By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
This past week, a handful of Port Isabel summer track athletes competed in the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation (TAAF) Regional meet in McAllen. TAAF was established in 1925 to organize, promote and conduct amateur athletics in the state of Texas. It holds yearly amateur sports festivals called Games of Texas during the summer and winter. Modeled after the Olympics, the first Summer Games of Texas was held in San Antonio in 1986 and this year will mark the first time the city of Brownsville will be hosting the event.
The following PI athletes will be advancing to the TAAF Summer Games of Texas to be held in Brownsville on July 27-30, 2023:
• Elle Wall who competed in the 14 and Under division won her 200m run (27.74 sec) and the High Jump (5’-02”) events. Wall set a new TAAF Region 2 record in the High Jump event. Wall also came in third place in the 100 meters (14.11 sec).
• Emily Ramos (18u) came in second in the 300m Hurdles with a time of 55.42 seconds.
• Joe Jimenez (14u) came in second in the Pole Vault with a height of 9’-00”.
• Mikel Sosa (16u) came in third in the Pole Vault with a height of 8’-00”.
• Christian Garcia (16u) came in fifth in the 300m Hurdles with a time of 46.68 seconds.
• Dustin Mock (8u) came in fourth in the 50m Dash with a time of 8.74 seconds and in sixth in the 200m with a time of 36.79 seconds.
• Anwar Farooqui (8u) came in 5th in the 800m with a time of 3:29.53 in the 8u division.
Other PI track athletes competing were: Pedro Loera (9th Shot Put, 12u), Allison Solorio (11th 300m Hurdles, 15th 100m Hurdles, 16u), Luke Holt (12th 1600m, 12u), Jordan Badillo (13th 1600m, 14u), Josiah Reyes (13th Shot Put, 12u), Zainab Farooqui (15th 50m run, 6u) and Aubrianna Badillo (30th 400m, 12u).
Meanwhile, Chelsea Gonzalez continues to leave her mark as she had a great day at the USATF JO Region 12 Championships meet held in Ft. Worth on July 4-8, 2023. She placed third in the hammer throw (28.11m) and sixth in the discus (36.16m) to qualify for the USATF Junior Olympics. She also came in tenth in the Shot Put with a throw of 10.74m.
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