Recapping the Northeast Invitational

SAN ANTONIO - The Northeast Invitational at Heroes Stadium on Thursday night was a quality meet despite missing many of the top athletes from the schools due to the Texas Relays this weekend. The Brandeis girls were strong throughout the meet and won with 171.5 while the Reagan boys continued their string of winning meets with 149 points.

The girls meet began with Brandeis' Mikaela Garza running a dominant, controlled 3200m that she won in 11:41.65. Later on, she finished the meet by easily winning the 1600m in 5:19.73, nearly matching her season best despite little competition. Her sprint teammates followed her by winning the 4x100m relay in a school-record time of 48.30 as they held off a strong Stevens squad.

The other Brandeis relay teams also won as the 4x200m squad of Sydney James-Crumsey, Kiera Kofoworola-Kuti, Nygeela Eleyae and Karen Kofoworola-Kuti won in 1:44.29, a season best time. The 4x400m team added Alyssa Rodriguez and Payton Ware to the Kofoworola-Kuti twins and they took the gold in 4:08.75.

The 800m was an exciting race that came down to four girls in the end. Reagan senior Kate Barrera pulled out the victory with a time of 2:27.71, less than a second ahead of Violet Ostrowski and Ada Mathias of Brandeis and Alexa Hakim Montemayor of Reagan.

Medina Valley, the lone 5A school at the meet, found the winner's circle in the 100m hurdles when sophomore Kiyana Perez closed fast to win in 16.49. She was able to withstand a charge from Lauren Seiz of Brandeis who ran 16.63. In the 300m hurdles, Perez's teammate Tristan Moreno also passed Seiz near the finish line to win in 47.64, just 0.23 ahead of Seiz.

Jada Tyler of Stevens has been the top 100m sprinter in District 29-6A this year and she showed why by topping the field with a time of 12.74. Her teammate, Skyla Lovett, won the 400m in 58.84, her best time of the season. Lovett also nabbed third place in the 200m.

Johnson's Madisun Sparks looked great in winning the 200m in a personal record time of 25.59 despite a headwind. That mark keeps her at the top of the District 28-6A rankings.

In the field events, Johnson freshman Jera Salters won the discus with a big personal record of 115-2. She nearly doubled up in the shot put with a 5-foot personal record of 35-4 to finish in second right behind Reagan's Mariana Salazar who has a toss of 35-8.5.

In the jumping events, Reagan freshman Aryiel Sherman had a huge personal best by clearing 5-6 in the high jump. Brandeis' Alyssa Rodriguez won the long jump while Johnson's Ciandra Carrico was the winner in the triple jump. Johnson's Lauren Taylor Fuentespina and Daniell Cantu each cleared 10-6 in the pole vault to nab the top two places.

The boys 3200m featured some names that I do not usually get to write about. Reagan's Seabastian Gamiz won the race in 10:09.15 while Madison freshman Nick Maldonado sprinted to a second place finish in 10:14.27. In the 1600m it was another Reagan runner, Luke Munoz, who took the top prize winning comfortably in 4:33.18. Munoz also ran a quality 800m finishing in third in 1:59.86. It was Brandeis' Ethan Malesich who won the half mile in 1:57.54 as he led from start to finish.

Reagan showed how deep they are by winning the 4x100m relay behind Caleb Cappucio, Shaun Evans, Adekunle Baruwa and William Calk in 42.92. That would put them third in the district standings and it is their second unit. Calk followed up his anchor leg by taking second in the 100m to Harold Releford of Churchill who won in 11.35.

In the 4x200m relay it was the Brandeis team of Landon Miller, Jacob Voss, Lokey Aguero-Munoz and Chris Bryson edging out Reagan in a time of 1:30.27. Brandeis and Reagan had the same results in the 4x400m relay with the Broncos winning in a time of 3:26.85.

In the hurdle events, it was LEE's Jason Grant starting things off by winning the 110m hurdles in a time of 15.55. Madison freshman Jordan Clay finished second in a personal record of 15.84. In the 300m hurdles, the Brandeis duo of Bradyn Zingelmann and Skyler Voutour each won their respective heats and finished 1-2. Zingelmann ran a time of 40.48 while Voutour crossed the line in 41.46.

The top four boys in the 400m all ran personal records. It was Medina Valley's Clayton McCulloch who won the race in 50.74 with Ian Lea and LEE next in 51.16. Drew Sharpstene of Churchill and David Mastrovich of Johnson took third and fourth, respectively and each broke 52 seconds for the first time.

After getting disqualified in the 100m, Medina Valley's Carter Hewitt came back and won the 200m in 22.99 ahead of both Aguero-Munoz and Releford. Hewitt also took the gold in the long jump with a mark of 20-4.75.

Reagan picked up big points in the throwing events. They swept the top three spots in the discus. Ryan Ramirez won with a big throw of 157-10 while teammates Hector Ucha and Hurst Tyler were second and third. Ucha won the shot put with a toss of 46-9.

In his first meet of the year, Demetrio Cardenas of Johnson won the high jump with a clearance of 6-2. The triple jump went to Aguero-Munoz who has had an excellent season and went 43-11.5. In the pole vault, it was Brandeis' Zach Goyt setting a new personal record of 13-6 to beat Johnson's Thomas Bucks on misses.