Meet the Preps

Kudos to APAC club volleyball for helping raise cancer funds

Wanted to recognize the APAC 14U club volleyball team, which recently raised $1,100 in donations for the American Breast Cancer Association's "Big Pink Tour." 

The team, coached by Yoshiki Nakamoto, did this in conjunction with the Colorado Crossroads Tournament in which they participated in Denver. During that tournament, the team finished 21st out of 138 teams.

Chapin hurdler Evonne Britton mixing it up with the college girls

I was strolling through the Springtime Invitational, a college track and field meet, this past weekend at UTEP, and I was astonished to see Chapin senior Evonne Britton lined up in lane 4 for the 100-meter hurdles.

I had to do a double-take.

Immediately, though, I realized that, well, it makes sense. No one in town can touch her in the 100 hurdles, and the only person (Hanks senior Brandi Wade) close to her in the 300s is still healing a foot injury. 

And this isn't the first time an El Pasoan has laced it up with college runners while in high school. It's been done many times in the past, most notably last year with Hanks' Kendra Chambers, among others.

So, I rushed up to get a good spot in the stands and awaited the outcome.

I was quite impressed.

Running unattached, Britton finished third in a time of 14.29 seconds (fully automatic, of course), just 18 hundreths of a second behind first place. She most certainly held her own and was fighting for first the entire way.

She also ran the 400 hurdles, where she led until the eighth hurdle and finished in third place. Her time was 1 minute, 3.69 seconds (first place crossed in 1:02.08).

And this wasn't Britton's first college meet.

The previous week she ran a personal-best 14.04 in the 100s and a 1:01.38 in the 400s at the Willie Williams Classic in Arizona.

Britton's father, Edward Britton Sr., said her fastest 300 hurdle time is 41.93 seconds (FAT), run at the Irvin Invitational.

No doubt, we'll be seeing Britton return to the Class 4A Texas track and field championships in April. It would be her third trip to Austin, having qualified twice in the 100s and once in the 300s.

After that, she is bound for the Division 1 college ranks.

More than 10 Division 1 programs have offered her a scholarship, Britton Sr. said. She's narrowed her choices to Penn. State, Florida, Tennessee, NMSU and UTEP, and she is scheduled to visit Texas Tech soon.

She said she expects to choose a college soon after all of her campus visits.

Then, the college runners will have to content with her for another four years.

Track and field forum

I was reading over El Paso's track and field top 10 individual rankings - which graciously are provided to the Times from Coronado coaches Marco Chavez and Tom Corrigan -  this week, and began thinking how we haven't had any blog discussion on track and field this year.

We used to get tons of traffic and discussion on the "(Not) Your Average Joe" blog, but unfortunately it became an El Paso Times casualty during a cutback on blogs.

So, to try to help compensate for the loss of valuable and interesting track and field conversation, I'm going to leave this particular space for El Paso's track and field community.

Have at it!

Will Tony Harper remain at Montwood, and if not, where do you think he will end up?

Just a question for El Pasoans:

Will Montwood High School varsity boys basketball coach Tony Harper, an El Paso coaching icon, still be a Ram next year, or will be go elsewhere? And if you think he will leave, where do you think he might end up?

This, of course, is in reference to Saturday's (March 28, 2009) story on Harper recently inquiring about Cathedral's vacant head coach position.

A red card for unruly soccer parents

Some parents just make you shake your head sometimes.

I was covering the Franklin-Coronado soccer match Tuesday (March 17, 2009) and found myself saying, "Tsk, tsk" after watching parents get into it after the game.

Granted, this is as intense a rivalry as you'll see in El Paso, and this match was for the District 1-5A title, which Franklin won 1-0, but c'mon parents - be adult.

Emotions always will run high, but act as role models for the children and let cooler heads prevail. 

Now, I didn't see who started the fracas because I was interviewing players and a coach when everything broke out.

However, I got there with more than enough time to witness shoving and yelling amid a large crowd of parents, students and some players. Regardless of what the issue(s), it shouldn't have come to that.

And I couldn't believe my ears when I heard a woman yell out, "You're nothing but white trash!" on more than one occasion.

Really? Is that necessary at a high school soccer match?

I'm not placing blame on one school or the other, one player or another, one parent or another.

I understand that games can get emotional for whatever reason (dirty play, name-calling, bad calls, etc.), but parents ALWAYS should know how to handle situations with tact. 

And it doesn't matter who started what, whether it was a player(s) or parent(s).

Your kids are watching. Just be a role model.

A three-way dance to get into the playoffs

The District 1-5A boys soccer season is in the books, and the post-season fun has just begun.

Socorro is the undisputed district champion, followed by Bel Air in second place and Americas, who defeated El Dorado Tuesday night, in third. All three are in the playoffs.

Coronado, Hanks and El Dorado are tied for fourth and will face-off in a mini-tournament (times, dates, places and match-ups to be announced) to determine the fourth and final playoff spot.

Coronado defeated Franklin, 2-0 to improve its record to 8-8, while with the 2-1 shootout loss to Americas, El Dorado fell to 8-8. Hanks had a bye on Tuesday night and was already guaranteed to be tied for fourth.

El Paso, Socorro and Ysleta Independent School District's athletic directors will meet on Wednesday and determine how the tie-breaker will play out. Coaches involved have speculated that it will work out much like the 1-5A boys basketball tie-breaker went. There Hanks won a flip and got a bye, while Coronado and Franklin played. Franklin won that game and went on to play Hanks in the mini-tournament final. Hanks pulled off the victory and advanced to the 5A state basketball playoffs.

While it has been a long season, I am sure all three teams do not mind playing a couple extra games to earn a playoff berth. On the other side, all three teams have proven themselves equal matches, trading victories in head-to-head match-ups.

Just out of curiosity, who do you think will earn the final playoff spot and why? I understand most will probably pick their own school, but go ahead and give some reasons for it.

Overall, may the best team win.

Hanks softball staying the course

As expected, the Hanks High School softball team is living up to preseason expectations.

The Knights are 14-2 on the season and have shut out their first two District 1-5A opponents (Bel Air and Montwood) by a combined score of 15-0.

Senior pitcher Adriana Garcia continues to be the defensive pillar for the Knights, who boast arguably the city's top defense.

Today (Tuesday, March 10, 2009), I saw some good innings from Garcia in the 5-0 win at Montwood. She allowed only two hits, while striking out four batters. That strikeout total isn't much to gloat at considering Garcia normally rips through teams (she struck out 11 against Bel Air this past weekend), but Montwood has hitters along with solid coaching.

However, the girl who stood out most for me today was second baseman Amanda "Mighty" Saldivar. Talk about a girl with coordination!

This player pedaled backward, shuttled sideways, sped forward - just about everything - for the Knights. She was a sight to see, especially since she stands only about 5 feet, 1 inch (give or take an inch). She was a large reason Montwood didn't even get to third base. She was part of an athletic double play, and I've seen few second basemen shine as well as she did today. In all, Mighty was involved in seven of Hanks' 21 outs.

Overall, I came away highly impressed with Hanks, mostly because of its defensive performance. The hitting wasn't spectacular, but that is a credit in particular to Montwood shortstop Krista Hernandez, who was involved in 12 of the Rams' 21 outs.

Expect Hanks to continue racking up the wins en route to another district title, although it'll be interesting to see how the Knights handle Franklin and upstart Americas.

One thing that could be a concern for the Knights is that they haven't started another pitcher other than Garcia, and that could come back to bite them in the playoffs. Obviously, pitching depth is a must if you want to advance deep into the playoffs.

Talking high school basketball

The latest high school sports podcast is now available.

KTSM's Beau Bagley joins Lenny Jurado from the El Paso Times to talk about the playoff runs of El Paso basketball teams, with a focus on El Dorado and Andress High Schools.

To listen to the downcast click here. (right click - save target as - to download)

Playoff atmosphere

Late in the third quarter as the score was out-of-reach, El Dorado seemed to begin to get down on itself and of all people it was one of the Duncanville players that right in front of me said to one of the El Dorado players: "Hey, head up man. Lets go all the way to the end, come on. Me and you, lets do this"

To me that was a great show of sportsmanship from Duncanville. From there Duncanville continued to overwhelm El Dorado but neither team took the final quarter lightly, and while the end result was not what the Aztecs wanted they played the way that game is suppose to be played — at 100 percent.

For those of you who could not make the trip to see the game, you missed a great crowd for the game. The Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center is a great venue for high school basketball and it was full of basketball fans and they were full of excitement.

The crowd was into the game from the pre-game introductions and that was part in due to the personal running the PA system. First, the announcer of the game was enthusiastic for BOTH teams. The pre-game introductions included "entrance music" for both teams.

Personally, I've always have enjoyed pre-game hype and I do realize that there are some who believe that hype has no place in a high school game I would disagree. As long as the PA announcer is enthusiastic for both squads, and not just the home team, I believe it is fair and only encourages a great atmosphere.

Fan involvement was a big part of the playoff game in Fort Worth, and in my opinion it was very tasteful involvement. While yes you did have the questioning of the refs judgement, you also had strong cheering for both teams. There would be an occasional "heckle" of the opposing team, but nothing more than an "air ball" chant or something along the lines. There were no nasty saying shouted to the players, at least from what I could hear.

Overall, it had the feel of a big game atmosphere. Now during the season I was able to see some games with a large active crowd, especially in big games, but there were some games that the crowd seemed out of it. Even during the mini-playoff between Coronado, Franklin and Hanks there seemed to be very little student support. On another occasion it was quiet enough at a game for two parents to have an exchange with each other from across the court. At a game it should never get quiet enough for two individuals to hear each other from other sides of the gym, even when shouting.

Talking with coach Vicencio and other members of the El Dorado group we noted how its a pity that there are the atmosphere only gets "big" for the important games, when they could remember that every game was an excitement. 

Now maybe it makes a difference or maybe it doesn't, but for El Paso athletes to play only a few games with loud crowds and exciting pre-game intros and then go into the regional tournament where it feels like a college or professional game it could be a bit overwhelming.

I think making every game a big game could potentially help our teams make it further in the playoffs. I also believe it would make every game, even the ones for sixth place in district, a fun environment and thats how you get exchanges between players demanding the best from each other even in a blowout.

But it all starts with fans, both parents and students. One, there has to be a big crowd that is loud and passionate. Second, anything during the game from the crowd has to be tasteful and not too negative to the opposing team. Third, a PA announcer needs to hype the game up, but for both teams not just the home crowd.

I think it would be great to hear a full introduction with music and emphasis on the names for both teams, no matter what the game is. It is easy to get excited when the No. 1 team takes on the No. 2 team, but give the seventh and eighth place teams the same treatment.

Who knows maybe it won't make our teams better, but I'm sure the players would appreciate hearing the crowd go wild when they are introduced or make a basket. Overall I think it would be fun and thats what the game is all about.

What do you all think? On top of that, who has the best crowds in the city? Who's pre-game intro's do you like in high school, college or the pros? And what were some of the best games in town this year?

El Paso boys basketball improving?

El Paso has five boys basketball team in the regional quarterfinals for the first time in recent memory (mine, at least).

We've got Montwood, El Dorado and Hanks in Class 5A, then Andress and Chapin in 4A. With Hanks and El Dorado playing each other this round, that guarantees El Paso at least one regional semifinalist (Sweet 16) for the fifth consecutive year.

I want to hear your opinions on this: Does this reflect an improvement in El Paso boys' basketball or is it a down year for some Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex teams (talking mainly 5A)?

Personally, I think it's a sign that El Paso boys hoops has made strides. You don't get to the region quarters as a slouch.

Sound off!