State meet deprives Valley stars of graduation ceremony

McALLEN - The dream of walking in front of your family and friends in one of an individual's proudest moments is no longer a reality for McAllen Memorial's distance-runner Tricia Terry and Los Fresnos' hurdler Luis Charles.

Terry and Charles will not get the opportunity to experience their high school graduation due to the rescheduling of the state track & field meet in Austin, which will now take place on June 5-6 after the University Interscholastic League had pushed back regional meets due to the swine flu.

Thirteen athletes across the Valley, plus Brownsville Pace and Mission High's 1,600-relay teams, qualified for state after the Region IV meet in San Antonio two weeks ago. The state meet did not interfere for seniors like Stephen Saenz of Rio Grande City or Cinthia Adame of San Benito with ceremonies taking place today, and, as in Adame's case, Friday.

But the moment of not walking will be that much harder to cope with for Terry, being that she is valedictorian of her class at McAllen Memorial High School.

"I was pretty astounded," Terry said when she first learned about the meet's new date. "I didn't know what to say. They really made me mad in a way because I knew I would have to be giving up one or the other. I didn't take it too well at first. But I calmed down to consider my options and what I was going to do."

Terry qualified for state in the 1,600-meter run after placing second at regionals with a time of 5:12.75. Terry has been aching from shin splints since the regional meet, which was one of the factors she weighed in her decision whether to stay in McAllen and participate in the graduation ceremony or run in the state meet.

However, judging from Terry's tone, her choice seemed easy.

"I decided if I didn't run state I'm going to look back on this and wonder what would have happened if I hadn't raced," she said. "So there is no way I can risk the state meet, regardless of what some people might think. I had to do it. There really wasn't no doubt. I had to give up graduation."

Charles voices his struggle with the same dilemma.

"It's going to be hard," said Charles, who qualified after placing first in the 300-meter hurdles from Region IV-5A with a time of 38.34. "It's kind of sad and I want to be with my friends, but I also want to run in the state track meet."

Even with the competition just one week away, Charles says the race is something he is not fretting about and feels no pressure.

"I'm just going to go out there and give it all I got, and run," he said.

The state meet, which was originally slated for May 14-16, was pushed back because of the swine flu breakout, which UIL Assistant Athletic Director Sheila Henderson says was the main reason the league rescheduled.

"We had to make a decision and find the best date, and have a collaboration with the facility site, which is at (University of Texas)," she said. "So you got to look at everybody's schedule and figure out what's going to be the best."

Henderson added that the decision in trying to adjust to the entire state's schedule was a difficult one for the UIL.

"When you're faced with unknowns and you come across a situation that's unknown like that, anybody is faced with challenges," she said.

To compensate for those seniors who will miss their graduation, the UIL will have a mock ceremony on both days for athletes to voluntarily engage in.

Terry and Charles both say they will take advantage of the opportunity to participate in a replica assembly. In addition, Terry says she will appear on a big screen at her school's ceremony for a videotaped session of her valedictorian speech. Because of the unorthodox situation she is determined to end her career on a high note.

"I'm giving up a lot for this, so I have to give it my all," she said.

Ramiro Paez covers high school sports for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4470 or via e-mail at rpaez@themonitor.com.