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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Monday, February 24, 2003
Monahans, Crane track squads
take junior high division
Monahans and Crane dominated the top spots overall in the junior high
divisions of the West of the Pecos Relays on Saturday, with Monahans taking
the seventh grade girls and eighth grade boys team titles, while the Cranes
took the seventh grade boys and eighth grade girls trophies.
Pecos' track teams didn't have a very good start to their 2003 junior
high seasons. The Eagle girls finished 10th in the seventh grade
division and seventh in the eighth grade division, while the boys ended up
sixth in the seventh grade boys division and seventh in the eighth grade
division.
Field events were a problem for three of the four Eagle teams. The seventh
grade girls got all of their 31 points in the running events, while the boys
teams each only managed two points in the field events Saturday afternoon
and evening. Pecos' eighth grade girls did pick up 19 points in the field
events, but managed just seven points in the running finals held Saturday
morning and afternoon.
The seventh grade boys' got their field event points from Drake Bradley,
fifth in the high jump, while getting 33 points in the running events, including
a first place finish from Matthew Flores in the 100 meter dash, with a 13.03
time. He later took third place in the 200 meters with a 27.28 time.
Bradley was fourth in the 100 meters and sixth in the 200, Gerald Saenz
was fourth in the 400 meters, and the Eagles' 400-meter relay team placed
fourth.
The seventh grade girls got over half their points thanks to a second
place finish in the 800-meter relay. The 1600-meter relay took home fourth
place, while the 400-meter relay finished fifth. The Eagles' only individual
points came from Diana Parada, fifth in the 100-meter dash, and Kayla Herrera,
sixth in the 300-meter hurdles.
The eighth grade girls got a second place finish in the field events from
Dina Ortiz, who threw 24-feet-2 in the shot put, and picked up a third place
medal from Cassandra Terrazas, who had a 63-foot-4 throw in the discus. Bianca
Baeza took fourth in the long jump and Rebecca Martinez was sixth in the
triple jump.
In the running events, Baeza placed fifth in the 200 meters, while Ortiz
was sixth in the 100 meter hurdles, and the 400 and 800 meter relay teams
also finished sixth.
The eighth grade boys got their only two field event points from a fifth
place finish by Chris Parks in the long jump, while in the running events
Pecos picked up one first place finish, from Luis Ortega, who ran a 56.40
to take the 400 meter dash. The 400-meter relay team also earned medals with
a third place finish, and the boys' other point came from Jeremy Ramirez,
who was sixth in the 100-meter dash.
In the team totals, Monahans won the seventh grade girls' division by
a 174-87 margin over Crane, while the Golden Cranes' boys won the seventh
grade title by a 131-97 margin over the Loboes. In the eighth grade, Monahans'
boys had 173 points to 157 for Fort Stockton, while Crane won the tightest
race in the eighth grade girls' division, finishing with 100 points to 97
for Greenwood and 95 for Kermit.
Pecos girls claim Ft. Stockton golf title
The Pecos Eagle girls' golf team put two strong days back-to-back in Fort
Stockton, and came away with a victory over a longtime district and regional
rival.
Pecos' boys, meanwhile, got stuck in the mud during the second day of
their tournament in the Midland-Odessa area and slipped from third to fifth
in the final standings.
The girls shot a 337 on the first day of the Blue Ribbon Invitational
and were tied with Andrews going into the final 18-holes of play. The Eagles
then came out and scored a 331 on Saturday while the Mustangs fired a 338
and ended up winning the tournament with a 668 score to Andrews' 675 final
total.
"The girls worked together and built their confidence playing in bad weather
on Friday and continued to fight back and played well on Saturday," said
Eagles' coach Tina Hendrick.
Senior Lauren Martinez also picked up medallist honors for the tournament,
winning a one-hole playoff from former Pecos golfer Taryn McNeil after both
finished with 36-hole totals of 157. McNeil played for Midland High, which
finished third with a 714 score.
Martinez shot a 78 on Friday and a 79 on Saturday for her score, while
her sister Shelly shot 85s both days and finished with a 170 for the second-best
score for the Eagles. Sarah McKinney was next with an 82-91-173, while Brandi
North shot an 86-88-174 and Dena Dutchover had an 89-85-174 for the other
`A' team scores.
Hendrick also took her three `B' team golfers to Fort Stockton, and Jeanie
Canon shot a 93-96-189, Bianca Mendoza shot a 101-91-191, and Evelyn Flores
shot a 123-120-243.
The Eagles' District 4-3A rivals were also at Fort Stockton. Monahans
placed fourth with a 722, the host Prowlers were fifth at 738, Greenwood
was 10th with an 842 total and Kermit was 11th, with
a 966 score.
The boys also saw their district rivals this weekend, playing the Tall
City Invitational in both Midland and Odessa. After shooting a 320 on Friday
at Ranchland Hills to stand third, seven shots behind first place Snyder,
the Eagles shot a 334 on Saturday at Ratliff Ranch and wound up fifth with
a 654 score. Snyder shot a 312 on Saturday to win with a 625 total, while
Pecos was passed by Monahans, which shot the tournament's best round, a 310,
to finish third, with a 636 score, one shot in back of Abilene Wylie.
"It was really muddy and it was hard on my kids, because they're use to
hitting off hard ground," said Eagles' coach Kim Anderson. "My kids didn't
play bad on Saturday, they just didn't play that good."
Senior Casey Breiten suffered the most on Saturday. He had the Eagles'
low round of the day at Ranchland Hills, a 76, but shot a 90 at Ratliff Ranch
to finish at 166. Michael Nichols had the best two-day score for Pecos, shooting
an 81-80-161, and was followed by Sal Nichols, with an 83-81-164, and Pete
Vasquez, with an 81-85-166. Jake McKinney shot an 89-88-177 for the Eagles'
other score.
"I'm going to have to get my seniors hitting the ball a little more. My
underclassmen did good both days," Anderson said. "Mikey Nichols is still
my medallist. He gutted it out real good. Pete had a little trouble the second
day, but he's working in a new set of clubs and Sal is real consistent."
Pecos' boys are off this week, and go to the San Angelo Invitational on
March 7-8, while the girls will be in Midland this weekend for their division
of the Tall City Invitational.
Eagle boys capture `marathon' Pecos Relays
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
They didn't run a marathon at the West of the Pecos Relays on Saturday,
though the track meet itself may have qualified under that category.
From the start of events at 9 a.m. to the completion of the eighth grade
girls high jump, the combination high school and junior high track meet to
open the 2003 season took nearly 13 hours to complete. And it was over Pecos'
boys and Monahans girls had taken home first place finishes in the high school
division, while Monahans and Crane won the junior high boys and girls championships.
Pecos' boys scored a 135-131 win over Monahans in the high school division,
while the Loboettes took their division titles by a 149-135 score over Greenwood,
while the Eagles placed fourth with 47 points.
The boys picked up four first place finishes in the timed finals events,
one from senior Genaro Mendoza in the 1600 meter run, two by sophomore Rashad
Terry in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, and by the 400 meter relay team of
Terry, Jason Sanchez, Jack Bradley and Will Armstrong, which won that race
with a 44.3 time. Monahans came across the finish line second, but were disqualified
for an illegal handoff.
"That's what allowed us to win the meet," said coach Jerry Parent of the
final team scores, as the Loboes were also DQed in the 800 meter relay, the
first time that race has been run by high school boys competition. "As far
as the 400 relay we were right there with Monahans, and we're two to three
seconds faster than at this time last year. They're going to get faster,
but so are we."
Terry passed Monahans in the final 100 meters to get the victory in that
race, and then ran a 10.6 to win the 100-meter dash over the Loboes' Richard
Covington, who ran a 11.01 time. In the 200 meters, Terry had a 23.35 time
to beat out the Loboes' Daryl Williams, who ran a 23.85.
Terry earlier had picked up a third place finish in the high jump, while
Bradley took second in a tiebreaker, after both Pecos jumpers went out at
6-feet.
Mendoza, who won the District 4-3A cross country title in October, took
the 1600 meters with a 5:12.84 time, and earlier finished second in the 3200
meter run with a time of 11:21.52. Teammate Jay Dannelly was fourth in the
1600 for the Eagles and fifth in the 3200.
The boys' ended up third in the 800 meters, in a tight race with Fort
Stockton and Greenwood. "Right now we're just experimenting with the 800,"
Parent said. "I may take Rashad out of the 100 next week (at the Comanche
Relays), and probably run Bino (Barreno) and look at different things until
I can get a team I can use."
Pecos' other medals on the day came from Tony Trujillo, who placed third
in both the discus and shot put, Alex Orosco, who was third in the 400 meter
dash, Abel Lopez, third in the 800 meter run, and from Bradley, who placed
third in the 110 meter high hurdles.
Orosco ran a 54.29 time in the 400, while teammate Robert Natividad finished
sixth in that event. Bradley had a 17.06 time in the 110 hurdles, and also
had two sixth place finishes on the day, in the long jump and the 300-meter
hurdles.
"The quarter mile is going to get faster," said Parent. "Orosco got sick,
so I didn't run him in the mile (1600 meter) relay," where Pecos ended up
finishing fourth. Bradley also was slightly hampered at the meet, after spraining
his ankle during the high jump event.
Trujillo threw a 102-foot-2 to edge teammate John Parent for third. He
threw a 101-foot-10 and the third Eagle entered, Adrian Barreno placed fourth,
with an 87-foot-10 toss, as all the throwers except for Greenwood's Kevin
Folger had problems due to Friday's rains, which turned the re-sodded area
of the Eagles' football practice field into a mud patch.
"It was kind of a muddy situation out there, and we were expecting better
out of it," Parent said. "All the kids seemed to be affected except for Folger
(who won with a 165-foot-4 throw), so the kids were kind of disappointed
because of the conditions, but you couldn't help that."
In the shot put, Trujillo took third with a 43-11 throw, while Trey Edwards
was fourth with a 40-3 effort and Eric Fuentes finished fifth with a throw
of 39-9.
Lopez had a 2:16.14 time to take third in the 800, and teammate Jeremiah
Mora was sixth in that race, Pecos' remaining points came from Sanchez, who
was fifth in the triple jump.
The girls got almost all their points in the running events, with their
lone field event placing coming from Stephanie Arreguy, who finished fourth
in the discus with a 98-foot-9 throw. "In the field events we were missing
people due to softball or powerlifting, but we'll have everybody next week
in Fort Stockton," said coach Roxie Chavez.
In the running events, the Eagles' best finish came from Alessandra Carrasco,
who took second in the 800 meter run, with a 2:41.96 time. "Alessandra did
really well in that race I think we've found our middle distance runner,"
said Chavez.
Pecos' other two medals came from Jessica Martinez, third in the 1600
meter run, and Jummy Akinyode, third in the 100 and 200 meters. She ran a
12.97 in 100 and a 28.67 in the 200, while Tiana Terry was fifth both times.
Martinez ran a 6:18.15 in the 1600, which was best among District 4-3A competitors.
"We did finish third in the 800 meter relay, but we were disqualified
for a handoff outside the exchange zone," Chavez said. The 400-meter relay
team finished fourth, while the 1600-meter relay team ended up in fifth place.
Fort Stockton placed third in the girls' division with 61 points, while
the Eagles were just ahead of Kermit, which was fifth with 45 points. Alpine
had 39 points followed by Presidio with 36, Van Horn with 34, Crane was 21,
Grandfalls with 6, Buena Vista with 4 and Dell City with 3 points.
On the boys' side, after Pecos and Monahans came Fort Stockton with 90
points, Kermit with 65, Greenwood with 60, Alpine with 44 points, Van Horn
with 24 and Crane with 5 points.
Defensive problems cost Eagles in Midland
Defense again proved to be the main problem for the Pecos Eagle girls'
softball team on the second weekend of the 2003 season, as they went 1-3
at the Midland Invitational Tournament.
The Eagles saw Greenwood rally from a 4-2 deficit to defeat Pecos, 11-4
in the opening game, then allowed Fort Stockton three unearned runs in a
3-0 loss to the Prowlers on Friday. Pecos came back to beat El Paso Americus
on Saturday, 5-2, before losing in the consolation finals to the Dumas Demons,
6-4.
"We were up 4-2 against Greenwood and gave up seven unearned runs," coach
Tammy Walls said. Passed balls were the main problem for the Eagles, who
are still looking for a full-time catcher to replace four-year starter Rebecca
Wein.
Walls said all three runs by Fort Stockton scored as the result of passed
balls, while the Eagles were unable to get anything going off Prowlers' senior
pitcher Lily Alcala. "We had seven hits against Fort Stockton, but they were
scattered through the lineup so we never put anything together," Walls said.
"Against El Paso Americus we hit the ball well and we were able to play
defense and win, but against Dumas we had the lead, and then gave them two
unearned runs. Then they got a base hit that got by our left fielder and
that scored three runs," Walls said.
Stephanie Herrera pitched all four games for Pecos, and after going 3-1
last weekend saw her record evened at 4-4 on the season. "Stephanie did a
good job, but we just have to play better defense," said Walls. "She'd strike
out someone and they would get on on a passed ball and then score."
Pecos' junior varsity also played in Midland over the weekend, and lost
all three games in their division. The Eagles fell to Crane's varsity, 19-0,
then lost to Alpine's varsity, 7-4, before dropping a 9-1 decision to Coahoma's
JV.
The Eagles are now 4-5 on the season and their next games will also be
in Midland and also in tournament play, when they open up the Greenwood Tournament
with two Thursday evening games at the Bill Williams softball complex.
Buzzer basket lets honghorns get past Bears
By JENNIFER GALVAN
Staff Writer
Despite the support of their own fans and local fans attending Friday
night's game in Sonora, the Balmorhea Bears came up short in their area round
playoff contest, losing in the last six seconds of the game.
Lometa's Ryan Shahan hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Longhorns
a 44-42 victory over the Bears, in a game that went back and fourth most
of the night.
Balmorhea's Jourmain Matta scored the first two points of the game within
the first twenty seconds of the game, but the Longhorns followed with a three
point shot giving them a one-point lead over the Bears, and ended the quarter
ahead by a 9-6 score.
With five seconds left in the first quarter Urban Baeza (22) missed a
two-point jump shot that would bring the Bears within one-point of the Longhorns.
Matta scored the first two points of the second period as well for the
Bears, and also scored later in the period, but the Longhorns were still
able to add three more points to their lead and went in at halftime ahead,
22-16.
Matta picked up his third foul with a little less than five minutes left
in the third period, but the Bears still managed a comeback, cutting the
lead to 24-21. Then after another Lometa basket Sammy Dominguez scored for
the Bears and was, fouled. He made his free throw to cut the lead to 26-24.
Matta was then called for his fourth foul, but stayed in the game, passing
to Urban Baeza for a game-tying basket. Keith Baeza then hit his first two-points
of the game to put the Bears up 28-26.
Lometa would tie the game before another Matta basket put Balmorhea back
in front. Lometa's West Starley hit one of two free throws and Jose Cruz
hit a basket for the Longhorns, but Matta then hit another jumper to make
it 32-31 at the ed of the period.
The Bears got their biggest lead at 35-31 early in the final period, on
a Keith Baeza free throw and a steal and basket by Matta. But baskets by
Shahan and Cruz tied the game. Juan Rodriguez then missed two foul shots
for Balmorhea, and Lometa regained the lead on a basket by John Williams,
and Straley scored after that to put the Longhorns up by four, 39-35.
The Bears rallied one more time, as Rodriguez was fouled again and this
time hit both free throws, cutting the lead to two. Lometa then missed a
pair of foul shots, and with about 90 seconds left Urban Baeza hit a 3-point
shot to give the Bears the lead, at 40-39.
But Lometa would regain the lead with 26 seconds to play with a pair of
foul shots. Balmorhea then failed to score, but after a Keith Baeza foul
the Longhorns missed two free throws, giving the Bears the ball back with
14 seconds to play.
Following a time-out by coach Adolfo Garcia, the Bears' Keith Baeza scored
to make it 42-41. Lometa then called a time out with five seconds on the
clock, however the referee added one second to the clock.
With now six seconds on the clock the Longhorns inbounded the ball and
got it to Shahan outside the 3-point line, where he hit a jumper as the
buzzer sounded, giving Lometa the win.
Garcia, said that the Bears were very nervous during the first half of
the game but calmed down after halftime.
"They settled down after half time," Garcia said. "And they began to play
Balmorhea Basketball."
Though they lost the game Garcia said that his team played better then
the last game against Buena Vista.
"Overall it was a good game," he said. "They played 10 times better then
last time but our shots were just not going in."
Garcia said that though the Longhorns were given an extra second he did
not believe that was the reason for the Bears loss. "We missed too many shots,"
he said.
Balmorhea ended its season with a 21-4 record. Garcia also said that he
would like to thank everyone for their support and hopes that they can take
a district and champion trophy home again next year.
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
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Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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