The Track and Field teams had the best performance on record for UTRGV in the Western Athletic Conference Indoor Championships in Nampa, Idaho, back in February.
The Edinburg City Council honored the teams with a proclamation for their performance during last Tuesday’s meeting.
In accepting the proclamation, Track and Field Coach Darren Flowers said the team is “proud to represent the [Rio Grande] Valley in such a way, and also represent the City of Edinburg.”
Flowers said the teams have been training really hard from the end of the indoor championships until now.
He said veterans, such as juniors Anthony Magallon, Paul May and Idatonye Cheetham-West, as well as freshman Abraham Chirchir, have stepped up.
“[Magallon] has made drastic improvements. He’s from the Valley. He believes in what we’re doing here, and he won a conference title indoors,” the coach said. “That’s a guy who has kind of taken ownership of this new team and this new direction, and has really helped. … Paul had some success last year as well, but he has just built on that success, and he seems to get better and better as we go along.”
In the indoor championships, Magallon won the Men’s High Jump, clearing a height of 2.06 meters.
May won the Men’s Shot Put competition with a throw of 16.58 meters, while senior and fellow thrower Antonio Salinas placed third with a throw of 15.70 meters.
Chirchir won the 3,000-meter run after crossing the finish line in 8:28.40.
Cheetham-West garnered second place in the 200-meter dash, breaking her own program record with a time of 24.53 seconds and senior Jovanna Jones placed third in the same event with a time of 24.80 seconds.
For the Women’s Triple Jump event, junior Dai’ja Coleman placed second with a height of 12.10 meters. In the Women’s 60-Meter Dash, Cheetham-West placed third with a time of 7.54 seconds.
In the Men’s 400-Meter Dash, junior Yariel Matute placed second with a time of 48.40 seconds.
Sophomore Ricardo Mendoza placed second in the Men’s 800-Meter Run with a time of 1:53.86.
In addition, Jones, juniors Felicia Wills, Valeria King Mancha and Destiny Rutherford finished second in the Women’s 4×400-Meter Relay with a time of 3:50.43.
For the complete results, visit goutrgv.com.
May, a biology junior, said he is trying to improve his overall strength in order to prepare for next month’s outdoor championships.
Asked what his recipe for success is, he replied, “A lot of practice. Working on technique and getting solid throws.”
May also said the City of Edinburg’s proclamation is an indication of how well the team is doing.
“I think the team is doing a good job, you know, we got a lot of recognition,” he said. “We’re doing good, we are representing the city good, we’re representing the school good.”
May said he tries to take a leadership role for the team.
“I’m one of the older kids here, so I try my best to help out the other kids,” he said. “Whatever Coach says to me that may make sense to me, I’ll try to reword it to try to help out the kids below me, or maybe say it a different way that would make sense to them.”
Cheetham-West, an exercise science junior, said the team is trying to stay tough, mentally and physically.
“We have to make sure we stay on top of everything,” she said. “We have to make sure we don’t lose sight of what’s important and lose sight of our goals.”
She said her recipe for success includes “trusting the process, training hard, trusting God, trusting that His plan is greater than mine, and really, not focusing on my competition.”
Last Saturday, the teams also competed at home in the South Texas Showdown, dueling against Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Results were not available at press time.
They are looking forward to the invitational at the University of Incarnate Word on Friday.
The teams will also compete May 9 in the WAC Outdoor Championships in Lawrence, Kansas.
Asked what he thought about last Saturday’s duel, Flowers replied, “I really don’t know what to predict for this week. We just want to go out and compete hard, and have some fun.”
Flowers said winning isn’t everything.
“It’s not about winning or losing,” the coach said. “It’s about the complete immersion of your craft. When these kids go into the championships, I want them to feel completely free, to do what they do at the highest level that they can do it.”
