BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
MORE: Complete results from the Region IV field events finals
Complete results from the Region IV track finals
Valley distance runners show well at regional meet
PSJA Memorial’s Mike Gonzalez wins regional title in discus throw
SAN ANTONIO — As Anthony Gonzalez sped toward the finish line, his focus wasn’t on his time or the competitors in the next lane, it was fixed on a piece of garbage strewn across his face.
The Brownsville Porter senior was running near the front of the pack during the closing stretches of the Class 5A boys 400-meter dash at Alamo Stadium when his hip number got caught on his hand before somehow gettng stuck on his face. With 50 meters to go, Gonzalez flailed his head in an attempt to clear his vision.
By the time he crossed the finish line during Saturday’s Region IV Track and Field Meet, he was trash free and a second place finisher with a new personal best of 49.18 seconds. Gonzalez, and other athletes to finish in the top two in their respective events automatically qualify for the UIL state meet May 12-14 in Austin.
In punching his ticket to state, Gonzalez is the only metro-area athlete to qualify from Class 6A and 5A. Though his accomplishment represents the area well, it also signifies a moment wherein Gonzalez’s checkered past turned into a bright future.
Two years ago, Gonzalez wasn’t a member of the track team, but of juvenile detention. An only child to an absent father and single mom, he lacked the proper guidance and environment to keep on the straight and narrow.
“I didn’t care about school,” Gonzalez said. “I was on probation, I was getting locked up. I was doing stupid stuff.”
That stupid stuff caught up with Gonzalez at a young age. As a sophomore, he spent seven months at Texas Challenge Academy in Sheffield, a boot camp run by the Texas National Guard for at-risk youth.
Gonzalez chose to attend the academy, after all, it’s a better option than sitting behind bars. But it was during then that the multi-sport athlete made the decision to improve his own life for the benefit of himself and others.
“I told myself, ‘I can’t be doing this anymore, I want to be successful,’” Gonzalez said. “I want to make money for my mom, for my family. I’ve got a lot of talent that I’m wasting.”
Gonzalez joined track as a member of the junior varsity team, but quickly demonstrated his abilities with fast times and impressive finishes. By season’s end, he was promoted to varsity and advanced to regionals in the 100 and 200 dash and the long jump.
He also improved in the classroom, and says he hasn’t failed since joining the team. Gonzalez will attend Graceland University in Iowa on scholarship.
Gonzalez added the 400 to his repertoire this season and has made it his signature event despite his initial misgivings about sprinting for a quarter of a mile.
“First of all, when you take off, the most important thing is taking off from your blocks,” Gonzalez said. “That’s one of the first things I learned. The faster you go in the curve, you keep the speed going. You’ve gotta hit that other curve hard enough.”
Not only did he hit the curves hard on Saturday, he showed that no one is beyond saving, and that any obstacle is just something else to run through.
“He’s literally gotten his life back on track,” Porter boys coach Jamie Pena said. “He didn’t do any kind of training for two years and comes from next to nothing, and to come and do this, it’s even more amazing.”