By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
The Lady Tarpons have jumped, thrown and vaulted their way to the lead in the district meet.
Port Isabel track & field leads the girls competition after Day 1 of the District 32-4A meet Tuesday in Port Isabel.
Finals for the running events still remain, but Port Isabel is ahead of La Feria in the unofficial standings after field events.
The Lady Tarpons lead La Feria 65-50.3 and has a good chance to knocking the defending 32-4A champs the Lionettes off the throne.
“I think we’re sitting in a good spot right now,” coach Julie Breedlove said. “We’re going to have to come through the prelims and get as many into the finals. But I like where we’re standing right now.”
Four Port Isabel athletes won gold medals in field events, including pole vaulter Alex Martinez (10 feet), triple jumper Simone Harry (34 feet), long jumper Ava Gomez (16 feet, 3 3/4 inches) and high jumper Madison Bickerton (4 feet, 10 inches). Several others also qualified for area.
“They did a good job in the field events,” Breedlove said. “That was nice to see. We have a lot of girls now going to area in the field events, so I was kind of proud of the way they came out and took care of business.”
The boys track team is hanging on against La Feria after Day 1, unofficially trailing last year’s district champs 63.25-40 at the completion of field events.
It wasn’t quite what coach Joe Gonzales wanted, but it still has the Tarpons in prime position to challenge the Lions.
“We did good. Not as well as I expected but we did good,” he said. “I think we got (a good amount) of points and I don’t know how we stand with everybody else. That’s pretty good for to start off the meet. Hopefully, we’ll can have some people qualify for the finals in the running events. That’s what we’re hoping for.”
It’s will likely take a top effort from Port Isabel’s relay runners to capture a district title Thursday, says Gonzales.
“We have to come in second or third (in the relays),” he said. “Nothing lower than that because it’s hard to make up 20 points. Other than that, we’ll see what happens.”
One athlete went home a double gold medalist in field events. Mike Zuniga of Rio Hondo, one of the Rio Grande Valley’s top throwers, won district titles in the shot put (57 feet, 2 3/4 inches) and discus throw (155.1 1/2 feet).
Finals for the running events, and both the 800-meter and 160-meter runs are set to beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday in Port Isabel.
Joshua McKinney covers high school sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @joshuabvherald.