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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
Registration dates announced for swim classes
Pecos High School summer swimming lessons have been scheduled for three sessions in late May and early June, with registration on May 15 and May 17 at the Pecos High School pool.
The sign-ups will be from 4 to 6 p.m. those days at the pool, according to PHS swimming coach Terri Morse. Registration will be $20 per child for the sessions, which will run from May 29 to June 2, June 5-9 and June 12-16. Fees must be paid at the time of registration.
The classes will be divided by age and levels. Classes for 3- and 4-year-olds will be from 11 to 11:45 a.m.; those for 5-year-olds and Level 1 through 3 swimmers will be from 9 to 9:55 a.m. and 10 to 10:55 a.m.; Level 4 swimmers will be from 9-9:55, 10-10:55 and 11-11:55 a.m.; while Level 5 and 6 swimmers will have sessions from 8 to 8:55 a.m. and 11 to 11:55 a.m.
There will also be a three-week lifeguard class for boys and girls ages 11-14 that will run from 7:55 to 8:55 a.m. Cost of this class is $40 per participant.
Summer swimming hours for adults and families is set for Tuesdays and Thursdays from May 30 through June 15, with a fee of $1 per person, and 50 cents for children under age 3. Swimmers 14 and under must be accompanied by a parent.
For further information on the swimming classes or on the summer pool hours, contact Morse at the PHS pool, at 447-7242.
Eagles down Tors, face Rangers for playoff berth
Even a less than electric effort by the Pecos Eagles on Friday against the Lamesa Golden Tornadoes was enough to get Pecos into a playoff for second and third place in the District 3-3A baseball standings. But coach Elias Payan was hoping his team will be more into the game Monday night, when the Eagles faced the Greenwood Rangers to decide one of the two remaining district playoff berths.
Pecos closed out regular season play with a six-inning 15-5 win at home over Lamesa, which finished district with an 0-12 record for the second year in a row. But the Eagles will now have to take on Greenwood, the only 3-3A team they lost to twice in district, with the winner either advancing to a Tuesday playoff for second or into a coin-flip with the winner between Monahans and Seminole on Monday, in the other district playoff game.
Greenwood won its fifth straight district game, also by a 15-5 score in six innings, to create the four way tie for second place. Presidio won the district title with a 9-3 record, while the other teams all ended up with 7-5 marks. The Eagles beat Greenwood in pre-district play by a 9-7 score, but were pounded by the Rangers, 11-1, in their first district meeting, and then shut out by Greenwood on April 22 in Pecos, by a 3-0 score.
Payan said Josh Anchondo, 6-3, would start for Pecos on Monday, while David Hill or Logan Bawcom figures to start for Greenwood. Anchondo took the loss and Hill got the win in the Rangers’ 11-1 victory last month, while Bawcom relieved starter Dean Smith and got the save in Greenwood’s 3-0 victory.
Josh will start, and if I have to I’ll bring Eddie (Vela) in,” Payan said. Vela went three innings and allowed just one run while improving to 6-4 on the season on Friday night. “He started getting his curveball over, and that’s when I took him out, because I want to give him some rest.”
Vela hit Isaac Diaz with the first pitch of the game, and he ended up scoring on Sean Putman’s two out single to center field. But the Eagles would come back in the bottom of the inning to score six times off Diaz, who hit Jose Chavez after giving up a single to Vela and striking out Anchondo. Kenny Rayos then walked before Edward Valencia singled on a ball that got past outfielder Dustin White.
Two runs scored, and after a walk to Isaiah Rayos and a ground out by Jonathan Garcia, Chris Garnto made it 3-0 with an infield hit. Another walk, this one to John Paul Salcido, forced home the fourth run, and Vela then made it 6-1 with a two-run double.
Singles by Anchondo, Chavez and Valencia made it 7-1 in the second inning, and Isaiah Rayos had a sacrifice fly for an 8-1 lead before Garnto hit his second home run in as many games, a two-run shot that made it an 10-1 game. A single by Salcido, another error by White in leftfield and a sacrifice fly by Anchondo made it an 11-1 game, but Lamesa would get three runs back in the fourth off Isaiah Rayos, who replaced Vela on the mound.
Doubles by Alex Roman and Diaz around walks to Andy Hogg and Tyquilly Maxwell made it 11-4, and Lamesa would score once more in the fifth, on singles by West and Josh Jarrett and an RBI grounder by Putman. Pecos would get three runs back off new pitcher Zack Perez in their half of the inning, on two walks, a two-run single by Valencia and a throwing error by Putman at shortstop, but had to wait until the sixth inning to end the game under the 10-run rule, when Vela walked, and came around on a wild pitch by Perez and a passed ball by catcher Phillip Martinez.
“Something I didn’t like going into the playoffs was how we finished this game off. When our kids get a team down, they need to finish them off,” Payan said. “But you’ve got to give Lamesa credit. They didn’t quit and didn’t lay down for us.”
The win improved Pecos’ record to 21-7 going into their game against Greenwood, 15-10. The winner will qualify for bi-district play next weekend against one of four teams, Snyder, Abilene Wylie, Sweetwater or Clyde. The Tigers and Bulldogs are tied for first place in District 4-3A, while Sweetwater and Clyde are tied for third.
Bears qualify pair for Class A state track
Two members of the Balmorhea Bears track team will be heading to Austin in two weeks, after qualifying for the Class A state finals at the Region I-A Track and Field Championships in Levelland over the weekend.
Balmorhea’s Michael Hernandez advanced to state on Friday by winning the 3200 meter run, while shot putter Alexis Lozano earned a trip to Austin with a second place finish in that event on Saturday.
Hernandez, who missed much of the regular season due to an ankle injury and had to battle to earn a trip to regionals as the third place finisher at the area Class A meet in Wink, cut his time at Levelland by 37 seconds and won with a 10:20.79 time, three seconds faster than Plains’ Abel Ramos.
“He was n second all the way around until the last 300 yards,” said Bears’ coach Adolfo Garcia, who added that Ramos was a state qualifier in the 3200 a year ago.
The trip to Austin comes after Hernandez just missed a return trip to state in cross-country this past November. Garcia said the senior is still bothered by the ankle injury, which he hopes will be better by the time the Class A finals in the 3200 runs on May 12.
“His ankle is still a little swollen. We have to ice it and tape it up before each meet,” he said. “But we’ve got two more weeks to get his time down another 10-15 seconds.”
Lozano got off his best throw of the year in the shot put, a 50-foot-8 effort that earned him second place behind Zach Mitchell of Quanah, who won with a 52-foot-10 effort.
“He was in second place all the way, and it wasn’t that close,” Garcia said. Anton’s Blake Brazil was third, with a 48-foot-6 throw.
Garcia said the Bears’ other regional qualifier, A.J. Garcia, didn’t have as good a weekend. He wound up fifth in the discus with a 144-foot-4 effort and placed fifth, in an event won by Brazil with a 153-10 throw.
“That wasn’t his best throw of the year by far. If he had thrown his best, he would have been right up there,” the Bears’ coach said.
Overall, the 20 points scored by the Bears’ three regional qualifiers was good enough for 11th place in the final standings at the I-A meet, and was tops out of the teams that competed in the area meet. Memphis won the boys’ title with 74 points, while Hamlin scored 95 1/2 points to win the girls’ title. The Bears had no regional qualifiers on the girls’ side this year.
Eagles’ Mazone takes first place in discus
After going 25 years without one state qualifier in girls track and field, the Pecos Eagles will be sending their second qualifier in three years to Austin, and in the same event as two years ago, after junior Chantell Mazone took first place on Friday in discus at the Region I-3A meet in Odessa.
Mazone was the only state qualifier for Pecos at the two-day regional meet. The girls finished tied for 12th place with 18 points, all coming in the field events, while the boys did not score any points with their two regional qualifiers.
Mazone got off her best two throws of the year, a 123-foor-6 throw in the preliminary round, which left her in second place, and a 130-foot-1 effort on the first throw of the final round to pass Sweetwater’s Tracy Cowin, who earned the other state berth with a 125-1 throw.
Her winning throw went down the right foul line, but stayed in bounds. “I fought to keep it in. Any other day, and I just would have let it go,” Mazone said. “We worked hard this year, and I wasn’t going to let anybody take this one.”
“I would say it was a good five feet inside the foul line,” said coach Donna Gent, who added that Mazone’s throws were well beyond her best in workouts going into regionals. “She had been throwing around 120 (feet) consistently, but 120 was the most she had thrown.”
Cowin was unable to get her first two throws inbounds after Mazone’s 130-foot effort, while her final throw was eight feet short of that mark. Meanwhile, Eagle senior Jessica Florez got off her best throw of the season on her final attempt. Florez, who qualified for regionals by placing third at the District 3-3A meet, qualified seventh out of eight throwers for the finals on Friday, then moved up to fifth place with a 120-foot-2 effort.
“She did an unbelievable job. That was by far her best throw of the year,” Gent said. Florez improved her throw at district by 14 feet, while Mazone’s throw was 15 1/2 feet better than her winning effort in Pecos two weeks earlier.
Mazone’s win in the discus comes after Pecos’ Stephanie Herrera won the event two years ago, and went on to place third in the Class 3A state finals in Austin. Following her win on Friday, Mazone just missed a second state berth on Saturday, as she finished third in the finals of the shot put event.
In the shot put, Mazone was the one caught from behind at the end, as her 37-foot-6 throw was one inch behind runner-up MaCall Montgomery of Glen Rose, while Krystal Taylor of Sanger won with a 39-foot-4 effort, with both of those throws coming on their final attempts.
“She led the entire way until the last throw,” said Gent. “The little girl from Glen Rose who had only thrown about 33 feet came up and threw 37-7, and the girl from Sanger who scratched her first two times in the finals, and whose best throw was 35 feet came up and threw a 39-4.”
In the running events, senior Jennifer Martinez wound up in 10th place on Friday in the 3200 meter run, and then place 18th on Saturday in the 1600-meter finals. In Friday’s running preliminaries, junior Bianca Baeza and freshman Jasmine Rayos both failed to qualify for the finals in their events, the 400-meter and 200-meter dashes. Baeza was fifth in her heat of the 400 meters, while Rayos placed eighth in her heat.
On the boys’ side, junior Larry Johnson just missed qualifying for the finals of the 400 meter dash, after earning the spot as a regional alternate just a few days earlier, while Andrew Grant was unable to place in the finals of the pole vault on Friday. Grant, who placed second at district, went out at 12-feet at regional, while Johnson’s time of 52.5 left him a half-second out of the eighth spot in the finals.
“I figure he wound up about 11th overall,” said coach Robbie Ortega. “I’m not sure about Andrew, but he probably also ended up around 11th, and he did his normal height of 11-foot-6.
“I was proud of both of them. They competed well, and Larry was at a bit of a disadvantage coming in late, and only having a couple of days to get ready,” Ortega said. “The good thing about it is he got some regional experience and he’s now looking forward to next year.”
Out of District 3-3A, Fort Stockton won three gold medals, and tied for third place in the points standings with 47 points, while Monahans had two firsts on the boys’ side at the regional meet and finished seventh, with 32 points. The Panthers’ 1600 meter relay team won first, along with J.J. Hickman in the 300 meter hurdles and Daniel Palma in the 3200 meter run. Both individuals advanced to Austin last year. Monahans’ Chris Collins won the 800-meter run and Steven Richardson took the shot put. Seminole, with seven points, was the only other district team to score at regionals.
On the girls’ side Monahans finished second in the team standings to Abilene Wylie, with 54 points to 77 for the Bulldogs, while Lamesa was the only other 3-3A team to score, finishing just behind the Eagles with 17 points.
Chelsea Cartwright led Monahans, winning the 100-meter hurdles, while being a part of both the 400-meter relay team, which placed first, and the 1600 meter squad, which finished second. She also finished third in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump. Lamesa’s Whitney Henderson placed third in the 100-meter dash to earn a state alternate berth.
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
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