NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Sharyland High’s Valeria Diaz came to the U.S. from Mexico three years ago. Her goals were to learn English fluently, earn her high school degree and become prepared for college. But perseverance in a new activity and a push from the 2016 Olympics helped her also fall in love with the track.
She learned the basics, then began to excel in distance running. On Wednesday, Diaz signed her national letter of intent to run on the women’s track team at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Her first display in front of Sharyland girls track coach Melissa Dearth was unimpressive. Diaz admitted she was “bad” when she started running. She had to learn from scratch. Now, she’s the school record-holder in the 3,200-meter run. She has her sights set on breaking the 1,600 record at the state meet in her final high school run. She won regional gold last weekend.
“My first year, I didn’t look good. I was really bad,” Diaz said. “But that helped me to motivate myself to become better. It feels really bad to be the back. I wanted to do better and stay with these girls. Each race, I was getting a new challenge.”
Dearth says she can usually recognize talent and ability. After seeing Diaz run for the first time, Dearth wasn’t sure if she’d be a varsity-caliber runner.
“She thought she had to use her hips. It was the main reason she ran a 19:10 on her first race at 2 miles (3,200 meters),” Dearth said.
With winning times typically in the 11-minute range, 19 minutes wouldn’t cut it. Diaz took coaching well, put her head down and worked.
She came from Mexico and followed an unusual track to graduation. She finished school in three years, taking heavy core classes to graduate her with her age group.
In 2016, Diaz was captivated by the runners at the Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt opened her eyes and created a passion.
“I started to like the sport. Actually, it was after watching the Olympics,” Diaz said. “That’s when I decided that I wanted to be better.”
Dearth said Diaz’s progress from that point was exponential.
“Night over day her junior (second) year,” Dearth said. “She was so driven, she ended up falling in love with it, where she was running 110 percent. Most of my cross country only know how to run to comfort. She knows how to go like 110 percent, past the point of pain. Now, she’s starting to run so much easier. It’s like it’s easy to her now.”
Her key in going from dead last in her first attempts to setting the school record (11:17.69) in the 3,200 was training with the boys team.
“She did know very early that she needed some more help, so she came to us,” boys cross country coach Joe Gonzalez said. “George Gutierrez is her training partner, and he’s there every morning with her at 6:30 in the morning. She doesn’t have the (athletics) class, so she is graduating in three years. That’s another hurdle for her. She had to go harder because of all that.”
Diaz said the most valuable lesson she learned from the guys was the value of being steady and not wearing out early.
“Pacing, basically,” Diaz said. “I used to start really fast, but now I know what I’m capable of doing, so I pace myself and do better because of that. Each lap, I’m supposed to hit a certain time, and I do it. And on the last lap, I give it my all.”
In the classroom, Diaz will study business. She is a part of BPA (Business Professionals of America) at Sharyland High.
Diaz won’t be the only Valley athlete on the Mavericks team. McAllen High’s Alanah Moreno signed last week, and Mercedes’ Dominic Cavazos has been committed since November.
“I’m really excited. I’m actually going to room with Alanah (Moreno), so I’m going to be with her,” Diaz said. “I feel really comfortable, because she’s also from the Valley, and she’s going to be a freshman also, so we’re going to have this experience together. I’m excited to see the potential and capabilities of the runners that are going over there”