Shinsky shines at state

WACO - At only 5 foot, 7 inches tall, Marissa Shinsky is standing pretty tall right now.

One day after the Brownsville St. Joseph's Academy senior won gold in the high jump at the TAPPS State Track and Field meet at Baylor University, the athletic Shinsky added two more on Saturday making for one of the most memorable weekends for an individual trackster in Valley history.

Shinsky won the girls 100-meter hurdles in 15.87 and the 300 in 46.12 to win three state titles over the two-day meet at Hart-Patterson Stadium. Both times are fully automated.

Shinsky was joined by teammate Nico Cardenas in being crowned state champion.

Cardenas won gold in the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.03. Cardenas also added a silver medal in the 110 hurdles in a time of 15.39.

Both are fully automated too.

But the limelight clearly shone on Shinsky this weekend.

SJA head coach Meme Garza's been around track and field for a while.

And even Garza - a veteran of 34 years as SJA head track coach - was amazed at Shinsky's effort on Saturday and Friday.

"It was just fun being around it," Garza said. "To see an individual performance like that over these past two days was amazing.

"But that's part of track and its' uplifting for the program and for her teammates. Everyone is happy for her and everyone is excited right now."

As a team the Lady Bloodhounds finished in fifth place with 50 points. Dallas Ursuline won the team state title with 113 points.

But the day definitely belonged to Shinsky, who despite a nagging knee injury and allergies was able to put on one of the best individual performances by a Valley athlete in a long time.

"It feels great," Shinsky said. "It's a great way to end the season."

In the 100 hurdles, Shinsky fell behind early on but mustered enough will to get her past the field for the gold.

"I had to catch up," she said. "I started off behind but I knew I had to finish strong."

The 300 hurdles were a bit of a mess prior to the gun sounding.

Shinsky was placed in the wrong lane. She was to start from lane three but was put in lane six.

Shinsky had mentally prepared to run out of lane six but made the necessary adjustments to finish on top.

"The girl next to me and I were neck and neck the last 100 meters," Shinsky said.

Adversity had nothing on Shinsky this weekend.

On Friday, Shinsky came down to her last attempt in the high jump to even move on to next height which was eventually her state title height.

She overcame the mix up in lane assignments again on Saturday to return to Brownsville a state champion times three.

And if those restrictions weren't enough, Shinsky trained with a bum left knee the past few weeks and competed with a horrible case of allergies in Waco.

"It took incredible heart and will to do what she did today," Garza said. "We weren't training as hard because of her knee injury. We didn't want to push her too hard but we wanted to keep her in some kind of shape too.

"It took a lot of personal will and there isn't too much coaching involved in that."

Shinsky finished a stellar senior season that saw her compete at the state cross-country meet. She finished 50th out of 125 runners.

"Not bad for a sprinter and basketball girl," Garza said.

Oh yeah she also hooped.

Shinsky was a first-team All -Metro selection by the Brownsville Herald and a second-team all-Valley by Valley Freedom Newspapers.

"She's the type of kid that's proud to be a Lady Bloodhound," Garza said. "She wants to represent the school and wear the jersey.

She's the ideal athlete. She could do it all."

Shinsky won gold in the 100 hurdles last year and a bronze in the 300.

Track notes: The SJA 400-meter relay came in fifth with a time of 51.35 and the 1,600-meter relay was fifth with a time of 4:11.2...On the boys side, the Bloodhounds came in eighth place as a team with 24 points...Andres Delgado finished in fifth in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:03.75.

Eladio Jaimez covers track and field for Valley Freedom Newspapers.