By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
Rio Grande City became only the second Valley program Saturday to win a wrestling regional championship.
The Lady Rattlers did it by recording 130 points to best Mission Veterans Memorial (108), last year’s runner-up, and third-place Edinburg Vela (98) at the Region IV-5A championship in Austin. RGC had seven girls place in the top six of their respective weight classes, and six of those guaranteed their tickets to the UIL state championship in Cypress next weekend.
By doing so, the Lady Rattlers became the Valley’s first girls wrestling team to win regionals after McAllen Memorial’s boys broke that barrier years ago.
“I’m super proud of these kids,” RGC coach Ronald Pratt said. “They work their tails off in practice. We run a 6:45 in the morning practice, and they step it up.
“We have kids peaking at the right time, and they’ve shown a lot of fight. It bodes well for the future of the program.”
RGC won despite not having any first-place individual finishers. Alouette Gonzalez (95-pound weight class), Idahni Barrera (110) and Erika Moreno (215) placed second in their respective divisions. Teammates Lizbette Lara (128), Allyson Acevedo (119) and Jythssel Mascorro (165) finished fourth and also punched their tickets to state.
“I wish I could say I’m super happy with how we wrestled,” Pratt said. “We didn’t have a good day. But we proved you don’t have to have a bunch of first-place finishers to win. We scored just enough points to get it.”
Pratt was also named the female coach of the year, and his daughter, Ashleigh Pratt, earned the same distinction as an assistant.
As a whole, the Valley qualified 17 girls from Class 5A and an additional five as alternates. Edinburg Vela had five individual wrestlers, led by Miranda Melchor, who won the 215 division, and Mission Veterans four. Klarissa Blanco (185) won her division for the Lady Patriots.
Rio Grande City placed fifth in the boys division, ahead of any Valley team. Grulla came in sixth, and Sharyland Pioneer seventh.
At the Region IV-6A meet at the Blossom Athletic Center in San Antonio, the Valley had 13 state qualifiers and nine alternates in the girls division. La Joya Juarez-Lincoln had four (two alternates), and McAllen High finished with three.
Jesenia Gaytan led Juarez-Lincoln by winning the 215 division, and McHi’s Emma Salazar won the 165 class.
The Valley’s 6A boys had eight state qualifiers and seven alternates. Juarez-Lincoln led the pack, finishing 12th among 30 teams. Of the three state-bound wrestlers, only one assured his spot at state. Pedro Perez (145) finished fourth, and Rene Beas (182) and Ricardo Villegas (152) will go as second and third alternates, respectively.