|
Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Eagles changing hoop, track head coaches
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
Some Pecos Eagle coaches will be changing positions next year, while others will be leaving the school district and some coaching spots remain to be filled, Pecos-Barstow-Toyah Athletic Director Patrick Willis said today.
The biggest changes will be on the girls’ side, where head basketball coach Veronica Valenzuela is moving over to become head girls track coach next season, replacing Roxie Chavez, who is moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Replacing her will be Lisa Lowery, who has been the head coach of Grandfalls-Royalty the past two seasons. “I think she’ll be a good one. The first year she didn’t even have enough girls for a basketball team, and the next year they went to the playoffs,” Willis said.
Grandfalls won the District 10-A basketball title this past season, before falling to Balmorhea in the bi-district round of the playoffs.
Valenzuela has served as an assistant track coach under Chavez along with head basketball coach and assistant volleyball coach. She’ll start handling the track program beginning with the P-B-T summer track on June 7, though as of now Valenzuela said she’s not sure where the students will work out this year, since June 7 is also supposed to be the first day work begins on installing artificial turf and track resurfacing at Eagle Stadium.
“They said we’ll still be able to work around on the field, but we’ll have to wait and see,” Valenzuela said. “If not we’ll see about going to Crockett or even coming to Bessie Haynes.”
Willis said once work begins, it would take about two weeks to remove the dirt from the field before installation of the artificial turf could begin, followed by resurfacing of the track. He said the $517,000 project is due to be completed by mid-August. Pecos’ home scrimmage against Coahoma is scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 20.
Chavez said she was going to be teaching at Sam Houston Junior High in Irving next year. “My parents live there, and I just want to spend more time with them,” she said. “I’m also moving for my little girl. There are a lot more opportunities for her there, so she’s real excited.”
“I had three good years here as track coach,” said Chavez, who will not be serving in a regular coaching position at the Irving school. Pecos won the District 2-4A track title in her first season as head track coach and placed second and third in District 4-3A the past two seasons. Senior Stephanie Herrera became the first Pecos girl in over 30 years to advance to the state track meet this season, and placed third in the discus two weeks ago.
On the boys’ side, the Eagles will also have a new head track coach, as current coach Jerry Parent will be going back to serve as head coach at Crockett Junior High, Parent had been the head track and football coach at Crockett and before that at Zavala Middle School before moving up to the high school level.
He’ll be replaced by John Fellows, one of two new varsity assistant coaches hired so far by Willis. The other, Craig Jackson, will also be an assistant track coach, as well as being the new line coach for Pecos. “He’s from Blanco, and Fellows is from Junction,” Willis said.
“We still need a freshman coach, and we need two girls junior high coaches and one boys junior high coach as of right now,” he said, adding that he didn’t know how long it would be before those positions are filled.
“We’re just trying to match up teaching assignments right now,” he said.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 432-445-5475, FAX 432-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
|
