By ANDREW CRUM,Staff Writer
With district meets just around the corner, cross country teams are getting in their final workouts.
Port Isabel is set to play host to several Rio Grande Valley teams in the Port Isabel Invitational cross country open meet at 8:30 a.m. today at Port Isabel.
On the girls side, Port Isabel will compete with St. Joseph Academy, Sharyland High and PSJA North. Boys teams expected to compete with the Tarpons are Mercedes, Mission High, IDEA Frontier and Valley View.
The annual meet is usually held at Andy Bowie Park near the South Padre Island Convention Center, and part of the course is run on the beach. But this year it was moved because of the red tide that has washed up on the shores from the Gulf of Mexico.
“Hopefully we’ll get several others (to participate),” Port Isabel girls coach Dawn Aguilar-Snyder said. “It’s not on the beach this year, so I don’t know if that’s going to deter people from coming with the red tide.
The change of venue means runners will run around a course at the high school and finish at Tarpon Stadium. The Port Isabel team tried to test out the course along the beach, but it wasn’t fit for competition.
“We do practice out on the beach, and the first day that we went out there with the red tide came in,” Aguilar-Snyder said. “It was very bothersome to your breathing.”
The Tarpons have their district meet scheduled for Oct. 19 in Raymondville. The Port Isabel coach is looking forward to seeing her team continue to improve before that meet.
“I’m very pleased with the way the girls have been running,” Aguilar-Snyder said. “I’m pleased with our times, our times are decreasing every meet we run in. That’s what I’m looking for. Every week we’re improving, everyone is improving on their times, so when we get to district, we’re right where we need to be.”
Port Isabel also will run in the Harlingen Invitational next week. The Tarpons have focused on the final part of the race in recent practices to make they’re finishing races strong.
“We’re focused on our finishing,” Aguilar-Snyder said. “The last quarter of the race, finishing stronger and working on that finishing speed. Look to pass the one in front of you and then pass the next one.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.