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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Seeds a mystery for Eagle girl golfers
Pecos Eagles junior Chantell Mazone will be seeded fourth out of eight competitors this Friday at the Class 3A state discus championships, while Pecos’ golf team isn’t quite sure where they’re seeded, going into the Class 3A girls state tournament on Thursday and Friday at the Jimmy Clay Golf Course in Midland, but they do know they’ll be among the group of No. 2 regional qualifiers when they tee off in the opening round of play.
Mazone is the lone track qualifier for Pecos in Austin, having won the discus on April 28 at the Region I-3A Track and Field Championships in Odessa with a 130-foot-2 throw. That was the fourth-best throw out of the eight regional champions and runners-up, with Cameron Yoe’s Charlissa Foster having the best throw, at 144-feet-9.
Ashley Woods of Corpus Christi West Oso is next, with a 141-foot-8 throw, while Mazone is with a group of four state finalists all between 129 and 131 feet. The only other girl ahead of her is Erica Donblin of Anahuac, who qualified with a 130-foot-11 effort.
Mazone is the second Pecos discus thrower in three years to qualify for state. In 2004, senior Stephanie Herrera threw 134-feet-7 to place third in the Class 3A discus finals.
In golf, senior Shelly Martinez placed third last season in the Class 3A state finals, while Pecos placed second to Snyder in their last trip as a team to Austin, in 2003. For this week, the Eagles know they’re seeded second at least to the Tigers, after Snyder won the Region I-3A Tournament in Odessa two weeks ago, but coach Tina Doan said as of Monday morning, she didn’t have the other regional scores for the six remaining state qualifiers.
“I know Yoakum is going back, and they have the same girls who played last year,” she said. “I’m just trying to go through and see what teams are going to be making their second appearance.”
Snyder won the Class 3A state title again last season, and shot a 616 to win the regional title, while Pecos shot a 667 to finish second, nine shots in front of Monahans. In the medalist race, Martinez scored a one-shot win over Kelli Knight of Breckenridge, who also qualified for state, along with Monahans’ Paige Shaw.
Along with Yoakum, the other teams entered at this year’s state tournament are Longview Spring Hill and Atlanta out of Region II-3A, Sour Lake Hardin-Jefferson and Bellville out of Region III-3A, and Devine out of Region IV-3A.
Monahans’ girls reach regional quarterfinals
The two teams that advanced in last Monday’s one-game baseball playoffs in District 3-3A couldn’t advance any further this past weekend, as both the Monahans Loboes and Greenwood Rangers were eliminated in bi-district round play.
Greenwood opted for a one-game playoff against the Snyder Tigers, but saw Snyder end their season with a 12-0 victory, while Monahans played a best-of-three series against the Clyde Bulldogs and won the opening game on Friday, 10-5, before the Bulldogs rallied to win Games 2 and 3 on Saturday by 14-4 and 9-5 final scores.
Greenwood, which left the bases loaded in the first inning of their playoff game last Monday against Pecos, before going on to win by a 6-2 final score, did the same thing in the first inning on Friday in Andrews against Snyder. But after a scoreless first, the Tiger hitters would jump on pitcher Dean Smith for two runs in the second inning, one run in the second, and then chased the sophomore with two more runs in the third inning.
David Hill replaced Smith and would be roughed up for three runs in the fifth inning, before Andrews scored six times in the sixth against Hill and Matt Nichols to end the game under the 10-run rule. Snyder’s Lance Day wound up with a two-hitter, striking out eight in six innings, while the Tigers collected 16 hits, including a pair of doubled by Jesse Conner and Ryan Mitchell.
Monahans won the opening game of their series by rallying with six runs in the sixth inning. But in Game 2 on Saturday, Clyde’s Jared Akers had a pair of three runs home runs, as the Bulldogs scored nine times in their first two at-bats, while Kory McNutt had a three run homer in the deciding game, after the Loboes had taken an early 4-1 lead.
In their win on Friday, the Loboes got a bases-loaded double by Blake Whisnand to cap their sixth inning rally. Monahans ended their season with a 17-11 record, while Greenwood finished their year at 16-11.
Clyde goes on to face District 3-3A rival Abilene Wylie in the area round of the playoffs, while Snyder takes on Perryton in their area round game. District 3-3A champ Presidio, the only district team left in the playoffs, will take on Lubbock Cooper in their area round game this weekend, after drawing a first round bye.
Meanwhile, Monahans’ girls softball team routed Cooper in the area round this past weekend, and will now play Wylie in the Region I-3A quaterfinals this coming weekend. The Loboes, who won the 3-3A title to earn a first round bye, won the opener of their best-of-three series with Cooper in six innings, 13-3, then defeated the Pirates in Game 2 by a 9-0 score.
Wylie took nine innings in the bi-district round to edge Greenwood, 2-1, then defeated Canyon in their area round game by a 5-2 score. Greenwood beat out Pecos for the third and final District 3-3A playoff berth before losing in the bi-district round. Second place Fort Stockton also lost in the bi-district round, falling in three games to Snyder, losing 3-1 and 11-5 around a 10-2 win by the Prowlers.
Bears hope to make most of trip to Austin
It’s a trip back to state competition for one member of the Balmorhea Bears’ track team and a first time trip to state for another. But both Michael Hernandez and Alexis Lozano will be making their first appearances at Michael A. Myers Stadium this coming weekend, when they compete in the Class A State Track and Field Championships.
Hernandez will be entered in the 3200 meter run at Austin, which will be held at 9 a.m. on Friday, while Lozano will have to wait until 2 p.m. on Saturday for the Class A finals in the boys’ shot put. Hernandez won the 3200 at the Region I-A meet two weeks ago in Levelland, while Lozano placed second in the finals of the I-3A shot put.
It’s the second trip to state in track for Hernandez, but his first trip to Austin. His other state qualifying effort came in 2004 when he qualified in the Class A cross country finals. But this past fall, the senior fell one spot short of earning a return trip to state, and then missed most of the regular season in track this spring due to an ankle injury.
“I was sick when I ran cross country, I ran my worst time at regionals,” he said. “I was disappointed because I didn’t make it there, but I have one more shot to make it.”
The 2006 track season was a short one for Hernandez, beginning only at the end of March due to his injury.
“My first meet was in Alpine, and I got second place,” Hernandez said. “I had torn ligaments in my ankle and was out 13 weeks.”
“I dropped down my time 30 seconds at district, and then at area I dropped another five seconds,” he said. Hernandez was just able to earn the third and final regional berth at Wink, but then cut his time to 10:20.79 to win the 3200 in Levelland.
Going into Friday’s finals, he’ll be seeded sixth out of the eight runners, with the best time a 9:49 by Cory Higgins of Clyde Eula. But Hernandez said with another two weeks to recover from his injury, he’s hopeful that he can continue to lower his time in the two-mile race.
“I think I can cut another 20 seconds worth,” he said.
“He’s been training in the Fort Davis mountains,” said coach Adolfo Garcia, who added that Hernandez also has trained on tracks in both Fort Stockton and Pecos.
Lozano goes into his finals seeded seventh, though two of the others are less than two inches ahead of him, based on his regional throw of 50-foot-2 3/4 inches. Iola’s Rex McDonald, with a 56-6 1/4 inch throw is seeded first in the event.
“I’m shooting for 54-55 feet,” said Lozano. “I’m pretty confident I can hit it. I just need to find out what I’m doing wrong and work on those little things.”
“He won every meet up until regional,” Garcia said. “Nobody really challenged him until the qualifier’s meet, so anything’s possible on how far he can throw.”
While Hernandez will get to run in the early morning, Lozano will be competing in mid-afternoon, when the temperature and humidity levels could become a factor.
“It will be something different, but only because of the humidity,” Lozano said. “When I throw every other day I’m coming out here at 3:45-4 o’clock when it’s been pretty hot.”
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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