By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
St. Joseph Academy’s Megan Lopez is happy to return to the state meet after a frustrating year.
Lopez won the state title in the pole vault last year and won at the regional meet last week in Houston. She returns to defend her title at the TAPPS state meet Friday and Saturday at Baylor University’s Hart Patterson Track & Field Complex in Waco.
Teammates Gaby Garza (100- and 300-meter hurdles), Marifer Valencia (pole vault) and Desi Rae Cortinas (discus) also qualified for the state meet after their top four finishes at the regional.
“I felt very blessed,” Lopez said of her return trip to the state meet. “It’s not been easy.”
Lopez reached a height of 11 feet last season to win her title, but this season was tough as she struggled to hit the mark above 10 feet with consistency. She hit a mark of 10-6 only twice during meets, during the first of the season and one of the last.
“The whole year has been kind of frustrating,” she said.
Even more frustrating for Lopez is that she was hitting her mark at 11, and sometimes even higher in practices. Finally toward the end of the season, Lopez was back to form.
“Finally getting to regionals and getting to 11, I felt like everything was finally coming together,” she said. “I couldn’t have done it without my team, going to regionals with the team we had brought. (There was) so much joy and happiness for everyone to be there.”
“She’s a nice kid, she’s very hard working,” he said of his senior pole vaulter. “She could probably do other events, but pole vaulters have to concentrate on that. She could have helped us in other places, but I’m not into the points. I want people to excel.”
With last year’s experience, Garza felt Lopez had another good shot at repeating the feat.
“(Megan’s) the type of kid that when the pressure’s on, she turns it on, she likes that,” Garza said. “That’s what happened last year at the state meet. That’s probably going to be one of her strengths this year will be the experience she had last year.”
Lopez agreed she thrives on the pressure.
“I don’t know what it is, I like competition,” she said. “I’ve competed in gymnastics since I was little and I love the feeling of having someone I can go against, I get the adrenaline rush. I feel like this is another one of God’s tests, pushing me. Hey, you can do this, you’ve got this. … Everyone in the crowd cheering and everyone supporting you, it’s all this positive energy that comes in and it feeds me.”
As Lopez prepares for state, she feels at ease after a trying season.
“The coaches have been amazing this year. I felt this year all together was better,” she said. “It made me feel comfortable and not nervous. This is comforting, this is my home.”
Garza has confidence in his senior vaulter.
“She won a state championship last year. We’re really happy for her,” he said. “She went 11 feet (at the regional), and hopefully at the state meet she can go 11-6 and do it again.”
Whether or not she wins another title doesn’t matter to Lopez. She is trying to leave her mark with the school.
“The school’s record for girls (pole vault) is 11-6 set by Carys Matar a couple of years back,” she said. “I grew up with her, so I think it would be great to either tie the school record or beat it.
“It doesn’t matter to me if I get another state title because I already have one. My main goal is to try to prove to the school that I can do it.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.