Young Apaches advance to regional track meet

The Gonzales Apaches are now one step closer to a state meet after various athletes advanced from the District 27/28-4A Area Meet to the Region IV-4A meet that will take place in Corpus this Friday.

Alex Ortiz will be the lone Apache on the boys’ side headed to the regional meet. On the girls’ side, Haley Garza, Shania Lloyd, Devon William, Tyla Dalton and Johnna Dalton advanced, with Veronica Moreno, Maggie Barnick and the 4x400-meter relay team of Johnna Dalton, Tyla Dalton, Haley Garza, Veronica Moreno, Krystalynn Buesing and Madison Blundell listed as alternates.

In order to advance from the area meet to regionals, an athlete had to reach top four in their event. Of the 17 events in track, the Lady Apaches were able to compete in 14 of them after advancing from the district meet a few weeks ago. Now, the Lady Apaches will be advancing with seven events, the 800-meter and 1600-meter run with Haley Garza, the 100-meter dash with Shania Lloyd, the discus and shot put throws with Devon Williams, the long jump with Tyla Dalton and the triple jump with Johnna Dalton.

“We took 14 events to the area meet and that was a big step for our program on the girls’ side,” Lady Apaches’ head track coach Cully Doyle said. “From the area meet we’ve competed in 14 and now we’re taking seven, we’re competing in seven events at the regional meets, that doesn’t count our alternates, we got here alternate spots. That is huge for us.”

“I’m crazy excited about that,” he continued, “because the area meet is, in lack of better words, pretty cutthroat. It’s one day, you got to perform your best that day. I’m super proud. We got one senior, everybody else is an underclassmen that is qualifying. We got a lot of freshmen that are really working hard. I’m real excited about that.”

What’s remarkable, in Doyle’s eyes, is that even though each year the team graduates a big piece, the program continues to improve. Last season, Ericka Hernandez took home the gold medal at the state meet in shot put. Before that, the track team’s “foundation,” as Doyle put it, centered around Ebonique Harris, Krysslynn Sexton and Kendall Fougerat. Before them was pole vaulter Danyelle Glass.

“Every year I’ve been asked ‘what are you going to do without them?’ and I think we’re going to do better,” Doyle claimed. “Sounds funny. I told people we were going to be better this year. Well I got to back those words up. I believe we’re going to be better because now we got the young ones looking up to them. If she can be state champion so can I. if she can get to the state track meet, so can I. if she can get a college track scholarship, so can I. these girls are believing that, it’s exciting and what I appreciate the most is work ethic. You can say there’s talent everywhere and there is and there’s God-given ability everywhere and there is, but it’s how you use it. If you don’t come to work every day it doesn’t matter.”

Boys’ results:

• 100-meter: Alex Ortiz, 11.24, third
• 400-meter: Marvin Cardoza, 55.24, eighth
• 1600-meter: Antonio Hernandez-Sanches, 4:57.58, seventh
• 3200-meter: Antonio Hernandez-Sanches, 11:01.63, seventh
• 4x100-meter: Josh Branch, Alex Ortiz, James Martinez, Aaron Hunt, 44.07, sixth
• 4x200-meter: Marvin Cardoza, James Martinez, Seth Gibson, Trevion McNeil, 1:33.60, eighth
• 4x400-meter: Seth Gibson, Keisey Ramirez, Marvin Cardoza, Trevion McNeil, 3:49.75, eighth
• Discus: Kenneth Cavit, 129-7, sixth

Girls’ results:

• 100-meter: Shania Lloyd, 12.80, third
• 400-meter: Tyla Dalton, 1:06.62, eighth
• 300-meter hurdles: Madison Blundell, 53.26, eighth
• 800-meter: Haley Garza, 2:23.10, third
• 1600-meter: Haley Garza, 5:34.41, second; Veronica Moreno, 5:40.67, fifth
• 3200-meter: Veronica Moreno, 13:16.23, sixth; Romy Cantu, 13:34.03, seventh
• 4x100-meter: Alexis Ramirez, Skylar Siptak, Tyla Dalton, Shania Lloyd, Madison Blundell, Tyla Smith, 53.44, seventh
• 4x200-meter: Rachel Staggs, Jacey Henrichs, Skylar Siptak, Johnna Dalton, Maraia Mathis, Alexis Ramirez, 1:55.47, eighth
• 4x400-meter: Johnna Dalton, Tyla Dalton, Haley Garza, Veronica Moreno, 4:19.02, fifth
• Discus: Devon Williams, 108-4, fourth; Hailey Riojas, 86-0 ½, eighth
• Shot Put: Devon Williams, 38-2 ¾, second
• High Jump: Maggie Barnick, 4-10, fifth
• Long Jump: Tyla Dalton, 15-9 ½, first
• Triple Jump: Johnna Dalton, 34-8 ¾, second; Tyla Dalton, 32-3 ½, seventh

The Lady Apaches would take fifth in the nine-team meet. The boys’ team placed ninth in the 10-team meet.

One interesting note that Doyle did mention was the 1600-meter race that freshman Moreno took fifth in. She was listed in the results as fourth place, though positioned in the fifth slot behind Navasota’s Ivy Kohl who also finished fourth with the same time of 5:40.67.

“It came down to a photo finish for fourth and fifth place,” Doyle said. “I’ve coached girls’ [track] for a long time, it’s the closest race I’ve ever seen, especially in the mile.”

“Veronica Moreno unbelievably deserves a multitude of credit,” he said. “She ran probably the best race of her life at the area meet. It wasn’t her best time, but it was her best race and I was unbelievably proud of her.”

Moreno is an alternate in the regional meet and Doyle hopes she’ll have the opportunity to compete, especially after losing by 1/1000 of a second.

“That’s pretty unheard of,” he said. “[It’s] hard to swallow, hard to accept. I believe it was meant to be. It’s etched in stone already. I hope it motivates her. I’m still praying for an opportunity for her to run. She deserves a lot of credit. She’s going to have a bright future. She’s a freshman. I see big things coming from her.”

The Region IV-4A track meet takes place at Texas A&M University-Kingsville from April 28-29.