Boys Race Walk
text by Pete Cava
Throughout the race, the only way to tell apart the two leaders was to take fingerprints.
Identical twins Roberto and Ricardo Vergara (Edinburg, TX), both wearing white tops and green shorts and walking in lock step, slowly pulled away from the field. By the time they’d finished, they had lapped all but one contestant.
Roberto finished in 6:49.20, the year’s fastest prep time, with Ricardo a close second in 6:49.56. “Yeah, I was trying to catch him,” admitted Ricardo, who is older by five minutes.
The Vergaras’ economical styles, highlighted by good knee action, was also synonymous. Roberto claimed there’s one way to tell them apart. “I think I’m a little taller,” he said with a grin.
The Vergaras are sophomores at Edinburg High School and belong to the highly successful South Texas Walking Club. Born in California to a Mexican-American family, they moved to South Texas at the age of two. Roberto and Ricardo are fluent in English and Spanish.
A few years ago, race walkers were about as common in Texas as alpine skiers. But South Texas Walking Club coach A.C. Jaime has been slowly nurturing the event.
“Race walking’s not that big in Texas,” said Roberto. “No one knows about it. We’re trying to make it bigger. Our coach goes to different schools to promote it.”
Third in 7:33.60 was Abraham Villareal, the Vergaras’ teammate.
Event 45 Boys 1 Mile Race Walk
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National: N 6:11.00 2/2/1990 Paul Tavares, Centereach, NY
Meet: M 6:17.96 3/15/2003 Zach Pollinger, Mahwah, NJ
Freshman: ( 6:49.50 3/12/2005 Roberto Vergara, Edinburg, TX
Sophomore: R 6:29.96 1993 Kevin Eastler, Mt. Blue,Farmington, ME
Junior: J 6:17.96 2003 Zachary Pollinger, Mahwah, NJ
Senior: $ 6:11.00 2/2/1990 Paul Tavares, Centereach, NY
Name Year School Finals
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1 Vergara, Roberto 08 S Texas Walking,Edi 6:49.20(
2 Vergara, Ricardo 08 S Texas Walking,Edi 6:49.56
3 Villarreal, Abraham 08 S Texas Walking,Don 7:33.60
4 Shaffer, Kyle 08 Mount Vernon HS,How 7:51.15
5 Chavez, Alejandro 10 S Texas Walking,Pha 7:51.70
6 Burns, Taylor 07 Scarborough HS,Scar 7:54.04
7 Carroll, Aaron 08 Gardiner Area HS,Ga 7:55.15
8 Campbell, Tyler 09 Maine Racewalker,Li 7:57.01
9 Morse, Ren 06 Wiscasset,Wiscasset 8:11.73
10 Cox, Allen 07 Bonny Eagle HS,Buxt 8:27.02