but the team’s depth gave them an edge in the meet.
“We’re missing Perales today. That hurts our 4 x 100 (relay team) and in the open events, but our kids stepped up and won the 100 (and) 200,” Los Fresnos coach Benny Ellison said. “I was real proud of them. We’re piecing the puzzle and getting in shape. That’s the biggest thing. We’re running kids outside of some of the events they usually do for conditioning purposes.”
David Alvarez (100), Christian Campos (400-meter run), Carlos Mercado (high jump), Everardo Garate (long jump) and Pete Perez (triple jump) won gold for Los Fresnos.
Andy Luna, a junior varsity runner for Los Fresnos, won the 200.
Metro-area runners had an outstanding day at the Falcon Relays.
Gold medal winners for the Lady Falcons were Valeria Granados (shot put and discus throw) and the 4 x 200 relay team of Luisa Cruz, Tanya Prezelini, Bianca Reyes and Alondra Escobar.
“It was a slow meet but it was a good meet for us to use as practice,” Los Fresnos assistant coach Frank Falcon said. “Our theme has been to use them as practice to get them ready for the district meet. It’s a real good workout.”
Port Isabel’s Omar Silva doubled in the 110 hurdles (16.18) and 300 hurdles (40.56) for the second-straight week.
The junior hurdler wasn’t happy with his races in the Falcon Relays despite winning both events.
“Personally, I didn’t like the way I ran today, honestly,” Silva said. “My times were off, I clipped some of the hurdles. I just didn’t like it.”
Gaby Garza, a sophomore at St. Joseph Academy and the top runner Rio Grande Valley, returned from a week-long layoff to win gold medals in the 100 hurdles (15.78) and 300 hurdles (45.59).
Garza wanted to use the meet to get ready for Friday’s Brownsville city meet.
“I was just taking it easy,” Garza said. “I just came back from a week of vacation. This week, I’ve just been trying to get back in the whole rhythm. So it was a good way to get back into it.
“I felt like I just cruised it. I wasn’t really trying too, too hard. I wasn’t trying to kill myself.”
Pace senior Hope Ngo completed the distance double by winning the girls 1,600 (5:30.55) and 3,200 (12:11.71).
“I feel pretty good. I hit a PR in the (3,200) but the mile is about the same time as my normal time,” Ngo said. “I didn’t improve on that.”
Ngo hopes to cut her 1,600 time to around a 5:15 so she can race in the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on March 30–April 1 at Austin.
Joshua McKinney covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @joshuabvherald.