The Brownsville St. Joseph track & field program is riding high into Waco for the TAPPS 5A state meet happening Friday and Saturday at Panther Stadium.
The Bloodhoundswon the boys and girls team championships at the TAPPS 5A District 5 meet in Corpus Christi two weeks ago. They rode that momentum into Bastrop for the TAPPS South Regional meet and made a splash once again.
Nine athletes – Pedro Cardenas, Alejandra “Ale” Gonzalez, Vivian Wood, Elise Esparza, Lucia Gonzalez, Emma Gonzalez, Maria Jose “MJ” Morales, Alondra Loya and Mildred Verlaje – used solid performances at the regional to qualify for the state meet.
“It’s indicative of the culture that the Marist brothers have created for us at St. Joe. A school where getting students qualified to the state meet is important, just like getting them into Harvard,” SJA coach Teddy Lopez said. “That culture has helped me and all the head coaches be able to hire the best staff that we can find which in turn helps the kids reach athletic excellence.”
Cardenas had a historic regional meet, breaking three school records as he advanced in the 800- (third), 1,600- (third) and 3,200-meter (fourth) runs. One of the records he broke belonged to assistant coach and SJA alumnus Louie Tijerina, who works with the distance runners. Cardenas thanked Tijerina and distance coach Michael Schlater for helping him become one of the top distance runners in the Rio Grande Valley.
“That felt really good, (breaking records) throughout the three events,” Cardenas said. “I was very excited and super pleased with all the hard work. I felt relieved to finally break those records and advance to state, which was really hard. (Tijerina) was really excited and I told him thanks a lot for everything, and Coach Schlater for getting me into running.”
The junior is confident he has more in the tank and that he’ll have another good showing on the biggest stage.
“I think my times will drop in all events. It’s going to be very fast, so placing would mean PRing in all events. That’s the goal,” Cardenas said. “A lot of miles and speed workouts while doing those miles have been super helpful. It’s going to be cool to represent all the guys from St. Joe and show them that we’re pretty good.”
Morales, Loya and Verlaje will be competing on Friday in the girls throwing events. Morales is the regional champion in the discus and is striving to earn another medal and pad the resume she’s building to hopefully become a college athlete.
“It was amazing, victory always feels good,” Morales. “I went with the idea that I was going to be winning and my coach thought that, so I felt like I met our expectations. I’m getting kind of nervous (for state), but I really have to throw very far because I’m trying to get recruited by Yale University.”
Loya, a freshman, advanced with a fourth-place finish in discus. Verlaje earned a bronze medal in the shot put. Morales credited throwing coach Rey Cortinas for developing a strong team and said the bond the throwers have makes their success feel even better.
“I think succeeding as a team is way more fulfilling than succeeding as an individual. Winning was an accomplishment, of course, but seeing your friends do good around you lifts you up, especially for competitions like this,” Morales said.
Junior athlete Lucia Gonzalez is leading the way for SJA’s runners. She’s the anchor on both the girls 400 and 800 state-qualifying relays, and she advanced individually with a fourth-place finish in the 100.
“The events are very different. The relays are a team sport, so it’s fun doing good with the girls. And I also like pushing myself and seeing myself go far in the 100,” Gonzalez said.
Ale Gonzalez, Wood and Esparza are members of the 400 relay that finished third at the regional. Esparza and the three Gonzalez sisters — twins Lucia and Ale and senior Emma — combine to make up the silver medalist 800 relay team. Lucia said the relay teams have good chemistry that boosts their performances and has the girls feeling confident with state on the horizon.
“It’s been the same girls for, like, three years and we’ve been practicing together, we know each other really well, so it helps a lot,” Lucia Gonzalez said. “We went (into the regional) as the underdogs, and no one expected us to qualify as many as we did. It was a good outcome. I can see our hard work has been paying off.”
