AUSTIN — It was a “bronze” kind of day as two area athletes took to the medal stand on the first day of the UIL state track meet in Austin.
La Feria’s Dariana Vasquez, a sophomore, started the day by capturing third place in the 3200-meter run. She finished with a time of 11:31.77 while Bandera’s Alia Henderson took the gold medal with a time of 11:21.79 and Midlothian Heritage’s Renee Elliott took home the silver medal with a time of 11:23.82.
“It feels awesome to win,” said Vasquez. “I just thank God for the opportunity to win a medal today. As I was running, I was thinking of my friends, my teammates and my hometown, and I just wanted to make them proud.
“I just feel that I accomplished something really great in my life and I’m just really thankful of all my coaches.”
Vasquez wasn’t always at the top of pack during the race. In fact, it wasn’t until the final two laps when she decided to make her move and slowly began to close in on the top runners in the group.
While she might have been the only athlete from La Feria on the track, she wasn’t alone as family, coaches and friends encouraged Vasquez on both sides of Mike A. Myers Stadium.
“I could hear all my coaches from the stands because they were very loud,” said Vasquez with a laugh.
One of those coaches was La Feria track coach Gracie Campos, who knew all along what Vasquez was capable of doing.
“Dariana’s competitive nature definitely shined today,” said Campos. “She is humble and a true competitor. She paced herself well and chose the right moment to pass the runners to win the bronze medal.
“We were telling her to keep working and to stay strong, and we were attempting to give her the splits from the stands.”
At 7:15 p.m., Santa Rosa’s Alex Ayala was the area’s second athlete to take to the track and he also became the second athlete to medal as he finished in third place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 39.40.
Woodville’s Tony Land won gold with a time of 38.87 while Jarrell’s Joseph Shamburger took home the silver with a time of 39.14.
The win was a long time coming for the Santa Rosa senior.
“What a way to end the season,” exclaimed Ayala. “After all the stuff that has happened to me the past four years, it feels good to medal and see all the hard work pay off. It’s just hard to put the feeling into words. I’ve got a lot of feelings going through me right now.”
Ayala made it to state with the seed time of 40.04, but the thousands in attendance at Mike A. Myers Stadium provided the inspiration to propel him to go beyond his state qualifying time.
“For the first 200 meters my heart was just pounding, but it was in the last 100 when I could start hearing everybody yelling, and that helped me find another gear and push myself a little bit more,” said Ayala. “It is crazy how with all the people here you can still pinpoint their voices and where they are.
“As the saying goes, ‘don’t look back and leave it all on the track.’ That is exactly what I did.”
