What Happened
Distances
The two mile races kicked off day two on the track and it clearly showed that the day would be an exciting and eventful day.
With tons of state level distance girls and boys from each division and conference of Home School, SPC, TAPPS, and UIL, the cream of the crop distance runners were in action.
The UIL 6A boys cross country state champ and NXN 7th place finisher Alex Maier of Flower Mound ran a 9:14.45, which was good enough for both a meet record and a US #1 ranking in the indoor 2 mile race. Maier was followed up by Katy Tompkins junior Cole Lindhorst who finished second in 9:24.25. Lindhorst's race was 24 second faster and one place better than his performance from last year, in this same meet.
After Maier and Lindhorst, there were 13 other boys who ran sub 10:00 in the 2 mile. Again, these runners were made up of every conference in the state.
Many of the runners who ran sub 10:00 all ran PRs in the indoor 2 mile distance.
The girls 2 mile was also dominated by a Flower Mound runner. All-State cross country freshman Natalie Cook who ran an impressive 10:51.59, which was over 20 seconds faster than second place.
Behind Cook were 11 other girls who ran sub 12:00 and there were also several indoor 2 mile PRs.
Of the girls who ran under 12:00, six of them were freshmen and two were sophomores
Sprints
There were eight boys who ran 7.00 and under in the prelims and two separate others who joined the group in the finals. Texas athletes were led by Ashton O'Conner, Collin Fullen, and Ryan Martin who all dipped under 6.90.
In the 200m, we saw a ton of 21s over the two days. Texas athletes were led by DeSoto senior Jalen Drayden who busted a 21.31 in the finals.
The boys 400m was amped up with a fire couple of finals heats. In the end, it was Conroe Oak Ridge senior Nathaniel McRae who blasted two laps in 48.27 as he led four other Texas quarter milers under 49 seconds.
The girls sprints perhaps stole the show this weekend. The 60m saw several girls under 7.70 as they were led in both the prelims and finals by Alexis Brown and JaEra Griffin.
The 200m girls exhibited even more speed as several girls dipped under 24.50 led by Jayla Hollis. Hollis ripped up the A&M track on Friday with her 23.96 preliminary run. She topped that with at 23.91 finals race for the win, which is the #2 time in the country, so far.
As Hollis did in the 200m, Laila Owens did in the 400m distance. Owens stole the show in the prelims as she dropped a US #1 and meet record going 54.76.
The NTC Elite girls won the 4x400 relay in 3:47.67. That's mild when compared to their performances in the last several years. The big point to this is that all four members of that relay are members of the DeSoto high school track team. Rosaline Effiong, JaEra Griffin, Mya Womack, and Jayla Hollis were the four legs on the relay.
Field Events
The boys shot put at A&M always brings the studs. This year was no different as three boys chunked the shot over 57 feet. Patrick Piperi won the event over Kyle Stulce and Bryce Foster. Piperi won with a 60-3 toss with Stuce going 57- 9.75and Foster going 57-2.75.
Aside from the top three award winners, there were six other throwers who tossed the shot over 50 feet.
The girls shot put saw five girls toss over 40 feet. Club teammates Amelia Flynt (41-10.5) and Keayla Dove (41-7.75 )went 1-2 with Nya Harmon (41-5.25) going thi