Boys 4x100 Relay Upset City -- We Got It Wrong!


From the beginning of the season, we figured The Woodlands would be one of the top teams. DeSoto quickly made sure they etched themselves at the top as they annually do. Port Arthur Memorial quickly did the same, showing everybody that last year wasn't a fluke and that they were coming back for more.

The entire season, all three teams had been at the top of the rankings and they were the favorites heading into this weekend's Regional finals.

There were also the teams that have annually been in the rankings and are also known for being one of the top teams like Converse Judson, Fort Bend Marshall, and Cedar Hill.

Last week, we mentioned that there were teams like Katy Seven Lakes, Killeen Ellison, and Tyler John Tyler who had to been making noise. We even asked if the are they capable of dropping faster times.

Related: Optimism and Potential For The 2018 4x100 Relays

This weekend, we found out that some of those upcoming teams mean business and the "favorite" term, What do we know -- evidently, nothing except that you can now throw all of that talk out of the window. 

As all of the expected suspects survived through to the regional finals. The Finals is where we saw the fireworks

The Region 2-6A finals were the first finals of the day. John Tyler who has been running extremely well for the last several weeks benefited from seeing The Woodlands at both Texas Relays and the District 11-12 Area meet where they took a close second place and ran all of the way to the line with The Woodlands.

On this day, John Tyler would take their opportunity to take the Highlanders down and earn themselves a reputation of being serious contenders for the state meet in a couple of weeks.

They put the pressure on from the beginning with a great start and staying steady throughout the race as they held off a ferocious anchor leg effort from The Woodlands for the win 40.69 to 40.71.

Then, at the Region 2-6A finals Cedar Hill made a statement. They took down their district rivals DeSoto with a 40.68 to 41.19. It was one of the slowest times of the season for DeSoto, but it showed just how consistent Cedar Hill is and their ability to stay focused and steady in crunch time.

Cedar Hill pretty much won the race on the second exchange. Their hand off from second the third leg was way more efficient than that of DeSoto. DeSoto had some difficulty with the exchanges and lost some time. From there on Cedar Hill's speed was just as potent as anyones making catching them incredibly difficult. They look to be in a good place to climb the award stand from last year's 40.37 runner up finish.

Later in the evening, more upset action was taking place. At the Region 3-6A finals, the top ranked 40.40 Port Arthur Memorial would line up with the expectations from the entire state for them to set the world on fire. 

That wouldn't stop the Fort Bend Marshall Buffalos from doing what they had to. Like most sprint oriented teams, Marshall is a program that isn't short on confidence. Marshall just dipped under 41.00 for the first time this season as their area meet.

For a team that has run 40.x for the last six to seven years, it has been kinda of an expected thing. After tasting it for the first time this season, they went lower and lower. In the prelims, they ran a 40.89 to carry the fastest time into the finals where the ran an even faster 40.72 as they outran both second place Humble and third place Port Arthur Memorial.

In the Region 3-6A finals, Katy Seven Lakes showed their consistency as they took the title as expected. The Spartans have had a very successful season as they have collected wins all year long including the Texas Relays. 

With a 40.49 regionals win, they have shown that they are consistent and ready for at state title run. A school that is not really known for sprinting they could really open some eyes with another big performance in Austin.

Perhaps one of the other most consistent 4x100 relay teams is Converse Judson. They dominated the Region 4-6A races as they ran a 41.10 in the prelims and followed that up with a modest 41.28 in the finals in an easy win.

The mistake would be to count Judson out because they didn't break the clock or anything. This season could be very similar to last year as they ran a 40.98 last year at regionals, but then went to Austin and ran a 40.14 to win the 6A 4x100 relay.

One thing is for sure, to win the boys 4x100 relay races at the state meet will take some big time efforts. With similar speeds from a variety of teams, which ever team that can execute in both the 5A and 6A races will have the best shots at winning.