By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
Six runs in five days couldn’t stop Gaby Garza from getting to the podium.
Garza, a junior-to-be at St. Joseph Academy, ran a 62.12 in the 15-16 year old girls 400-meter hurdles to finish third and earn a bronze medal Sunday in the 2016 USA Track & Field Junior Olympics in Sacramento, California.
The St. Joseph hurdler led the 400 hurdles going into the final jump of the race, but was passed in the final 30 meters by winner Jasmie Jones (61.21) and runner-up Sierra Fletcher (61.65).
”I thought it was pretty smooth,” Garza said. “I was in front the whole race up into the last hurdle but at the end the two girls kicked it in. They had more gas in the tank.”
She also ran in the 100 hurdles earlier in the day and finished sixth in the 100 hurdles, with a time of 14.99.
In all, Garza ran at least one race a day during the week, starting with the first round of the 400 hurdles on Wednesday and ending with the finals of the same race.
Joshua McKinney covers high school sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @joshuabvherald.