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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Wednesday, February 24, 1999
Eagles' track teams look to fill openings
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Feb. 24 -- Sprint races have not been the strong
point for the Pecos Eagles' track teams in recent years,
even when the Eagles have racked up some points in district
competition.
Distance races and field events are where the boys and girls
teams have scored best, but with most of those athletes
having graduated and with Pecos going up against five new
district rivals come April, things may be different for the
Eagles this time around.
Pecos, which opens its 1999 season on Friday at the Comanche
Relays in Fort Stockton, qualified nine for regionals last
year, but only two -- senior Shaye Lara and sophomore
Maricela Arenivas -- return this season.
Both were members of the 800 meter relay team which advanced
last year, and coach Lily Talamantez said they would be
joined by two other sophomores, Yvette Barreno and Crystal
Garcia.
"We've got 31 kids out, but we have a young bunch again,"
Talamantez said. "They're mostly freshmen, but they have
lost of talent."
"We've got a lot of hurdlers this year. We have Shana
Tredaway and Ashlee Canon, and we'll get Shaye in there in
the 110 (low hurdles)," Talamantez said.
Pecos scored 74 points at district a year ago, but Lara is
one of only three seniors on the 1999 squad, along with shot
putter Julie Lujan and distance runner Liz Parent. Lujan was
sixth in the shot put at district last year, while Parent
ran in the 800 and 1600 meters, where she placed fifth and
sixth.
The Eagles also get back sophomore Jenny Alvarez in those
two races, but with Pecos going ont to the El Paso area for
their District 2-4A meet this season, their new rivals
figure to be strong where Pecos traditionally has done best
-- in the the longer races, especailly the 1600 and 3200
meter runs.
This past Fall's district cross country meet was an example.
Parent was able to place fifth in the race in El Paso, but
on the boys' side Pecos' Oscar Medrano missed regionals by
one spot in the three-mile race, although his time was 22
seconds faster than the best time out of the Eagles' former
district that same weekend.
Medrano and the rest of the Eagles will see a lot of their
ex-district rivals beginning this weekend than they will of
their new ones until the District 2-4A meet at Clint on
April 16-17. That should make the competition a little
easier in the early going for Medrano, who finished fourth
in the 3200 at district a year ago.
"We'll have Oscar, Alex Avila, Jacob Mora and Nolan Blount,"
in the distance races, new boys track coach Vance Washington
said.
Washington takes over from Mike Farrell, whose team scored
88 points at district a year ago. However, none of the boys'
regional qualifiers return, and senior Lucio Florez, who was
fourth in the 300 hurdles at district, will miss the first
month of the season due to ineligibility.
"We're going to be counting on Orlando Matta. He's been on
the team for three years, so for now he and Len (Carson) are
going to have to carry us," Washington said. Matta placed
fourth in the 800 meters last season and was sixth in the
400 meter dash.
Washington said Matta would be running the 800 and competing
in the triple jump, while Carson will be in the pole vault
and the 300 meter hurdles. Both also are members of both the
400 and 1600 meter relay teams and will be joined by Chris
Reyes and Daniel Terrazas on the 4000 and by Jason Payne and
one other runner in the mile.
"We're still looking for that other spot," said Washington,
who has had his realy teams working mainly on handoffs so
far this week.
Payne and Terrazas were 1-2 in the junior varsity division's
400 meter dash last season, while Reyes won third place in
the pole vault at district, and will also be in the long
jump this season, Washington said.
In the sprints, where points have been hard to come by,
Washington said he'll have Rudy Nunez and Dulces Guerrero
entered in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes.
The biggest changes for Pecos, however, will be in the shot
put and discus, where Jeff Brownlee and Jake Fowler won
first at district the past two seasons, while Bryan Brownlee
placed second in those events in both 1997 and 1998. Jeff
Brownlee would go on to finish second at state in the discus
two years ago, and this year's group will try to continue
the Eagles' recent success.
Pecos will have one senior, in John Gutierrez, along with
three underclassmen in Frank Coria, Lonnie Crawford and Tim
Patton in the shot put, and Washington said they would be
joined by Terrazas in the discus. as is the case with the
relays, Washington said the throwers will get their first
test this Friday at Fort Stockton. "We haven't measured off
anything yet."
Lakers ink Rodman to minimum contract
By JOHN NADEL
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24 -- Help is on the way for the slumping
Los Angeles Lakers.
Dennis Rodman, the NBA's leading rebounder each of the last
seven seasons, signed a one-year contract with the Lakers on
Tuesday, and planned to participate in a limited practice
session today, team spokesman John Black said.
Because they're over the salary cap, the Lakers can only pay
Rodman the veterans' minimum of $1 million, pro-rated to
under $500,000 because of the shortened season and the games
he's missed.
A source close to Rodman said the eccentric forward spent
much of Tuesday doing post-production services on the movie
``Simon Sez,'' to be released later this year, but took a
break to sign the contract.
Following today's practice, the source said, Rodman will
attend tonight's Grammy Awards with his wife, actress Carmen
Electra.
The Lakers waited to execute Rodman's contract until after a
93-83 loss at Vancouver on Tuesday night.
Rodman, who was to take a physical examination before
today's practice, will replace rookie Ruben Patterson on the
Lakers' roster. Patterson was placed on the injured list
because of tendinitis in his right knee.
Rodman was one of several Lakers expected to take part in
today's practice, which came on the heels of a three-game,
three-day road trip -- all of which were losses to drop them
to 6-6.
Black said Rodman would be available to the media afterward,
and will probably play his first game for the Lakers on
Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Forum.
Black said Rodman, who turns 38 in May, could make his
Lakers' debut as early as Thursday night against the
Clippers in Anaheim, or as late as Sunday against Houston at
the Forum.
Whenever it is, it can't come to soon for the Lakers,
believed by many to be the team to beat in the NBA title
chase this season after the retirement of Michael Jordan and
glutting of the Chicago Bulls.
Rodman has played on five championship teams during his
career including the last three with the Bulls. Following
Jordan's retirement, they opted not to pursue the NBA's
dominant rebounder of the '90s as well as the league's
leader in tattoos and body piercings.
The Lakers, who have not had a player finish in the top 10
among NBA rebounders since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it in
1981, first expressed an interest in Rodman more than three
weeks ago. He kept them waiting before finally announcing
during a rambling 20-minute news conference Monday that he
intended to play for them and would be in uniform later this
week.
Also among those expected to take part in today's practice
was forward Robert Horry, who was cleared to play Tuesday.
Horry missed seven games after being diagnosed with an
irregular heartbeat prior to a 101-99 loss to Indiana on
Feb. 14.
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 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 1999 by Pecos Enterprise
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