HIGH-SCHOOL

Canyon's Rice wins 1600 meters

LANCE LAHNERT
Canyon's Arin Rice, left, passes Lewisville Hebron's Rachel Jones enroute to winning the girls 1600 meter run Friday in Austin.

Amarillo-area athletes made an impact at the four-day 86th Annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin by winning four individual titles.

In the high school division, Canyon High senior Arin Rice won the 1600-meter run on Friday in 4.57.12. Rice, a Texas Christian signee, ran the fourth fastest 1,600 in Texas Panhandle history and is closing in on the all-time area best record of 4.52.6 set by Brenda Moore of Amarillo High.

At the college level, three former Amarillo-area athletes won events, led by Canyon High and Kansas University's Michael Stigler's win in the 400 hurdles with a 50.00 on Friday. Stigler was an Olympic Trials finalist last year in the 400 hurdles and his effort is currently the best college time in the nation this year, according to Texas Relays officials.

The other two college winners were: Chase Wolfle of Amarillo High and Texas A&M in the College Division B pole vault at 17-9 on Thursday; and former Hereford High and Texas University long distance star Betzy Jimenez won the top division in the 1,500 at 4:17.80 on Saturday.

Also placing in high school events at the relays: Tascosa High senior Noah Zorsky set his school record in the pole vault and finished third in the top high school division at 16-6 3/4.

Also placing in college events at the relays: Hereford High and University of Texas-San Antonio long distance runner Alyssa Diaz second in the 10,000 meters (35.24.07); Canyon High and Texas Tech hurdler Katie Grimes seventh in the 100 hurdles (13.25).

West Texas A&M had several competitors in the meet. The WT highlights were Tanesha Blair winning the college division women's javelin with a throw of 151.02; Cameron Lecour third in the college division men's 110 meter hurdles in 14.07; Courtney Macon sixth in the college division men's 110 meter hurdles in 14.43; and Kenny Jackson ran a 10.45 finishing seventh in the men's 100-meter dash in the college division.