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Archive 2004

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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Monday, May 3, 2004

Herrera, Terry advance to Class 3A state finals

By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer

State qualifiers have been few and far between for the Pecos Eagles over years in track and field. So this weekend’s Region I-3A Track and Field Championships at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa was something of a historic accomplishment for the Eagles.

Senior Stephanie Herrera earned the first state berth for Pecos’ girls track team in over 30 years on Friday when she captured first place in the discus competition. Herrera just missed qualifying for state in a second event on Saturday, when she placed third in the shot put competition for the second year in a row.

On the boys’ side, Rashad Terry’s accomplishments on Saturday weren’t as unprecedented as Herrera’s effort on Friday was, but the junior still became the first Pecos competitor in seven years to earn a trip to Austin, as he qualified in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes, placing first in the 200 and second in the 100 meter finals.

Terry became the first Eagle since Bryan Brownlee in 1997 to advance to state, and the first since Brownlee to advance to Austin in more than one event. In two weeks, he’ll try to become the first Pecos runner since Willie Mata in 1995 to win a gold medal at state, and will go into the state finals seeded fourth in both races.

“That’s not bad going in fourth. He’s right in the middle of it,” said Eagles’ coach Jerry Parent.

Terry moved up one spot from Friday’s preliminaries in both races, with the 100-meter dash giving him more problems. He stepped on the inside track rail on Friday in the 100-meter dash, and then got out of the blocks slowly on Saturday, but was able to catch Everman’s Jeremy Cole and earn the runner-up regional berth by .02 second. Monahans’ Richard Covington, who Terry beat at the District 4-3A meet, took first with a 10.76 time.

“He hit the rail down near the finish, and that slowed him down. But he still got in as No. 3 (seed),” said Parent, who added that Terry’s start in the 200 meter finals on Saturday was much better than his break in the 100 meter dash.

“He was kind of nervous in the 100 and was the last out of the blocks,” Parent said. “But in the 200 he beat him (runner-up Jake Schmidt of Graham) on the start. … I thought he might have false started, but he was two steps out of the block before the Graham kid had left the blocks.”

Terry ran a 22.17, while Schmidt, who was seeded first after Friday’s preliminaries, finished with a 22.21 time.

Herrera won her trip to Austin 12 1/2 hours after pitching 11 innings in Pecos’ 4-3 softball playoff win over Lubbock Cooper on Thursday. She won with a 129-foot-11 toss, and like Terry will go into the state meet seeded fourth out of the eight competitors in Austin.

“Her arm was feeling OK on Friday, but she had a bad cold, so we were trying to take care of her cold and her arm,” said coach Roxie Chavez. “She threw well all day, and we thought she might have gone 130 (feet) with her last throw. That was her goal going into regionals, and she just missed it.”

Herrera’s effort in Odessa was her personal best, and was 7 1/2 feet better than runner-up Kasey Buggs of Lake Dallas.

Chavez said Herrera also threw well on Saturday in the shot put competition, but was edged out for a state berth by Fort Stockton’s Tammy Cash for the second year in a row.

“Overall, Tammy didn’t throw as well as Stephanie. She had four throws over 38 feet and Tammy only had one, but that was all it took” Chavez said. Cash’s throw of 38-feet-5 3/4 was 3/4-inch better than Herrera, while Jennifer White of Fort Worth Castleberry won the event wit a 40-foot-4 throw.

Two other Eagles on the boys’ side competed at regionals and three others in the girls’ division, but none qualified for the finals.

Distance runner Jennifer Martinez placed 10th in the finals of the 1600-meter run on Saturday, while Chavez said Jummy Akinyode just missed qualifying for the finals in the 200-meter run on Friday. Both had finished first at the District 4-3A meet in their events. Alessandra Carrasco, second at district in the 800 meters, also failed to qualify for Saturday’s finals.

“They hand-time Jummy at 26.7, but she didn’t get it. The slowed (electronic) time that went in the finals was 26.9, so I don’t know what happened,” Chavez said.

In the 1600, Martinez was the furthest outside at the starting line of the 16 runners entered. She was able to break out to the lead, but then faded after an opening lap of 1:13. “She was way too fast. She was supposed to go at 1:20,” Chavez said. “She got out to a good start, and would have been OK, but she ran that lap way too fast..”

For the boys’ Parent said that Alex Orosco just missed earning a spot in the finals in the 400-meter dash, while his son John finished seventh on the Friday in the discus. “Alex ran a 52.07 and 51.97 got in, so he just missed it,” he said. “John didn’t throw as good as he did at district, and got seventh.”

Parent took first in the shot put at the 4-3A meet with a 149-foot-1 throw, threw under 142 feet on Friday. Terry also fared worse at regionals in the field event, clearing 5-10 and missing the finals after winning the district title two weeks earlier with a 6-foot effort.

The state finals will be on May 15-16 at the University of Texas in Austin. Herrera will compete in the discus finals at 3 p.m. on May 15, and will be a state alternate in the shot put, which goes off at 11 a.m. the following day. Terry will run in the 100 and 200-meter finals on May 16 at 1:30 and 3 p.m.

Monahans and Fort Stockton also had two state qualifiers, one in track on the boys’ side and in field events on the girls’ side. Along with Covington, pole valuter Jenna Fenn advanced to Austin by winning her event, while along with Cash, 1600-meter runner David Palma advanced with a second place finish for the Panthers.

Homers help Blue Devils down Eagles, win 4-3A title

By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer

Oscar Macias hurt the Pecos Eagles more with his arm than with his bat Friday night, but he caused the Eagles problems with both. Instead, Adrian Dominguez was the one who did in Pecos at the plate, and gave the Presidio Blue Devils the District 4-3A baseball title.

Macias had three singles in the game, two coming ahead of home runs by Dominguez - a two-run shot in the third inning and a three-run shot in the fifth inning off Pecos’ Jose Reyes. Meanwhile, on the mound Macias breezed through the first three innings, then did enough with runners in scoring position in the final four to keep the Eagles from mounting any kind of comeback, as he pitched the Blue Devils to a 7-2 victory at Eagle Field.

The win gave Presidio a first round playoff bye, while the loss left Pecos in second place in the final District 4-3A standings and facing a bi-district round playoff against the Seminole Indians for the second year in a row. Assistant coach Junior Williams said the best-of-three series would begin Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. in Andrews and Friday at 5:30 p.m. Monahans, with a deciding game if needed to follow Game 2 on Friday. Reyes and the Eagles had been able to outscore Presidio in their first district game, winning by a 10-8 final score. But for the first time in nine district games this season, Pecos was unable to come from behind after falling behind early, as Dominguez’s home run in the third inning put the Blue Devils ahead to stay.

“We had opportunities to get runs back. We just couldn’t get a hit when we needed to,” said Eagles’ head coach Elias Payan. A two-out single by Edward Valencia in the sixth inning was the only hit of the night for Pecos with runners in scoring position, as the Eagles got their first run in the fourth inning, when Victor Reyes scored on a double-steal of second and home.

Jose Reyes avoided trouble in the first inning, when Macias singled and Dominguez walked with two away, when Isaiah Rayos snared Isidro Pacha’s line drive to second base. But when Macias singled with two away in the third Dominguez followed by sending a 2-2 pitch over the fence in center to give Presidio a 2-0 lead.

Reyes would survive a three-hit inning by Presidio in the fourth, turning a bases-loaded double play too get out of the jam. The Eagles then cut the lead to 2-1 when Victor Reyes scored after Oscar Parada was deliberately caught in a rundown with two away. But the Eagles managed just the one run after Jaime Muela and Victor Reyes had opened the inning with singles, and that was offset quickly in the top of the fifth by Dominguez’ second homer, which followed a bunt single by Yibriel Garcia and an intentional walk to Macias.

Down 5-1, Jose Reyes opened the bottom of the inning with a double, while Eddie Vela walked and Jonathan Garcia reached on a Juan Aguilar error at third to load the bases with one away. But Macias then struck out pinch hitter Luis Licon and got Muela to ground to second base, ending the inning. In the sixth, three more hits by Presidio, out of 14 overall on the night, and a wild pitch by Reyes made it 6-1. Pecos got the run back in their next at-bat when Parada singled with one away and scored on Valencia’s two-out hit, around a walk to Jose Reyes.

Macias then walked Vela to load the bases, but got Garcia to pop to first baseman Hector Rodriguez to end the inning, and he then got that run back, getting a fly ball up into a strong wind that carried it over the fence in left for Presidio’s third homer of the night and a 7-2 lead. In the bottom of the seventh Muela and Victor Reyes singled with one away, but Macias then struck out Parada and got Jose Reyes on another pop to Rodriguez at first, to end the game.

The win improved the Blue Devils’ record to 9-1 in district and 21-2 overall, while Pecos fell to 8-2 and 11-15 going into their playoff with Seminole.

“Once the playoffs come around it doesn’t matter who is district champs,” Payan said. “It’s a new season and we just have got to get ready to play Seminole.”

Pecos beat Seminole last year as the third place team out of District 4-3A. Greenwood took third this time, winning at Monahans on Friday, 14-11 and will face Sweetwater in the bi-district round.

Presidio 0 0 2 0 3 1 1 -- 7 14 1

Pecos 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 -- 2 8 1

Macias at Pacha. J. Reyes and Muela. W - Macias. L - J. Reyes.

E - Presidio, Agular. Pecos, J. Reyes. DP - Presidio 1, Pecos 1. LOB - Presidio 8, Pecos 8. 2B - Pecos, J. Reyes. HR - Presidio, Dominguez 2, H. Rodriguez. SB - Pecos, V. Reyes 2, J. Reyes, Parada. CS - Presidio, Valdez (by Muela). Pecos, J. Reyes (by Pacha). WP - Pecos, J. Reyes 2. PB - Pecos, Muela.



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