By MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
While the UIL state track & field meet is still one week away, seven athletes from St. Joseph Academy will be in action Saturday at the TAPPS state meet at Waco Midway’s Panther Stadium.
The meet was originally scheduled for today and tomorrow, but weather forced all the events to Saturday.
The SJA athletes are dealing with a short turnaround, being that they are one week removed from the TAPPS 5A South regional meet, but coach Teddy Lopez said his team has been ready to go all week.
“ The kids have been doing their thing, getting to practice, focusing on their technique and mechanics,” Lopez said. “At this point, it’s automatic pilot. We’re just hoping that they can stay focused, avoid distractions and have some good performances. The desire of every athlete is to PR at the end of the season.”
Among the seven competing is senior discus thrower Pablo Zolezzi, who is going for his third straight TAPPS state championship in the event.
Zolezzi enters the meet with a personal best of 175 feet, 4 inches, which is the No. 18 throw in the state in any classification.
“ As a sophomore, (Pablo) went into state ranked second or third and ended up having a good meet and winning it,” Lopez said. “Last year he came in as the favorite and won again. Winning a state championship multiple times means you’re a special athlete. Winning it the second time was tough, but winning it a third time will be really difficult. I’ve seen other athletes come in their senior year and for whatever reason lose their focus, but I don’t expect that from him.”
Zolezzi is the only male athlete representing SJA, but he isn’t the only one competing in the discus throw as sophomore Ale Ortiz will try her hand in the event and is seeded eighth in the field.
On the track side, SJA is sending five underclassmen.
In the 100-meter dash, freshmen Lucia Gonzalez placed fourth at the regional meet, finishing the race in 12.84 seconds.
Gonzalez is also anchoring the Lady Bloodhounds’ 800-meter relay team, which placed second at the regional meet. The team also is comprised of freshmen Elise Esparza, Alejandra Gonzalez and sophomore Marcela Valenzuela.
In the 1,600, freshmen Valeria Bazan will hope to improve on her showing at the regional meet, where she placed fourth with a time of 5:55.10.