It was a busy weekend for area track and field athletes at their respective regional competitions.
With the dust now settled, 11 Harlingen-area individuals ultimately qualified for the 2018 UIL state meet in Austin later this month.
Leading the way for this talented contingent is Santa Maria sophomore Kristen Aleman, who qualified in both the 3200- and 1600-meter runs for a second consecutive year.
Last season as a freshman, Aleman finished in eighth place in the 3200 and in fourth place in the 1600.
Staying in Class 2A, Robbie Espericueta and Refugio Montelongo of La Villa are also headed north in a couple of weeks after qualifying in the girls 800 and boys 800, respectively. Espericueta actually took gold at the Region IV-2A meet this past weekend in Kingsville with a time of 2:23.66.
In Class 3A, Alex Ayala of Santa Rosa qualified in the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.04. He’ll enter the state meet as the No. 7 seed.
Moving up to Class 4A, La Feria is sending a couple of athletes to Austin. Dariana Vasquez took first place in the 3200 to earn a trip back to state. At the Region IV-4A meet in Kingsville this past weekend, she ran her race in a time of 11:29.29. Last year at state, she finished in eight with a time of 11:46.47
Meanwhile, Reyes Rodriguez qualified in both the 800 and 1600. This is also his second straight trip to state, but last season he ran in the 800, 400 and was part of the 4×400 relay team. Reyes is no stranger to distance running, however, as he is also a state-qualifying cross country runner.
Finally, in Class 6A, Harlingen South’s Andrew Ott, Marcus Ramirez and Sky Tatum are all headed to Austin, and they’ll be joined by Brianna Alex of Los Fresnos.
Ott qualified in the shot put with a throw of 60-02.25. Ramirez, meanwhile, qualified in the pole vault event with a jump of 15-06.00 and Tatum will compete in the discus throw as he qualified at regionals with a toss of 170-02.
Finally, Alex is headed to Austin in the 100 hurdles.
The state meet is set for May 11-12 at Mike A. Myers Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin.
