Region IV-4A champion

KINGSVILLE — Six Gonzales Apaches competed in the Region IV-4A track and field meet in Kingsville last week with one Lady Apache coming home with a gold and bronze medal, qualifying for the state meet in Austin next week.
Sophomore Devon Williams’ distance of 39-4 was good enough to top the region in shot put, winning gold in the event. Williams also took third in discus with her throw of 127-5. Each region sends their top two finishers to the state meet, with the ninth spot going to a “wild card” or top finisher amongst the entire state. The sophomore’s discuss throw was good for that wild card, thus giving her two events to compete in at state.
“I know she was primed and ready, it was just a matter of her stepping up in the right moment,” Gonzales Head Coach Cully Doyle said. “I told her the day before, ‘I think you’re going to state this year, you’re just going to have to go be an athlete and have fun.’”
Last week unfortunately marked the end of an illustrious high-school career in Haley Garza as she took sixth in the 800-meter run with her time of 2:27.59. The three-time district champion had “a good race, a good meet,” according to Doyle, and will be missed in the program.
“What can you say about her?” Doyle said. “She deserves a lot of credit. Heck of an athlete, heck of a kid, works hard, tremendous work ethic. I love her to death.”
Meanwhile, senior Juan Jordan took on four different events, finishing the 100-meter race in 15th at 11.65 seconds, the 110-meter hurdles in ninth at 15.66 seconds, the 300-meter hurdles in 13th at 42.98 seconds and the triple jump in ninth at 41-4.
“Juan Jordan, same thing, love him to death,” Doyle noted. “Work ethic is extremely high. Those are standards we want to set for our program because if you wokr hard you’ll probably get rewarded.
“Haley and Juan Jordan got to go to state and lead our team to state in cross-country. She missed the state meet in track but there’s no secret to it. Whoever got out of our area went on to regional and now on to state. And whoever got out of our area, that won regionals is going to win state, I’m predicting it right now. They are that good. We give those girls a lot of credit. Haley is an exceptional runner. They only take two to state. We’re running against the best in state just in our area, our regionals. Haley has come a long ways.”
Antonio Hernandez was another long-distance runner who competed, finishing the 800-meter run in fifth with a time of 2:03.75.
Freshman Caity Blundell represents the future of the program, despite missing out on a state qualification. Blundell took on pole vault with a height of 9-6, good for seventh place.
“I’m excited for everybody, we got a bright future,” Doyle said. “Caity Blundell pole vaulted really well. Her PR is 10-6. It’s kind of crazy, she got out of our area. If she would have vaulted 10-6 ,what she did at our area, she would have been at the state meet, 10-6 is going to state. She kind of faulted a little bit. She did 9-6. That didn’t’ get her out. Just goes to show, our area, again, a girl in our district is going to state.”
“I’m excited for these kids,” he continued. “We got a bright future. We got a great eight grade class coming up. Excited about my long-distance kids coming back.
“Seniors are going to be missed, they always are. But I don’t want to rebuild, I’m trying to reload. We got great track and field kids in Gonzales, we got great cross-country kids. The sky is the limit. We’ll see if we can keep it going.”

Mustang duo compete at regionals
CONVERSE — Justice and Jake Torres had another crack at the Region IV-3A track meet, ending their season at Rutledge Stadium in Converse last week.
Justice Torres competed in the 200-meter run, placing 14th in the preliminary race with a time of 25.15 seconds. Meanwhile, Justice and Jake took on the 400-meter race together, with Jake placing fourth in the 400-meter with a time of 51.01 seconds and Justice placing sixth with a time of 52.23 seconds.

Wildcats finish season at regional meet
HUNTSVILLE — Waelder had a handful of representatives at the Region IV-1A track meet at Bowers Stadium, Sam Houston State University in Huntsville last week.
On the boys side, the 4x100-meter relay team of Jacovan Fields, Carlos Reyes, Isaiah Ewing and Isaiah Jones-Miller finished the race in 11th with their time of 47.59 seconds.
On the girls side, Aquria Fields placed 14th in the 100-meter with her time of 14.08 and 13th in the 200-meter dash with her time of 30.05. In the shot put, Malorie Puente placed seventh with her distance of 30-7 while Brejhai Montgomery finished 10th with her distance of 29-7.