Los Fresnos, Harlingen High shine at Meet of Legends

BROWNSVILLE — A first-place finish in the 1,600-meter relay pushed the Los Fresnos girls over the edge as the Lady Falcons captured the team title at Meet of Legends held at Sams Stadium on Friday.

Los Fresnos scored 167 points to edge out District 32-5A foe San Benito (159) for the Lady Falcons’ first team title of the season.

First-year head coach Dolores Olguin said the win is a definite confidence builder for her young squad.

The Lady Falcons also won the 800-meter relay and freshman Chanel Ebanks won the 400-meter dash in an impressive 60.29.

Senior Samantha Fish won the 800- and 1,600-meter runs in 2:20.48 and 5:21.46, respectively.

The MOL turned out to be a preview of what the 32-5A meet might look like next month.

"It’s a big step for us," Olguin said. "They know what they’re capable of now and we move forward from here."

On the boys’ side, Harlingen scored 156 points to take the team title beating out Brownsville Pace with 108 points.

Sophomore Randy Bermea and senior A.J. White tied for high-point scorer with 35 points each,

Bermea won the triple jump, 110-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles. White won the long jump, 100- and 200-meter dashes.

Bermea set a new personal best in the 300 hurdles with a 38.06.

San Benito’s Tina Valenzuela had a great night winning all five of her events and scoring a total of 45 points.

She even set personal bests in the triple jump and 300-meter hurdles.

Valenzuela added golds in the 100-meter hurdles (14.70) and long jump (17-2) and ran the second leg of the first-place 400-meter relay for the Lady Greyhounds (51.06).

Valenzuela won the triple jump with a 36-9 ½. Her previous best was a 36-6. She also ran a 45.3 in the 300 hurdles. Her previous best was a 45.5.

"I usually don’t like Friday night meets," Valenzuela said. "I’m in school all day and I can’t get ready like on Saturdays. But lately I’ve been running better on the Fridays and in the cold. I’m happy with my times today."

The girls’ 300 hurdles turned out very exciting.

Harlingen South’s Zariah Noyola captured second place in the race. But 100 meters into the race, the Lady Hawks junior clipped a hurdle and nearly fell to the track.

However, the athletic Noyola made up about four spots over the next 100 meters and sprinted down the final 300 nearly catching up to Valenzuela.