Notebook: Hanna to use young players in McAllen
Twenty-three teams will participate in the McAllen Spring Slam Tournament this weekend at the three different high schools in McAllen.
Brownsville Hanna will be one of them, but it won’t be sending its top players.
"We have to get a little varsity experience for some of the younger kids," Hanna coach Terry Hoover said. "Give them a chance to play a varsity tournament and get that experience."
On top of that, the Golden Eagles are heading up the Judson/Clemens Tournament next weekend in San Antonio, and that is the focus right now for Hoover.
"There’s a lot of strong individuals that play in that tournament," he said. "It (could) help us get a seed at regionals."
As for the Spring Slam, attending will be all three McAllen schools, Harlingen High, state-ranked Roma, Edinburg High, Brownsville Lopez and Brownsville Porter.
Girls singles, headlined by top seed Diana Gonzalez of McAllen High, will take place at Memorial. Boys singles, led by top Sharyland’s Andres Tajonar, will take place at McHi. Boys and girls doubles will be at Rowe. Mixed doubles will also be at McHi.
PICKING UP A WIN: Last week in the Rio Grande Valley Golf Coaches Association Tournament of Champions, Sharyland’s A Team came out on top with a two-day total of 702.
The Lady Rattlers went low on both days, scoring a 353 last Friday and a 349 last Saturday. Corpus Christi King was second with 780, while McAllen High was third with 784.
Jessica Tamen of Edinburg High had the low individual score with a 145 — helped largely by the 70 she shot on the second day. Kassandra Rivera of Weslaco High was next line with a 152, while Alainey Muro of McHi was third with a 157.
This week, it’s on to the Mercedes Boys & Girls Invitational today at Mid-Valley and the previously postponed Sharyland Girls Invitational today and Saturday at Shary.
For the Tigers’ tournament, there will be over 16 teams and 156 players participating in the day-long event, as Mercedes coach David Garcia is simply keeping the ritual going.
"We’ve been having this tournament for over 30 years," he said. "So we’re just keeping up the tradition."
The tournament will feature mainly 4A schools, including Edcouch-Elsa, Valley View and Weslaco East. 5A schools like Brownsville Pace, PSJA High and Los Fresnos will also be on hand. In addition, Raymondville is expected to attend.
As for the Tigers, while the girls are in a good place, it’s a different story for the boys.
"They’re just not where they should be, we’re not quite there yet," Garcia said. "It’s a young group, but they are improving."
THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS: It’s been a slow climb for the Harlingen High golf team.
With no seniors, three juniors and seven freshman on the boys team, things have predictably been a little bit shaky in the early going for the Cardinals.
"We’re a young golf team, it’s a real young team," Harlingen High coach Hector Zamora said. "We’d like to compete for the top two spots in our district, but it’s going to be hard because Edinburg (High) has a good team also."
While Zamora figures Harlingen South and the aforementioned Bobcats will be the teams to beat, for this year, he’s expecting continued steady improvement from his squad.
"We’d like to keep showing that we’re going to be consistent," Zamora said. "We keep improving every week, we keep moving up."
The girls team only has a few players that regularly compete.
Todd Orodenker covers golf and tennis for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via e-mail at torodenker@brownsvilleherald.com.
