By Coach Lonnie Flippen, VISD
There is an old sports adage that says, “No one runs around shouting that we’re number two.” The “Magnificent Seven” – the seven junior high Valentine Lady Pirates – that’s 100% of the junior high girls in the smallest school in Texas – aren’t ashamed to boast about being the runner up track team out of District 9A for 2017. They went into the meet understanding that it might come down to a numbers game and that’s exactly what happened. The Lady Pirates were in first place as a team going into the last four running events and then reality set in as they didn’t have the numbers to have participants in the 300 meter hurdles and the 1600 meter run and ultimately fell short by 30 total points in pulling off a sort of David versus Goliath accomplishment.
The Lady Pirate’s won the 4×200 relay and finished in third place in both the 4×100 relay and the 4×400 relay. All seven Pirates ran on one relay or another. In other events, Cecilia Corral finished second in the the 200 meters and Jaymie Sanchez ran 4th in the 400 meters. Samantha Kuhlman was 4th in the 800 meters and Bela Oldham was 2nd in the 2400 meters. Sanchez was third in both the long jump and the discus. Corral won the tripe jump while Kuhlman was winning the high jump with a respectable 4 feet 2 inch jump which was two inches higher than the winning pole vault height. Mickey Siddiq was sixth place in the shot. Nevaeha Mora and Arleene Corral ran legs on the relay teams as well as running in the 100 meters.
Miguel Rameriz, the only boy to compete for the Pirates, finished in fourth place in both the 100 and 200 meters and was fifth place in the triple jump. This was only the second meet of the year that Rameriz had participated in.
The Pirates can be proud of what they have accomplished with their limited numbers throughout the year. Your dedication and desire to succeed is evident. The school, the community, your parents, and coaches are proud of your accomplishments and look forward to watching you grow and excel in the future.
