Friday Focus: Manvel Looks To Return To Greatness!

The Texas state meet is arguably the most challenging state meet to make in the country--let alone win a team or individual title. This year Manvel looks to take home their second ever state title after winning its first track and field title in 2015. There have only been a handful of teams to ever win back to back titles. On the boys side, Lancaster (4A) has won the team title the most consecutive times winning six years in a row. They also won back to back to back titles from 2002 to 2004. Three other teams in the last ten years have also won back to back state titles including, Mundy in (1A), Galena Park North Shore (5A), and West Orange-Stark. If any team has the manpower to do it this year it's Manvel.

The team returns all of its scorers from last years state meet. Coach Crumedy said last years win for the team was "unreal and exciting". "The kids worked hard all year and it paid off," Crumedy explained. "They've been told it's nearly impossible to repeat as state champions, so they have their hearts set on proving everybody wrong."

The Key Returners

Last year at state Manvel scored 55 points to earn the team win, but only won one event, the 200m. Deontay Anderson ran 20.99 to take the win. The only other person to score in an individual event for the Mavericks was Howard Fields, who placed 6th in the 400m. The team medaled in all three relays but was just edged out of victory in the 4x200m and 4x400m. The 4x400m relay was one of the most iconic monuments of the 2015 state meet. Kingwood's DeWitt Thomas dove for the line, when Fields was just about to catch him. The dive gave Kingwood its second consecutive 4x4 state championship.

Coach Crumedy says it was tough to not win any of the relays, but that wasn't the ultimate goal. "Winning the state championship as a team was our goal and we did that. If we would've won every relay but not the state championship, we wouldn't have been as happy.  We've watched the 4x400 relay over and over and still believe that our kid crossed the line 1st."  

Junior Howard Fields anchored the race and  says it's something he's watched over thirty times. Last year was Fields' first trip to state, and he said the experience was amazing. "It was a long journey getting to the state meet--hard practices and hard workouts helped us get there," Fields explained.  "Performing at the meet was very intense!  Competing against everyone at the meet was awesome."

Howard Fields 

As one of Manvel's top returners, he says that he has some big goals for the season and a lot of work to do to get to where he wants to be. "I definitely need to improve the first 200m of my open 400," Fields said. "I am also looking to go 46.5 and 21.0 or faster."

This would be big for the Manvel team--Fields is on the 4x4 and scored in the 400m last year. With so much of the team coming back, Coach Crumedy says that Fields isn't the only big contributor who will help out, the whole team that ran at state last year will have an impact on the success of this year's squad. "We've been lucky enough to have a team full of leaders," he explained. "Howard Fields, Jaren Colbert, Joshua Martin, Deontay Anderson, D'Eriq King, Reggie Hemphill-Mapps, D'Vaughn Pennamon, Daniel Ford and Christion Childs all ran at the state meet and their success there helps us tremendously." 

He says D'Eriq and Deontay not only lead the team on the track, but help "coach" some of the freshman team relays once they're done with practice. The older guys also help to make the younger guys stronger. Jaren Colbert knows about this first hand. "At the beginning of my sophomore year, I started on JV because of this loaded Manvel track team," said Colbert. " On JV I would leave the runners in the dust.  When I realized I needed to work for my varsity spot, I worked at practice to get better.  I finally got to run on varsity."

This drive helped earn him a spot on not only the varsity squad but also the state team. Colbert explain, "My coach asked, 'Can you run the finals on the 4x100 for me?' I said, 'Of course coach.'At regionals we placed third, but we got the wild card spot and got to go to state.  The hype of going to state is great, but when you get on the track to run it is pretty scary. But I just sucked it up and did what my mom told me--'run your race.'"

According to coach Crumedy, it's that kind of experience and depth that's going to help the team remain humble and hungry. "The bench is every coach's greatest ally," Coach Crumedy explained.  Last year, our top two 100m guys didn't run on the sprint relay at state that ran 40.61, which was the fastest in school history.  The two guys that replaced them worked harder in practice and it meant more to them.  With the depth that we have, we've had the ability to move guys into different spots when some of the guys go into their 'cocky' modes."   

He says for the most part, the guys are a pretty humble group who understand that track is a team sport and that they need to hold each other accountable. "When a kid isn't working hard, they will correct each other before us as the coaches have to," he said.  "Winning is very important to them as a team. Guys are willing to give up their individual events to run on relays where needed, and willing to run events in which they aren't comfortable in order to help us score points."

The road to State, what it will take to win

The team got off to a bit of a late start to its season, but after the first meet Coach Crumedy felt that they were off to a good start. "I feel that we competed well.  We aren't in as good of shape as most teams right [now] due to us starting practices a couple weeks behind everyone else.  Sprint events looked good. Our mid-distance looked great.  For the first time in four years, we made the medal stand in the 4x800 and distance medley," he explained."

Pearland Boys 4x800m Heat 1 Manvel 3rd 

Pearland Boys DMR Heat 1 Manvel 3rd  

On top of just general fitness, Crumedy says there's still some big places they're going to work on throughout the season.  "Our relay exchanges need to get smoother and we have to be able to steal points out of field events," he said.

Relay handoffs are a big part of daily practice, "We work some type of relay exchange every day in practice. We use them for speed work early in the year."

A typical Manvel training week might look something like this:

Monday: 400s, Ice Bath
Tuesday: 200s, overspeed training, Blocks
Wednesday: 250s/300s, Ice Bath
Thursday: 110s
Friday: Meet Day
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest

"Instead of running 200s, we turn them into continuous relays working some days on 4x200 style relay exchanges and some days on 4x400 relay exchanges," said Crumedy.  Handoff work is a constant at Manvel, and for good reason--over half their points at last year's state championship were scored in the relays.

The road back to state will be a tough one. The Mavericks have gotten better, but their competition have improved as well. Several relay teams in their region have already dropped some fast times this year. Strake Jesuit is U.S. #2 with a 3:16.52 4x400m, Dawson is U.S. #5 with a  3:18.40 4x400m, and Port Arthur Memorial, who is only a few places behind Manvel in the 4x100m national rankings. Langham Creek also has some strong runners in individual events--where Manvel isn't as strong. (See the Boys 6A Region 3 Virtual meet for more)

This year they look to score more points in areas other then sprints with some up and coming guys looking to make some waves this year. Crumedy says he's really looking at guys like Malik Rodgers (200/400), Michael Tolds (jumps), Lawrence and Larry Murray (Mid-Distance), Pedro Flores (Distance), Trent Gordon (Hurdles), and Caleb Jolivette (Jumps/Sprints) to step up and earn some points in new places for Manvel this year.