By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
On June 13, the local summer track team, “Coastal Heat” competed at the AAU South Texas – South District Qualifier. The Track & Field meet was held at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Brownsville, TX, and featured hundreds of athletes from throughout South Texas.
The youngest of the team members, D’anthony Howard, competed in the (8 & Under) Javelin and claimed the gold medal with a throw of 42’-7”, setting a new personal record. He also competed in the Shot Put, where he won silver with a throw of 18’-0”- another personal record. Howard then participated in the Long Jump event for just the third time ever and won the gold medal again with a distance of 6’-6”.
Jordan Badillo, who competes in the 15-16 years old division, won a bronze medal in the 3000-meter run with a time of 11:26.82. He also came in fourth place in the 1500 1500-meter run with a time of 5:25.11.
In the girls’ division, Elle Wall won gold in the (15-16) Long Jump event with a distance of 16’-11”, a new personal record. She also won gold in the High Jump with a height of 4’-10”. Wall also competed in the
run events where she came in second in the 200-meter run with a time of 27.30s and fourth in the 100 100-meter run with a time of 13.35s.
Layla Mata finished in fifth place in the (15-16) High Jump event with a height of 4’-10” setting a new personal record and improving her jump by four inches from last year’s best.
Escarlet Urrutia won gold in the (17-18) Shot Put with a distance of 32’-0”. She also won silver in the Discus with a throw of 97’-5”- a new personal record.
Young Jayda Howard was a triple gold winner after finishing first in the (11yr) Shot Put (28’-4.5”), Discus (68’-0”, PR), and the Javelin (69’-0”).
Wall and Mata will be competing in the 15-16 AAU Multis (heptathlon) this Thursday and Friday in San Antonio where the top 3 will advance to the Junior Olympics in Houston held on July 26-August 2.
The team, “Coastal Heat” will next be competing at the AAU Track & Field Region 19 Qualifier scheduled to take place from June 26-28 in Von Ormy, Tx.
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