Amarillo Relays girls notes: Randall's DeWitt establishes 3200 record

Randall junior runner Erika DeWitt turned the final corner in her eight-lap 3200-meter race Saturday in the Amarillo Relays Meet of Champions at Dick Bivins Stadium and the clock on the scoreboard at the other end of the track told her she had a chance to break a record.

DeWitt said she continuously looked at the clock to track her progress and knew she had a chance.

She finished the race in a meet-record time of 11 minutes, 9.83 seconds to surpass the mark of 11:12.26 set by Canyon's Arin Rice in 2012s, and emotions almost overtook her after she crossed the line, DeWitt said.

"I almost started crying because I was so happy, but then I was just too tired to cry so I just kept smiling," DeWitt said. "It just feels really, really good."

DeWitt also finished second in the 1600 with a time of 5:22.19 behind Canyon's Karah Diaz, but all of her success has come after she suffered a hip flexor injury during the cross country season in the fall, Randall distance running coach Rebekah James said.

"It's good that she's doing that now because it was kind of iffy during the first part of track season," James said. "It's good that she's finally getting confidence back in herself."

Canyon sprinter sets mark

Canyon senior sprinter Sommer Wilder jumped the start of the 100 dash to get disqualified, but she responded with a record-setting run in the 400.

Wilder ran the 400 in 56.19 seconds to beat the mark of 56.61 by Amarillo High's Kelsey Lloyd set in 2004.

"After jumping the 100, I was determined to do something good today," Wilder said.

She said emotions started to well up inside her with about 150 meters left in the race to help give her the determination to maintain her record-setting pace down the homestretch.

Feelings of accomplishment started to wash over her after the 400, but she felt even more after she anchored Canyon's 1600 relay team to a victory with a time of 3:56.53.

But disappointment from her first event of the day also helped fuel her success later in the meet, Wilder said.

"I feel like I accomplished a lot more today than if I would've won the 100," Wilder said. "It made me a lot more focused."

Canyon schools excel

in JV, 8th-grade divisions

Although Tascosa won the girls varsity meet, Canyon Independent School District schools dominated the lower divisions of the meet.

Randall and Canyon finished first and second, respectively, in the junior varsity girls division ahead of the third-place Tascosa Lady Rebels JV team.

Westover Park won the eighth-grade division by nearly 100 points.

Westover Park finished with 179 points.

Amarillo ISD's de Zavala finished second in the eighth-grade meet with 85 points, and Borger finished third with 60.