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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Thursday, April 25, 2002
Eagles head to San Angelo regionals
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Pecos Eagle track teams will be seeking their first state qualifiers
in five years this weekend, when they compete at the Region I-4A Track
and Field Championships in San Angelo.
It's the last trip to the San Angelo regionals for the Eagles, who'll
be dropping down to Class 3A next year, and they'll be looking to get at
least one qualifier to state for the first time since 1997, when Bryan Brownlee
qualified in both the discus and shot put for the boys.
The discus is where coach Roxie Chavez thinks the girls have one of their
best chances to go to state, with sophomore Stephanie Herrera, who qualified
for regionals in both that event and the shot put.
"Stephanie's been working real hard in the discus," Chavez said. "She's
seeded real high, so we want her to work on that. She's within four feet
of the second best qualifier, so she's got a chance."
Herrera threw 121 feet to win the District 2-4A title two weeks ago, while
earning the second place regional berth in the discus. That event will be
one of the first to go off on Friday at Angelo State University, beginning
at 2 p.m.
Chavez said because of the schedule, she's had junior Jessica Martinez
drop out of the field event she qualifed in to concentrate on her two running
events. Martinez placed second in the high jump, 800 meters and 1600 meters
at district.
"Because all three events are the same day (Saturday), I'll have Nikki
Reyna do the high jump," she said. Reyna placed third at district in the
event to earn the regional alternate's berth.
Chavez said in the running events, Martinez in the 1600 meters and the
800 meter relay teams appear to have the best chances at regionals, but added,
"The 800 is just going to have to cut their times. If they can do that they
have a chance of making the finals."
Jessica Rodriguez in the 200 meter dash and Christina Arenivas in the
300 meter hurdles are the other regional qualifiers for Pecos in the running
events.
The boys' best chance in the running events, based on the pre-regional
times, is freshman Rashad Terry in the 200 meter dash. At last week's regional
qualifier's meet in Lamesa, coach Jerry Parent said, "He ran a 22.49, which
is the fastest he's run all year. His other best time was a 22.55 at San
Angelo (in March), so he's familiar with that track. So he's got a chance,
but he has to get a decent start."
Terry also qualified in the 100 meter dash, winning both that and the
200 meters at district while the Eagles' 400 meter relay team also finished
first and Jason Gonzales qualified as a runner-up qualified in the 110 meter
high hurdles.
Parent said the 400 meter team will be the same as at district _ Peter
Juarez, Will Armstrong, Jason Sanchez and Terry _ though the team will probably
have to improve on their 44.03 time at district to advance to Saturday's
finals.
Grades cost the Eagles two of their three regional qualifiers in the field
events. Armstrong remains in the pole vault, while in the 1600 meter run
Pecos will also have to make one change due to grades, with John Parent joining
Sanchez, Gonzales and Juarez on the team. Both the 1600 meter relay squad
and Armstrong were runners-up at district.
Aside from the girls' discus, the long jump and pole vault also will begin
at 2 p.m. Friday. At 4 p.m., the boys competition in those events will be
held, while running preliminaries start at 6 p.m., with the 400 meter relay.
The only running finals on Friday are the 3200 meter runs at 8:50 and
9:05 p.m., while the remaining field event finals open at 12 noon on Saturday
with the girls triple jump and continue through the boys' shot put, at 4:30
p.m. Running finals start at 6 p.m. with the girls 400 meter relay, and conclude
with the boys' 1600 meter relay at 8:35 p.m.
Junior high golfers again second, fifth
The second week of the area junior high golf tournament produced about
the same results as the opening week of play, with the Pecos Eagles girls
finishing second and the boys placing fifth, this time at the Ward County
Golf Course in Monahans last Saturday.
Pecos' Shelly Martinez won medallist honors for the second week in a row,
though the margin was closer than at the season opening tournament in Pecos
on April 13. Martinez, who shot a 40 and won by nine strokes on her home
course. Shot a 43 over nine holes in Monahans and won by three strokes over
Andrews' Kelsie Gray.
Overall though, the Mustangs still came out on top in the team standings,
shooting a 208 to Pecos' 228. Fort Stockton was next with a 242, followed
by the host Loboes with a 247, Andrews `B' with a 250, Fort Stockton `B'
with a 263 and Monahans `B' with a 275.
Evelyn Flores finished tied for ninth in the medallist race with Monahans'
Kalie Harris, while Eleanor Mason shot a 63, Stephanie Galindo a 64 and Silvia
Baeza a 65 for the girls' other `A' team scores. Pecos' other two golfers,
Melissa Mendoza and Sarah Wentworth, shot 62 and 65 for the day.
The boys' team shot a 428 to tie Monahans `B' for fifth. Andrews shot
a 352 to place first, seven shots up on Monahans `A', and were followed by
Kermit at 367 and Fort Stockton at 372.
Alex Morales was the Eagles' low scorer for the second week in a row,
shooting a 95. He was followed by Marky Mendoza with a 104, Jonathan Garcia
with a 110, Zack Morton with a 119 and Michael Lee with a 135.
Andrews Nathan Braun and Monahans' Joe Joe Birdwell tied for medallist
honors with rounds of 82.
Flores takes over as Eagles' basketball coach
Joe Flores said he's "happy and excited" to be taking over as the head
coach of the Pecos Eagles' varsity basketball team.
Flores, who has served as an assistant football and baseball coach for
the Pecos Eagles for the past three seasons, was appointed the team's new
varsity basketball coach by the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD board earlier this
month. He replaces Tino Acosta, who served as varsity head coach for the
past three seasons.
"I'm ready to get started," said Flores, who'll be looking to improve
on the Eagles recent records, as Pecos drops down from Class 4A to Class
3A next year. "We've got a lot of guys coming back from this year's ballclub,
so I hope we can have a good season and compete."
The move from District 2-4A to District 4-3A will put Flores up against
his former team, Monahans, where he went to high school before attending
Angelo State University. "I played basketball for three years at ASU," he
said. "I was going to play my last year but I developed knee problems. Plus,
there was the birth of my boy, so I didn't play my senior year," he said.
Pecos' last winning season in basketball was 1996, when they lost out
in a playoff to Big Spring for the final playoff spot in District 4-4A. Since
then, they've struggled either with a lack of height or a lack of outside
shooting, and come off a season in which they went 1-8 in district and 4-24
overall.
Acosta, who had served as the Eagles' junior varsity coach for a number
of years before being named to replace Mike Sadler in 1999, said he plans
to take a coaching job in Midlothian, southeast of Fort Worth, following
the end of the current school year. Pecos last playoff trip and last district
title, came in the 1989-90 season.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail newsdesk@nwol.net
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Copyright 2002 by Pecos Enterprise
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