BY JON R. LAFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
WESLACO — Brandon Bradford could feel the competition, literally. As the PSJA North junior competed in the boys 110-meter hurdles during Thursday’s Region IV Class 6A area track and field championships at Bobby Lackey Stadium, he occasionally slapped hands with Bony Rios, an Edinburg Economedes sophomore in the next lane to his left.
“I just pushed,” Bradford said. “I wanted it so badly.”
“It,” was his first career victory. As Bradford and Rios charged toward the finish line after ascending the final hurdle, the pair raced to a statistical tie. Each runner finished in 15.56 seconds, but video review gave the gold to Bradford, whose torso broke the plane first. Bradford didn’t discover the race’s outcome until he walked to the scorer’s table.
“In situations like that, I tell him to focus,” PSJA North hurdling coach Joe Fuerte said. “Just stay focused and look past the finish line. Don’t run towards it, run past it.”
Bradford’s first-place time is good enough for sixth best in the Valley this season. Bradford, along with all other top four finishers, automatically qualify for next week’s regional meet in San Antonio.
As spirited as Bradford and Rio’s sprint was, it provided only a fleeting moment of competition for Upper-Valley boys teams who struggled against their District 32-6A peers. Area boys programs only won four gold medals on the day, including just two during track events. In addition to Bradford, Tristan Pena of Edinburg North won the 1600-meter run (4:29.26).
Perhaps no team suffered more setbacks than the Weslaco East Wildcats, who hoisted a district championship trophy last week only to tie for fifth place in the team standings with Brownsville Rivera. The team’s woes began when Angel Flores re-injured a hamstring and was forced to withdraw from the 400 and 800 relay.
“He pulled (his hamstring) slightly at the district meet in the open (200),” coach Tom Owens said. “We thought he was ready to go. He had us convinced he was ready to go. He looked good in warm up, and I think he was hesitant to push it, and you can’t do that at this level. From there, it was just a downhill spiral for us. By the time the 1600 relay came around, we were looking around like, ‘Who do we got?’”
While Thursday could have gone better for the boys, Upper-Valley girls teams and athletes flourished. The Weslaco High Lady Panthers comfortably won the area title over runner-up Los Fresnos (149-89) thanks another dominant performance in relay events – which they swept – and individual golds courtesy Angela Villarreal (400 dash, 58.27), Alyssa Deleon (300 hurdles, 46.54) and Sydney Salinas (pole vault, 11 feet).
The day’s standout individual athlete was Cierra Pena of Harlingen South, who won first in the 100 dash (12.23), 200 dash (26.16) and the long jump (18-01.25). Pena holds the all-time Valley record in the 100 with a time of 11.97.
Notable performances in the girls field events included PSJA Memorial’s Joan Cepeda, who placed third at state in the high jump a year ago (5-06) and won the area title with a jump of 5-04. Cepeda entered the day with sore hamstrings after a rigorous practice regimen leading into Thursday.
“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” Cepeda said. “I only had one attempt at each height. I was ashamed I didn’t get 6 (feet). That’s what I did at regionals last year.”
Faith Olszak, a senior thrower for Weslaco East, set a new personal best in the shot put with a gold-medal attempt of 39-05. Olszak advances to her third regional meet.
In boys field events, Edinburg North’s Michael Cantu won the long jump with a jump of 20-09.5, and Raudel Alverez of PSJA North took home gold in the triple jump with a mark of 43-09.5. Alvarez Holds the Valley’s best in the event with a distance of 43-11.25.