By Clara Sandoval
Special to The 830 Times
Del Rio had a great showing at the 91st Annual Border Olympics Track and Field meet and came home with the biggest prize. The Rams scored 84 points to win the track meet among 20 schools from all of south Texas that descended at the Bill Johnson Student Activity Complex on Friday and Saturday.
“We are extremely proud of our track athletes and our coaching staff,” Del Rio head coach Ricardo Torres said. “Going into a big track meet like Border Olympics, all events are extremely competitive, and one never knows of the outcomes. We are thankful for the opportunity and hospitality provided by the city of Laredo and to the organization of Border Olympics.”
Second place went to Edinburg North with 63 points followed by Sharyland Pioneer (61 points), Weslaco East (47 points), and Weslaco and Laredo United (44 points) to round out the top five teams.
On the girls’ side the Queens took 10th overall with 31 points. For the second year in a row Laredo Alexander won the meet as the Lady Bulldogs scored 90 points. Seguin came in second with 60 points and Laredo United took third place with 57 points.
The Rams were able to score in 11 out of the 17 events and picked up half of their points in the relays. Del Rio scored 26 points in the field events as Alan Dobbins went home with two bronze medals in the triple jump (41-10 ½) and high jump (6-0).
Jovahn West placed third in the long jump (21-10) while Isaac Jimenez placed fourth in the shot put with a toss of 48-3. Manuel Padilla picked up a fourth-place finish in the discus (138-6).
Del Rio picked up huge points in all three relays. The Rams won the 4×100-meter relay and the 4×200-meter relays while the 4×400-meter relay took fifth overall. The 4×100-meter relay team of Juan Chili Peralta, Emmanuel Devonte Reyes, Zane Hughes and West were clocked at 43.08 to take the gold medal.
The 4×200-meter relay team of Peralta, Ethan Vasquez, Hughes and West dropped down from a 1:30.26 in the prelims to a 1:30.23 to pick up the gold medal.
The 4×400-meter relay team that consists of Alex Rodriguez, Rolando Rios, Jose Ortiz and Elian De La Paz ran a 3:29.70 and finished in fifth place.
In the running events Hughes placed second in the 200-meter dash (22.55), De La Paz took fourth in the 400-meter dash (51.60) and West placed fifth in the 100-meter dash (11.56).
The Queens were able to pick up points in six events. Picking up bronze medals were Ariana Erickson in the 100-meter hurdles (16.56), Amaris Leon in the pole vault (8-0) and the 4×400-meter relays team that consists of Addie Weston, Emily Torres, Erickson and Lilian De La O that dropped a 4:09.82.
Erickson also placed fourth in the 200-meter dash (25.99) while Kimberly Gloria placed fifth in the 800-meter run (2:26.98) and Torres placed six in the 1,600-meter run (5:27.54).
Eagle Pass only had one athlete place as Walker Finleyson placed sixth in the triple jump (40-5). The Lady Eagles placed in three events and were led by the 4×200-meter relay team of Paulina Escobar, Elisa Gomez, Iza Tovar and Analy Torres who placed third overall with a time of 1:48.90. Melanie Guerra placed fifth in the discus with a toss of 103-11 while in the pole vault Escobar placed fourth (8-0) and Victoria Barttlet (8-0) came in fifth.
