PHARR — The Harlingen High boys track team edged out PSJA High 103 to 98 to win the District 31/32 area meet Thursday evening at PSJA Stadium. Harlingen will send 10 boys and two girls the regional meet next week in San Antonio at Alamo Stadium.
“We knew coming in that it was going to be tough and we knew the guys in these other districts would bring it, and they did. My cap is off to them,” said Harlingen senior Roel Renteria. “We had a goal coming in and that was to make regionals and we did it.”
Big Red won the area meet for the first time in three years. Renteria highlighted the Cardinals squad by winning the 300-meter hurdles and placing fourth in the 110-meter hurdles.
“The kids exceed expectations. I’m so happy for them and the ones that are moving on to regionals,” said Harlingen track coach Efrain Ambriz. “It’s special for the seniors that qualified because for some of them it’s a first. I’m just so happy they qualified. I wasn’t too concerned on winning the meet, I just wanted our kids to advance and that is the big thing and everything will take care of itself.”
Renteria will be making his third trip to the regional meet.
“This is a bit scary for me because it’s my last regional meet,” Renteria said. “I know the competition up there is tough, but this is something that I have been waiting and working for all year. In the 300 I made sure my steps were constant and that I did things the right way. I slipped up a little but everything came out clean.”
On the girls side Harlingen High’s Jasmyn Tulloch and Yazmine Martinez both punched their ticket to the regional meet. Tulloch finished first in the 300 hurdles with a 46.38 while Martinez set a new Valley mark in the 400-meter run with a 57.29.
Harlingen South’s Annelle Rodriguez qualified for her first-ever regional meet after falling short the last two seasons. The senior qualified in the high jump where she placed third with a jump of 5-2 and also ran the 4×2 were she placed fourth.
“It’s a great feeling to make the regional meet,” Rodriguez said. “I made it in both of my events and that’s great. I plan to work even harder to finish off my senior season strong.”
Meanwhile, the South boys were tops in field events as the Hawks qualified eight to the regional meet.
From the shot put, Andrew Ott placed first with a throw of 58-06.50. In second was Chase Harrell with a toss of 55-10.50 and in fourth place was Benjamin Ruiz with a throw of 50-07.00.
In the discus, Sky Tatum finished in first with a throw of 175-07, in third was Cristian Cortez with a 162-03 and in fourth was Ruiz with a 155-10.
Marcus Ramirez was the lone qualifier in the pole vault with a jump of 15-00.00.
Nitai Duran finished third in the 110 with a 15.35 mark and Crestony Martinez qualified in the 400 with a 51.06.
“Our field events did an excellent job,” said South coach Ralph De La Rosa. “We got a personal record in the 4X400 and finished fifth. That showed how tough the competition was on the track. Overall 32-6A did a great job of competing and representing in the area meet.”
