PHARR — Sharyland Pioneer’s Evan Thompson broke the district meet record in the shot put and two other Diamondbacks finished in the top four to advance to the area meet during the field events portion of the District 31-5A track and field meet Tuesday at PSJA Stadium in Pharr.
Thompson also finished third in the discus to advance to the area meet in that event. Thompson, a senior, is the Region IV-5A leader with a throw of 60 feet, 10 inches, the only throw in the region more than 52 feet. He is second in Class 5A in the state. The top throw is 63-3.75 by Brandon Schirk of Friendswood.
Sharyland High’s Chukwubueze Ikondu captured the district title in the discus. The senior has the top throw in the district this season at 161-8. The throw is second overall in the region.
Jaylah Martinez won both the discus and shot put events for the girls. The PSJA North senior outdistanced PSJA Southwest’s Marcela Treviño in the discus by three inches and threw for one foot more in the shot put ahead of McAllen High’s Lauryn Menchaca.
Running event preliminaries also were held, and finals for those events will take place beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, also at PSJA Stadium, the site of the area meet next week. The only running event that took place Tuesday was the 3,200-meter run. PSJA Southwest’s Yazmin Guerra won the event in 11 minutes, 2.31 seconds to break the district meet record ahead of Sharyland High’s Cecilia Cavazos and McAllen High’s Dana Vazquez Rojas. All three surpassed the previous district meet top mark of 11:15.58 set in 2018 by Laredo Nixon’s Alexa Rodriguez. McAllen Memorial’s Ayden Granados also set a new time for the district meet in the 3,200, taking first place by 17 seconds in 9:17.59. The old mark was 9:28.51.
McAllen High dominated the first day for the girls with 68 points through seven events, followed by McAllen Memorial with 32.66. The Bulldogs captured first, second and fourth in the pole vault, for 22 points, led by Jenai Martinez’s 10-foot vault.
Pioneer’s 20 points in the shot put helped them race out to a team lead on the boys side through seven events with 53 points. Sharyland High is second with 30 points, and McAllen Memorial is third with 28.
Thompson’s throw of 58-8.5 was nearly 10 feet farther than second place and eclipsed the record of 56-9.5 set by fellow Diamondback Johnny Howell in 2017. He said he can usually tell if he’s going to have a good day during warmups. That wasn’t the case Tuesday.
“Not at all, I was struggling in warmups. The distance just wasn’t there, so I didn’t throw as confident,” he said. “I can tell when I’m going to have a good day because I’m hitting my distances. That wasn’t happening.”
Before the qualifying throws, Thompson said he noticed something in his throw and made some technical changes. It made quite an impact. Now, the senior has his eyes set on a major goal as the “postseason” of track begins.
“I would love to hit 65 feet,” he said. “That’s a big goal of mine.”
Martinez, the district leader in both shot put and discus, accounted for 20 of PSJA North’s 22 points with her two first places. Her interest in the throwing events was sparked when her sister, 16 years her elder, would throw in school.
“She tells me to focus on myself and not worry about what everybody else is doing,” the senior thrower said, adding that she’s usually staying and warming up by herself, often listening to Metallica on her ear buds as she prepares. “It’s all mental. You have to forget about everything and just let it out.
“I’ve been focused on my sport more this year and have been putting in hard work. I’ve had a change in mindset, believing in myself more and not doubting myself.”