Natalie Garza fell just short of a medal Saturday. Not bad for her sophomore season.
Garza, a runner for Port Isabel’s track and field, finished fourth in the Class 4A 400-meter run to post the highest finish by a Metro-area athlete in the UIL State Track & Field Championship on Friday and Saturday at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin.
She ran a time of 58.23 after sitting through a seven-hour delay, eventually lining up for her race at 8:30 p.m.
Coach Julie Breedlove said Garza handled the delay well.
“I think she was a little nervous when we went out at first,” Breedlove said. “It’s hard to go out for your race and sit there for a while.”
Two other area athletes took the track this weekend.
Los Fresnos’ Christian Perales closed out his track career with an eighth-place finish in the Class 6A 100-meter dash, coming across the line with a 10.97.
Porter’s senior runner Anthony Gonzalez came in eighth in the Class 5A 400 on Friday, finishing with a time of 49.51.