By STEFAN MODRICH, Staff Writer
PORT ISABEL — Port Isabel football and track athlete Mac Strunk has moved across the country and the state of Texas with his family, as his father and Port Isabel athletic director Jason Strunk continued his career in coaching and sports administration.
Everywhere he has been, the younger Strunk has left his coaches and teammates with fond impressions of his work ethic, whether it was his offseason workouts with the Tarpons’ varsity squad as an eighth-grader or Port Isabel coach Jose Gonzales having to “pull (Strunk) off the track” because he was so dedicated to his craft.
All of that resulted in the opportunity to compete at the NCAA Division I level, and Mac fulfilled that objective Thursday in the gymnasium at Port Isabel, where he signed his national letter of intent to run track and study criminal justice as a cadet at The Citadel, one of six military academies in the U.S.
Located in Charleston, S.C., the Bulldogs compete in the Southern Conference.
“When Mac first came in last year and I saw him run, you could tell he had some talent,” Gonzales said. “It looked like he was gliding when he was running. It’s not very often that you get a kid like him. He worked his butt off to get to where he’s at, and I’m just proud to be his coach.”
Mac and Gonzalez noted that the Meet of Champions, held March 27 in La Feria, will be the next big test for the senior to push himself against stronger competition as he strives for a sub-21 second 200 time.
Mac ultimately chose between the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and The Citadel because of his desire to serve in the military, and regardless of his future in the armed forces, he intends to pursue a career in law enforcement.
“I found the right place, because they (treated) me like family,” he said.
After attending three different high schools in 2018, he and his father were able to find a home in Port Isabel, where the gymnasium bleachers were filled with his friends and student-athletes as they welcomed him into his signing ceremony with an enthusiastic ovation.
Jason Strunk said he felt it was important for him to be “hands-off” during track season, as his son displayed the “tenacity, work ethic, and resolve” to overcome coming up one spot of qualifying for the state meet last season and persevering through an ankle injury suffered during football season that was a temporary setback for his track preparations.
“With my job and being a football coach, he went to five different elementary schools in four different states,” the Port Isabel AD and Pennsylvania native said. “He’s moved across the country with me for this crazy job of mine, coaching football. So I think that really sold (recruiters), they knew he was like a military kid.”