Medina Valley HS athletes Jazlyn Garcia and Aubrey Dominguez on November 8 signed their letters of intent. Jazlyn committed to women’s track and field at Western Texas College and Aubrey committed to play softball for Midland College.
Dominguez began playing baseball when she was four years old and transitioned to softball when she was 10.
Her mom Liche Paredes said she remembers telling her daughter she could no longer play baseball and she needed to make the switch to softball.
“She started playing baseball with her brother for a few years. She absolutely hated it when we told her we had to move her to softball,” she said. “It’s been a long 15 years since she started.”
The path to collegiate sports was a bit different for Jazlyn Garcia. Her journey to dominate her sport began at MVHS.
MVHS Head Cross Country Coach James Bermea said when he first met Jazlyn, he wasn’t quite sure whether she would be a sprinter or a distance runner.
“Her sheer determination through every workout and the way she finished,” he said. “Quite often I jokingly reference that saying about Texas, ‘She’s not from Texas but got here as soon as she could’ because she’s not originally a distance runner. Once she found her home, we knew.”
When Jazlyn first told her family she wanted to run for MVHS, they stood by her and have supported her every stride.
“She said, ‘I want to join running.' I told her, ‘You know what. It’s your school years, go and do it. Go! I’ll be right behind you,'” said Jessica Favela, Jazlyn’s mom. “I was able to run alongside her, taking videos and pictures of her. Throwing water at her.”
Thinking of her grandfather, who recently passed, gives Jazlyn the strength to keep running. He also was a distance runner.
“Every time I run, I think of him,” she said. “That just inspires me and motivates me to keep on going and to never give up because he never did.”
