There is little joy in Mudville or Lytle for me, today, the end of any season is bittersweet. During the Cross Country season, we walked off with 3 district titles, the 8th grade ladies won the tournament yet yesterday we had the opportunity yet we failed to advance.
Victor Garcia, Emily Garcia, Noelia Medina and Alex Naeglin failed to advance at the Area Meet yesterday. The hardest part of coaching is saying farewell to a thrower, especially when his throws in warmup would have advanced him to the Regional Meet. It has been an honor to work with Victor for six years. He leaves the rings as the second best Shot Putter I have had the joy of coaching. He did place sixth yesterday with a throw of 41'10".
Emily Garcia and Noelia Medina threw in the shot putt ring but the weight seemed heavier for them today. What they saw was competitors with the same build as them, yet they threw farther. Hopefully, we will increase our speed in the ring next year.
A strong, favorable wind was blowing into the ring for the discus. Both Alex Naeglin and Noelia threw warmups over 100’ which was the mark needed to advance. When the competition began Noelia threw her first discus out of sector and Alex tried too hard and only threw 84'. That set them in a poor state of mind. It didn't help that a girl they had beat during the District Meet threw 99'. Unfortunately, they failed to meet the challenge and instead began dwelling on past throws. For me, the thing I take from the contest was watching the defending state champion from Goliad on her last throw beat the girl from Aransas Pass who was leading through 5 throws. The pressure of her 126' throw made the other girl only throw 84' on her last.
I was walking into Goliad's gym for lunch and Coach Hicks from George West stopped me and asked if I wrote Lessons from the Rings. He told me in his research to check on Lytle Throwers he found the articles on the website. He really appreciated the write ups. Thanks to the "Knowology Department" for putting this out there. It is way above my understanding of cyberspace. I hope everyone can be encouraged and endure to the end of this year. Thanks to all who made it possible for my throwers to compete in the rings for Lytle. Good Skill to the ones in the regional meet.
Throw Far
*Editors note: Thank you, Coach Foster for your appreciation of the behind-the-scenes work of our Public Relations department. Your eloquent and comprehensive writing makes our job very easy.