PHARR — Stepping into the circle for her final attempt of the meet, Brownsville Lopez’s Keyla Olguin found herself sitting in third place, trailing PSJA Southwest’s Ana Rodriguez and Marcela Trevino, respectively.
Thinking back to her previous two seasons, which Olguin had wiped away due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the junior thrower felt it was time to let it all out.
Lopez delivered her best throw of the season, breaking a personal and school record with a mark of 136 feet, 3 inches to claim the gold in the discus throw at the 31/32-5A Area track and field championships Wednesday at PSJA Stadium.
“I feel very emotional and happy with what I’ve accomplished,” Olguin said. “It feels really cool. This is the first year I’ll be able to finally finish a season. I was just thinking about giving it my all. It was the last throw so I just had to risk it all.”
Olguin, who is set to graduate this year as a junior, has made the most of her final campaign with the Lobos, earning the District 32-5A discus crown April 8. Prior to that, Olguin took first at the RGVCA Meet of Champions in the discus with a then-school record 135-04.
The junior thrower, who began competing in the discus at seven, has her sights set on bigger goals going into the regional meet.
“Since I was little my parents have supported me in this,” she said. “They just took me to a camp and some coaches there saw me. Now here I am. I want to hit the 140 feet mark at the next meet. But I feel very happy to just be here. I just want to continue throwing as long as I can.”
Olguin was one of six individuals to punch their ticket to the Region IV-5A meet during Wednesday’s field events.
The top four finishers from each event advance to the regional meet, set for April 29-30 at Heroes Stadium in San Antonio.
Lobos’ jumper Kassandra Aguirre will join Olguin at the meet, taking first in the long jump with a mark of 16-04.75. Brownsville Lopez’s Chantal Pena was the Lobos’ third qualifier of the day, coming in fourth in Shot Put with a throw 34-08.75.
Brownsville Pace’s Kevin Garcia finished third in the discus with a mark of 142-05, topping his personal best set mark of 132-11 set during the District 32-5A meet April 8.
Meanwhile, the Brownsville Veterans Chargers had two athletes advance to the regional meet, highlighted by sophomore Gerry Gomez’s first-place finish in the triple jump.
Gomez won the event with a personal record mark of 44-05, beating out last year’s area champion Rolando Maldonado of PSJA Memorial. Maldonado finished second with a jump of 43-09.
Pole vaulter Emiliano Martinez-Lopez will join Gomez at the regional meet next week, taking the silver with a personal-best tying vault of 12-00. Martinez-Lopez finished fourth during the District 32-5A meet April 8, improving his mark by over one foot to secure a spot at regionals.
Brownsville Veterans’ Naia Gracia and Brownsville Pace’s Genesis Augustus and Nathan Herrera were Brownsville ISD’s lone regional qualifiers in the running events as of press time Wednesday.
Gracia finished second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2 minutes, 20.70 seconds. Augustus and Herrera each finished fourth in the 100- and 110-meter hurdles with times of 16.35 and 15.74 seconds, respectively.
