By MARK MOLINA
Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — There is still some time before district track meets get going, but some of the Valley’s heavy hitters will be on display during this afternoon’s Harlingen Relays at Boggus Stadium.
The field will consist of 18 schools on the boys side of things and 19 on the girls, making today’s meet one that schools can use as a measuring stick as the district meet approaches.
“I’m excited because the competition is there and we’re getting closer and closer to the end of the year,” Harlingen girls coach Sylvia Canales said. “It will be a good gauge to see how we’re doing. It will also be a great opportunity to see some teams we could see at area and even the Region IV-6Ameet— it’s going to be awesome.”
It will also be an opportunity for the athletes to shake up the Valley’s Best standings.
“I think when you look at the teams, multiple events will feature the top six in the Valley’s mythical standings,” said Harlingen South head boys track coach Ralph De La Rosa. “It’ll be an extremely competitive meet and I’m just looking for my boys to run hard, finish everything strong, stay healthy and get our times better.”
Here are some of the area atheletes and events to keep an eye on:
On the girls side, eyes will be on Nicole Gonzalez. Gonzalez owns the Valley’s best time in the 200- (25.49) and 400-meter dashes (58.16).
In the 200-meter dash Gonzalez will take the rest of the top six times in the Valley.
Edcouch Elsa distance runner Krysta Martinez, who leads the Valley in the 1600- (5:04.03) and the 3200-(11:09.15) meter run will also be on hand.
Another intriguing event will be the boys shot put.
Rio Hondo’s Mike Zuniga leads the Valley with a distance of 57-09 and has been on top of the standings since the first meet of the season.
Harlingen’s Travis Barnes, however, has come on strong the last couple of weeks and is behind Zuniga with a distance of 55-06.
La Joya Palmview’s Ricardo Espinoza and San Benito’s Juan Belmares are set to compete, and are third and fourth respectively in the Valley.
Over on the track, Harlingen’s Chris Rosales and McAllen Memorial’s Michael Boltie will go at it in the 200-meter dash.
Boltie’s 21.36 leads the Valley, while Rosales’ 22.10 sits in second.
Rosales is also tops in the 400-meter dash (49.03) and third in the 100-meter dash (10.83), where Boltie is first (10.74) and Los Fresnos’ Christian Perales sits in second (10.82).
You can also look for Boltie in the pole vault, where his 15-02 mark is the best by more than a foot.
The Harlingen Relays get going today at 2:30 p.m. with field events.