|
Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Track teams short of runners, place sixth
The Pecos Eagle track teams struggled with their numbers and with scoring points on Saturday at the Mustang Relays in Andrews, though Pecos’ boys did improve on their totals from their previous two meets.
Pecos’ girls had 42 points, their low total for the season, while the boys scored 13 points and both teams finished sixth in the six-team field.
The girls got a pair of third place finishes out of Chantell Mazone in the discus and shot put for their only medals of the meet, which was won by San Angelo Central. She threw 115-foot-11 in the discus and 34-foot-8 in the shot, while Jessica Florez placed fourth, with a 32-8 1/2 effort.
“We just didn’t have a very good meet,” said coach Donna Gent. “We had a lot of girls gone for catechism in El Paso, and we had two other girls not make the bus. … We were leaving at 5:30 and waited 15 minutes, but they didn’t end up making it.”
Gent said the Eagles placed fourth in all three relays, while their other points came from a fifth by Jasmine Rayos in the triple jump.
“We didn’t go to compete,” Gent said. “It was just one of those track meets you try to forget.”
The boys’ result was an improvement, after scoring only two at the Sandhills Relays the previous weekend. “Points are a little hard to come by right now,” said coach Robbie Ortega. “Some of our kids were gone to one-act play, and Eli (Hinojos) was at the state powerlifting meet, so we had to run some people in places we normally won’t run them.”
Pecos’ best finish was a fourth place by Pete Juarez in the 200-meter dash. “Pete’s finally starting to bring his time down. He did 23.47 and got fourth, and Larry (Johnson) ran well and got sixth in the 400.”
The Eagles’ other four points came from fifth place finishes in the 800 and 1600-meter relays.
“Justin (Hannsz) is still out. He’s missed the last three meets but hopefully at San Angelo he’ll be able to run the 300 (hurdles) and at least one of the relays,” Ortega said.
In the junior varsity division, Gent said Olga Mendoza placed fourth in the long jump for the Eagle girls, while Ortega said Louis Morales was fourth in the 200 meters and fifth in the 400 for the boys.
The San Angelo Relays will be a two-day event for Pecos’ boys, starting Friday with preliminaries and some field events finals, while Pecos’ girls will by at the Permian Basin Relays in Kermit on Saturday.
JH, elementary swimmers set marks at Pecos meet
Pecos Junior High girls placed second while the boys placed third on Saturday, in competition at the Pecos High School pool, while at the elementary level, Pecos’ boys finished first and the girls second in their division of the meet at the PHS pool.
Pecos, Monahans and Andrews were the three schools fielding elementary school level swimmers, while the junior high level included those two other district rivals, along with teams from Lubbock, Odessa and Pampa.
Lubbock Slaton took first in the girls’ division, with 463 points to 164 for Pecos and 133 for Lubbock Hutchison, which won the boys title with 288 points, to 219 for Slaton and 136 points for the Eagles.
At the elementary level, Pecos’ boys scored 269 points to 162 for Andrews and 69 for Monahans, while the Loboes’ girls beat the Eagles by a 276-240 margin, with Andrews just behind with 227 points.
“We had a number of records broken by both the boys and girls,” said coach Evan Bates. “Everybody cut anywhere from five seconds to 12 seconds on most of their times, and we had a lot of really close finishes.”
Alyson Reynolds set one individual record on the girls’ side for Pecos. She won the 200-yard individual medley with a 2:27.99 time, while later winning the 100-yard freestyle with a 1:01.20 time and the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:18.82. For the boys, Derek Teague set a new meet record in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:16.07. He also finished second in the 100-yard freestyle and third in the 200-yard individual medley.
Gus Mendoza was the other Pecos swimmer on the boys’ side to earn a medal on Saturday in an individual event, as he placed third in the 100-yard backstroke. He was also fourth in the 200-yard freestyle and fifth in the 50-yard butterfly. Mendoza, Teague, Sammy Sandoval and Tanner Hardwick were third in the 200-yard medley relay, and the same group finished fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Pecos’ ‘B’ relay of Justin Gonzalez, Omar Medina and Carlos and Edward Navarro were ninth in the 200 medley relay and 12th in the 200 freestyle relay. The other individual results for the boys included a 10th place finish by Hardwick in the 200 medley; a 20th by Sandoval, a 37th by Gonzalez and a 43rd by Medina in the 50-yard freestyle; a 12th by Hardwick in the 50-yard butterfly; 18th and 20th place finishes by Edward and Carlos Navarro in the 200 yard freestyle and 23rd and 24th place in the 100 free; a 41st by Medina in the 100 free; a 21st by Gonzalez and a 22nd by Medina in the 100 backstroke; and an 11th by Hardwick and a 15th by Carlos Navarro in the 100-yard breaststroke.
The girls also had individual medals from Conner Armstrong, who placed second in the 200-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard backstroke. She also finished fourth in the 50 free, while in the relays, Armstrong, Reynolds, Amanda James and Adrianna Roman finished third in the 200 medley, while Armstrong, Reynolds, Anatalia Hernandez and Jessica Dickenson took third in the 200 freestyle relay.
The girls’ ‘B’ relay of Maggie and Anatalia Hernandez, Dickenson and Tiffany Hunter were 10th in the 200 medley relay, while Hunter, James, Roman and Abby Valenzuela were ninth in the 200 freestyle relay. Individually, Anatalia Hernandez was ninth in the 200 free and 15th in the 50 butterfly and the 100 backstroke; Roman was seventh in the 200 medley and 18th in the 50 fly and 100 breaststroke; Dickenson was ninth in the 200 medley, 13th in the 100 yard breaststroke and 21st in the 100 free; Hunter was 19th in the 100 back, 21st in the 50 fly and 34th in the 50 free; James was 21st in the 100 yard breaststroke and 45th in the 50 free; Maggie Hernandez was 27th in the 50 fly and 49th in the 50 free; and Valenzuela was 31st in the 100 backstroke.
“The kids did a really good job pulling together and supporting each other,” Bates said. “I guess you call it swimming up to the competition, since competing against the 5A junior high schools is always tough.”
On the elementary school level, Lauren Elliott set a new record in the 100-yard freestyle, winning with a time of 1:08.30. She also won the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:25.20 and the 50-yard backstroke with a time of 37.97. Alexcia Mendoza also took first in two events, winning the 100-yard individual medley with a 1:15.12 time and the 50 fly with a 32.03 time.
In the relays, Elliott, Mendoza, Rayann Box and Brooke Hale won the 200 medley with a 2:39.87 time, while Mendoza, Elliott, Dana Conger and Sassy Howard won the 200 freestyle relay, with a 2:31.43 time.
The other individual results for the girls included a sixth by Hale in the 100 medley; a seventh by Conger, 10th by Howard and 19th by Hale in the 50 free; a fourth by Box and a fifth by Conger in the 50 fly; a sixth by Box and a seventh by Howard in the 100 free; a fifth by Box and an eighth by Conger in the 50 backstroke; and an eighth by Hale and a ninth by Howard in the 50 breaststroke.
Four different swimmers won individual firsts for the elementary aged boys, and they also won both relay events. Bryce Deitiker, Bradley Shaw, R.J. Lozano and Sterling Hannsz won the 200 medley in 2:55.27; while Shaw, Deitiker, Lozano and Mario Olivas won the 200 free with a 2:25.34 time.
Shaw also took all three of his individual events, setting one record along the way. He won the 100 medley with a time of 1:25.23, the 100 free with a 1:116.18 time and the 100 breaststroke, where he sent a new meet record with a 42.40 time. Lozano won the 50-yard butterfly in 40.11, took the 50 backstroke in 40.25 and was second in the 100 medley by .6 second behind Shaw; Deitiker won the 200 freestyle with a 3:03.15 time and was second in the 100 free and third in the 50 breaststroke; Olivas won the 50 free in 37.21 and was second in the 100 fly and third in the 100 medley. Hannsz was fifth in the 50 free, the 50 fly and the 50 backstroke for Pecos.
Bats stay quiet in Eagles’ loss to Rangerettes
The Pecos Eagles’ hitting slump extended into its fourth straight game on Friday afternoon, and as a result, the Eagles saw their record drop below .500 in the District 3-3A softball standings with a 3-0 loss at home to the Greenwood Rangerettes.
Amber Garduno three-hit the Eagles, while the Rangerettes took advantage of Amalie Herrera’s first inning control problems to grab a quick 2-0 lead, before adding an insurance run in the sixth inning to snap their own three-game district losing streak.
“Defensively I thought we played well enough to win, but we’re not helping ourselves,” said Eagles’ coach Tammy Walls. “The first two runs were due to walks, but that shouldn’t have been the end of the game in the first inning. We’re just not hitting the ball when we need to.”
Herrera went to 3-0 counts on Savannah Neely and Garduno to open the game, before allowing a walk and a single. She then got Emily Burgess to force Neely at third on a grounder to Vanessa Valeriano at shortstop, but Daisy Roman then doubled down the line in right field to give Greenwood a 1-0 lead. Stephanie Ledbetter’s ground out to second scored Burgess before Norman was caught rounding third base too far and was thrown out, to end the inning.
Herrera would survived a double by Garduno in the third and single by Ledbetter in the fourth, but the Eagles weren’t doing anything to put pressure on Greenwood until the bottom of the fourth inning. Before then, their only baserunner was Valeriano, who reached on an error by third baseman Jenny Adkins with two outs in the second.
Cassandra Terrazas led off the inning by singling to center field. She stayed at first when Herrera couldn’t get a couple of bunt attempts down and ended up popping out to Garduno, before Jessica Florez then doubled into right centerfield, to put the tying run in scoring position with one away. But Neely then made a running catch from shortstop of a foul pop by Savannah Ewing behind third base, and Garduno then got Valeriano to ground to second base to end the inning.
The Eagles’ defense didn’t make any errors in the sixth, but they didn’t do as good a job as Neely did in helping out their pitcher, after Herrera walked Burgess with one away. Roman then moved her over to second with a sacrifice bunt, and Ledbetter than blooped a ball into short left field that Valeriano and Terrazas couldn’t get to, allowing Burgess to score.
Pecos would get one more base runner, when Herrera singled and stole second base with two outs in the sixth, but Garduno then got Florez to pop out to second to end the inning.
The game was the final one of the first half for Greenwood, which improved to 3-3 in district and 11-9 on the season. The Eagles are 2-3 in district and 16-6 overall going into their final game of the first half, at home on Tuesday against Presidio, starting at 5 p.m.
“We’re not out of it. I’ve seen what our girls are capable of doing earlier in the season,” Walls said. “We’re going to stay positive and try to start hitting the ball.”
Greenwood’s eight-run 5th inning rocks Pecos
If the Pecos Eagles baseball team needed a wake-up call, the fifth inning of Friday’s game against the Greenwood Rangers should have provided it.
The Eagles, 1-0 losers at home last Tuesday against Seminole, trailed 3-1 going into the fifth inning of their game at Greenwood, only to see the Rangers score eight times, and end the game under the 10-run run on David Hill’s grand slam home run to cap an 11-1 victory, which dropped Pecos to 1-3 in District 3-3A play, following a 12-2 start to the season.
“Like I told them at the end of the game, I’m at a loss for words,” said Payan, whose team managed just two hits off Hill in the game. “I don’t know what it is, but since district started we haven’t been able to get the big hit with men on base.
“We got the first two men on base because he (Hill) was having problems with his control, but we can’t be selective. Our number three, five and six hitters all struck out on pitches in the dirt,” Payan said. “We didn’t even give ourselves a chance to make things happen.”
Number four hitter Kenny Rayos did deliver and RBI single to put the Eagles ahead 1-0, but Greenwood then scored three runs in the bottom of the first off Josh Anchondo, who fell to 2-2 on the season.
Anchondo struggled with his control for the second straight game, but the last time his problems didn’t surface until the third inning, by which time the Eagles had a 12-0 lead on the way to a 24-1 win over Monahans.
That’s the only game in district so far where the Eagles have been able to hit the ball with men on base, a problem Pecos had in their early pre-district games, but seemed to get over in the two weeks leading up to the start of 3-3A play.
“It’s frustrating. I know we had some early success and we have good players, but right now it seems like they’re putting pressure on themselves and getting too tight,” Payan said.
Anchondo shut out Greenwood over three innings, but couldn’t get out of the fifth and was replaced by Isaiah Rayos, who had picked up the victory in the Eagles’ 9-8 non-district win over Greenwood, but was hit hard this time by the Rangers.
“I’m disappointed with Josh. He’s got to understand that if you’re on the mound, you bring the team on your shoulders,” said Payan, who said he kept Payan in a little longer than planned because of a foot injury suffered by Robert Nunez last weekend.
The Eagles are now 13-5 while Greenwood won their first district game, after losses to Seminole and Presidio and are 9-6-1 on the season. Pecos returns home on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game against Presidio, who they defeated by a 5-0 score in the finals of the Ozona Tournament last month.
“We beat them and we beat their best pitcher (Juan Aguilar), but right now I don’t know what we’re going to do mentally,” said Payan. Edward Valencia shut out the Blue Devils in the Ozona game, but Payan said as of Monday he was uncertain on who his starter would be for Tuesday’s game.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
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 2003-04 by Pecos Enterprise
|
