The biggest, strongest and fastest linemen that Texas has to offer took their turns competing in the USA Texas Lineman state challenge in Duncanville on Wednesday.
Over 50 schools from across the state qualified for the competition, including the United Longhorns and Nixon Mustangs, along with individuals from Martin and United South.
Arlington won the 5A event, followed by Duncanville and Cinco Ranch.
The Longhorns and Mustangs finished outside the top 10, but no official results were available at press time.
The Longhorns’ top finisher was DJ Ballesteros, who finished in third place in the hand-over-hand sled pull with a time of 7.78.
“The kids competed really well and they gave us a 100 percent effort,” said United offensive line coach Ernesto Sandoval, who took Alexander High to state in the same meet last season. “The important thing is that they realized that they can compete with anybody in the state.”
The Mustangs, like the Longhorns, also relished the opportunity to test themselves against the state’s best.
“I heard that we did really well in the team tire flip, where we shaved about 15-16 seconds off our time in Laredo,” Nixon head football coach Brad Hopkins said. “We also did really well in the hand-over-hand sled pull and in the sandbag load.
“The heavier events were toward the end and some metro area coaches praised our efforts, as some of our kids really stuck out. So we competed really well and the kids got into it. I’m very proud of how they represented our high school and community. Any positive that our kids can bring to the program just brings more self esteem our way.”
The following are the United High results in the eight different events.
In the sandbag, Patrick Castañeda took a time of 27.78, Derek Hale 28.81, Ballesteros 29.94, Rene Barroso 29.00, and Kevin Lujan 31.54.
In the hand-over-hand, Ballesteros finished in a time of 7.78, Castañeda 8.84, Lujan 9, Barroso 10.75, and Hale 12.78.
In the sled pull, Jose Ortega finished in a time of 5.62, Hale 6.29, Castañeda 6.34, Lujan 6.37, and Barroso 6.4.
In the medicine ball, Ballesteros threw the ball a distance of 32-7, Hale 31-1, Castañeda 30, Valadez 27-5, and Barroso 27-3.
In the farmer’s walk, Ballesteros finished in 6.88, Barroso 9.71, Ortega 10.34, Castañeda 11.23, and Lujan 11.66.
In the bench, Ortega did 8 repetitions, Hale 7, Barroso 6, Lujan 3, Castañeda 2.
In the team events, the Longhorns took 2:05.44 in the tire push and 13:56 in the truck push.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
United High, local athletes pepare for USA and Texas Lineman Challenge state tournament
The USA and Texas Lineman Challenge state tournament will be held Wednesday in Duncanville.
The overall team winner and individual winner from the local event held on Saturday, June 27, qualified for the meet.
The competition consisted of eight events: the bench press for reps, medicine ball throw, hand-over-hand sled pull, sled drag, farmer's walk, sandbag load, team truck push and team tire flip.
The tire flip is flipping a tractor tire for 20 yards, the hand-over-hand sled is puling a sled weighted down at 135 pounds for 15 yards, the medicine ball throw is self-explanatory, the farmer's walk consists of hauling a 135-pound bar in each hand for 25 yards, the sled drag is running with a harness of 135 pounds, the sandbag is hauling a 50-pound bag from one side to another, and the truck push is seeing how fast you can push it 50 yards.
United High edged out Martin by one point, 35-34, for the first-place team finish.
For United line coach Ernesto Sandoval, it was his second consecutive year of taking a team to the state meet. Last year he took the Alexander High team.
The individual winners for each event are as follows:
===============================================================
Hand-over-hand sled pull:
United South's Adrian Trinidad, with a time of 9.66. He gets the nod because the first two places belonged to United in D.J. Ballesteros (8.58) and Patrick Castaneda (9.46), and they had already qualified as a team.
Sandbag load:
Trinidad again took this event, with a time of 31.43 seconds.
The top three places were United players in Derek Hale (28.75), Ballesteros (29.66) and Kevin Lujan (31.34).
Farmer's walk:
Alexander's David Ramirez won with a time of 6.85. In second place was Martin's Jerry Niño with a time of 7.91.
For Niño, the second time around was a big improvement from last year.
"I wasn't that good," Niño said of last year.
This time, he was ready to prove that he had the discipline to improve.
"I worked hard, and the motivation to do it was my team," Niño said.
He, like many young kids, are hoping a strong offseason program catapults them to the first string defense.
Medicine ball:
Ramirez kept up his strong performance with another victory.
His throw went for 35.85 yards. In second place was Nixon's Kevin Castro, with a throw of 33.55.
Truck push:
The team event was won by the Martin Tigers, with a time of 12.5 seconds.
In second was United with a time of 13.22, and South followed at 13.27.
Sled drag:
Rick Martinez of Nixon won the event with a time of 6.2 seconds, followed by Martin's Carlos Gomez (6.27), Zapata's Sammy Cobos (6.4) and Nixon's Kevin Castro (6.41).
All local kids didn't qualify, though, because they didn't compete in all six individual events.
Cobos is the 3A representative. For 5A, the honor falls on South's Trinidad, with a time of 6.47.
Bench press:
Martin's Freddie Chavarria and South's Trinidad tied with 16 repetitions apiece.
Ramirez and Niño followed with 14 reps each.
Tire flip:
The Longhorns took the second team event with a time of 2:04.
The Mustangs followed with a time of 2:12.32. Alexander was third with a time of 2:13.82.
=============================================================
A larger, more in-depth preview profile of the state meet will be in LMT's Sports Section on Wednesday.
The overall team winner and individual winner from the local event held on Saturday, June 27, qualified for the meet.
The competition consisted of eight events: the bench press for reps, medicine ball throw, hand-over-hand sled pull, sled drag, farmer's walk, sandbag load, team truck push and team tire flip.
The tire flip is flipping a tractor tire for 20 yards, the hand-over-hand sled is puling a sled weighted down at 135 pounds for 15 yards, the medicine ball throw is self-explanatory, the farmer's walk consists of hauling a 135-pound bar in each hand for 25 yards, the sled drag is running with a harness of 135 pounds, the sandbag is hauling a 50-pound bag from one side to another, and the truck push is seeing how fast you can push it 50 yards.
United High edged out Martin by one point, 35-34, for the first-place team finish.
For United line coach Ernesto Sandoval, it was his second consecutive year of taking a team to the state meet. Last year he took the Alexander High team.
The individual winners for each event are as follows:
===============================================================
Hand-over-hand sled pull:
United South's Adrian Trinidad, with a time of 9.66. He gets the nod because the first two places belonged to United in D.J. Ballesteros (8.58) and Patrick Castaneda (9.46), and they had already qualified as a team.
Sandbag load:
Trinidad again took this event, with a time of 31.43 seconds.
The top three places were United players in Derek Hale (28.75), Ballesteros (29.66) and Kevin Lujan (31.34).
Farmer's walk:
Alexander's David Ramirez won with a time of 6.85. In second place was Martin's Jerry Niño with a time of 7.91.
For Niño, the second time around was a big improvement from last year.
"I wasn't that good," Niño said of last year.
This time, he was ready to prove that he had the discipline to improve.
"I worked hard, and the motivation to do it was my team," Niño said.
He, like many young kids, are hoping a strong offseason program catapults them to the first string defense.
Medicine ball:
Ramirez kept up his strong performance with another victory.
His throw went for 35.85 yards. In second place was Nixon's Kevin Castro, with a throw of 33.55.
Truck push:
The team event was won by the Martin Tigers, with a time of 12.5 seconds.
In second was United with a time of 13.22, and South followed at 13.27.
Sled drag:
Rick Martinez of Nixon won the event with a time of 6.2 seconds, followed by Martin's Carlos Gomez (6.27), Zapata's Sammy Cobos (6.4) and Nixon's Kevin Castro (6.41).
All local kids didn't qualify, though, because they didn't compete in all six individual events.
Cobos is the 3A representative. For 5A, the honor falls on South's Trinidad, with a time of 6.47.
Bench press:
Martin's Freddie Chavarria and South's Trinidad tied with 16 repetitions apiece.
Ramirez and Niño followed with 14 reps each.
Tire flip:
The Longhorns took the second team event with a time of 2:04.
The Mustangs followed with a time of 2:12.32. Alexander was third with a time of 2:13.82.
=============================================================
A larger, more in-depth preview profile of the state meet will be in LMT's Sports Section on Wednesday.
High school summer tennis action
The LBJ and Martin High tennis programs are active this summer.
The LBJ tennis team will be hosting a free tennis camp Tuesday and Wednesday at the LBJ tennis courts.
Admission is free to area feeder schools and incoming 9th graders are encouraged to participate for fall practice. Tennis fundamentals will be taught. Please call Jose Flores at 645-4832.
The camp starts from 8:15 a.m. to 10 am all three days.
Participants are asked to bring their own sports drinks. Water will be provided. There is no charge for the camp.
The Tigers tennis team starts conditioning workouts on July 20.
Workouts are from 9 to 11 a.m. Any MHS student in grades 9th through 11th wishing to join the tennis team and all returning lettermen and incoming freshmen are urged to report to the front of the old MHS gym at 8:30 am.
If there are any questions, to call Coach Fausto Dovalina Jr. at 324-2185.
The LBJ tennis team will be hosting a free tennis camp Tuesday and Wednesday at the LBJ tennis courts.
Admission is free to area feeder schools and incoming 9th graders are encouraged to participate for fall practice. Tennis fundamentals will be taught. Please call Jose Flores at 645-4832.
The camp starts from 8:15 a.m. to 10 am all three days.
Participants are asked to bring their own sports drinks. Water will be provided. There is no charge for the camp.
The Tigers tennis team starts conditioning workouts on July 20.
Workouts are from 9 to 11 a.m. Any MHS student in grades 9th through 11th wishing to join the tennis team and all returning lettermen and incoming freshmen are urged to report to the front of the old MHS gym at 8:30 am.
If there are any questions, to call Coach Fausto Dovalina Jr. at 324-2185.
LBJ football update
I chatted a bit with LBJ quarterbacks/receivers coach Richard Alaniz today.
He told me things are going well and that the team is improving step by step. He expects everything to be ready to go when the team starts preseason practices on Aug. 3.
The Wolves went 0-10 last season, Oscar Villasenor's first with the club as head coach.
But they return 16 starters - eight on offense, eight on defense. An early projected star is junior middle linebacker Joe A. Solis.
The Wolves finished last in District 31-4A last season, but Dave Campbell has them ranked seventh for this season, ahead of Nixon and Cigarroa.
Projected offensive standouts for LBJ are quarterback Guillermo Claudio and wide receiver Edwin Adams.
He told me things are going well and that the team is improving step by step. He expects everything to be ready to go when the team starts preseason practices on Aug. 3.
The Wolves went 0-10 last season, Oscar Villasenor's first with the club as head coach.
But they return 16 starters - eight on offense, eight on defense. An early projected star is junior middle linebacker Joe A. Solis.
The Wolves finished last in District 31-4A last season, but Dave Campbell has them ranked seventh for this season, ahead of Nixon and Cigarroa.
Projected offensive standouts for LBJ are quarterback Guillermo Claudio and wide receiver Edwin Adams.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Updates
As you read previously in this blog, United High baseball star A.J. Gomez formally signed his letter of intent to play baseball at the University of Texas at Brownsville yesterday.
Teammate Luis Pollorena is expected to sign with Alabama A&M tomorrow.
Teammate Luis Pollorena is expected to sign with Alabama A&M tomorrow.
LMT Sports goes YouTube
The Laredo Morning Times sports department is going YouTube.
Local sports videos are now being placed online at YouTube.com. Viewers can find the latest in big, local sporting events involving all areas of the Laredo sports scene.
The videos capture the latest sports feature, such as local motocross star Tom O’Connor III, as well as local team updates, such as bi-monthly reviews on the Broncos and others.
To visit the videos, just go to http://www.youtube.com/user/LMTSports.
Local sports videos are now being placed online at YouTube.com. Viewers can find the latest in big, local sporting events involving all areas of the Laredo sports scene.
The videos capture the latest sports feature, such as local motocross star Tom O’Connor III, as well as local team updates, such as bi-monthly reviews on the Broncos and others.
To visit the videos, just go to http://www.youtube.com/user/LMTSports.
Cigarroa High girls' basketball camp
Cigarroa will host a girls’ basketball camp July 13-16 from 8 a.m.-noon. Cost of the camp is $10, and campers can register on-site Monday, July 13 at 7:30 a.m.
For more information, contact Coach Irma De La Cruz at 324-9280 or by e-mail at divadelacruz@gmail.com.
For more information, contact Coach Irma De La Cruz at 324-9280 or by e-mail at divadelacruz@gmail.com.
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