BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
SAN ANTONIO — As Valley athletes competed during field event finals for the Region IV track and field championships Friday at Alamo Stadium in San Antonio, area teams were best represented in the day’s eight throwing events. In all, 37 Valley-boys and girls athletes from Class 5A and 6A competed in the shot put and discus throw for a chance to qualify for the UIL state track meet later this month in Austin.
For an athlete or relay team to advance to state, they must finish in the top-two in their respective event.
Three gold-medals were won on the day. The first came from Sharyland Pioneer’s Nora Monie in the 5A discus with an attempt of 136 feet, 8 inches. Monie secures a trip to the state meet where she will also compete in the shot put after placing second (44-03). The second Valley-gold medal came courtesy of Brownsville Rivera’s Angel Espinoza in the 6A discus (162-06). San Benito’s John Belmares earned first in the 6A shot put (56-02).
Valley-athletes to place second in throwing events were PSJA Southwest’s Brittany Vielma (5A discus, 121-06), Edinburg North’s Natalie Alaniz (6A discus, 123-04) and McAllen Memorial’s Anthony Esparza (6A shot put, 54-02). Vielma and Alaniz will compete at state for the first time.
MAKING HIS OWN WAY
A year ago, Mission Veterans distance runner GJ Reyna didn’t know if he’d make it to state. Having placed third at regionals in the 3200-meter run, Reyna traveled to Austin as the state’s fastest third-place qualifier, a spot created to fill the nine-line track at Mike A. Meyers Stadium.
Leaving nothing to chance during his senior season, Reyna finished first in the 3200 on Friday with a time of 9 minutes, 17.81 seconds, a new Valley’s best on the season as well as a new personal best.
What was an endurance race became an all-out sprint during the final 200 meters as Reyna and Andrew Tankersley of Boerne Champion raced for the finish line. Reyna passed Tankersley on the outside in the final 50 meters to win by less than half a second.
“From last year, we looked at my times and scoped out each race and tried to find things we could improve on,” Reyne said. “And one of those things was laps six and seven always seem to slow down for me. It was all about keeping a pace and speeding up hitting my speed at the right time. That’s kind of what I did here.”
GO AHEAD AND JUMP
Edinburg Vela senior Brandon Rivera will compete for the 5A high-jump title for a second consecutive year after claiming the regional title with an effort of 6-10. Rivera entered the day ranked No. 1 in the state among 5A jumpers with a mark of 7-02, which is also a Valley’s Best. Harlingen South’s Cierra Pena qualified for state in the 6A long jump (17-04.5). Pena competes today in the finals for the 100-meter and 200-meter dash.