Outdoor track season has once again arrived to the state of
Texas. In the far west city of El Paso a few meets were held this past weekend.
One meet had some impressive performances, even setting a few meet records. Let's
look at some the action that went down at the Hanks Invitational.
The field events were the first events of the day. In the long jump Parkland's Donta Hayes put on an impressive performance. Donta jumped an outstanding 22-7 to set a meet record but the young man was not done quite yet as he still had one more jump. On Donta's final jump he would jump a 22-7.5 to establish the new meet record. Donta's incredible performance improved his personal record by three and half feet! His jump currently has him as Texas #1, it's clear to see with a performance like this past weekend, that he is someone to keep an eye on this season.
Next up on deck we had the 3200 meters which had outstanding performances on both the boys' and girls' side. The girls' race was dictated by two freshmen, Tornillo's Kylene Elias and Franklin's Alyssa Laspada. The two took the lead straight from the gun and never looked back, for most of the race the two ran with one another. Eventually Kylene would pull away to win the meet in a time of 11:55.93 and Alyssa would finish in second with a 12:21.20.
The boys' race didn't disappoint either with Hank's Roger Rivera setting
a new meet record in the event. As soon as the gun went off it was clear to
everyone watching that Roger had one thing in mind and that was the record. For
most of the race he would run alone but that had no affect on the young man as
he ran like clockwork. He would consistently run around seventy second laps and
would only stray off pace a few times. He would ultimately run a 9:26.54 beating
second place by thirty-two seconds!
Friday was the day of records it seems, as another was set during the 800-meter prelim. Hanks runner Michael Abeyta and Franklin runner Fernando Morales put on a show for the crowd. Straight from the gun Michael took off like a man on a mission but Morales was quick to give chase. Fernando tucked in behind Michael and let him do all the work but this did not phase Michael. At the start of the second lap Morales started to show signs of weakening but Michael continued to look strong. Michael would end up putting a two second gap on Fernando. After Michael just lost his 3200-meter meet record to Roger, he would gain a new one with a time of 1:53.02 and Fernando would run 1:55.78. Michael put on an impressive performance in both prelims and finals but for Fernando his final performance was the better one. Fernando would improve upon his 1:55.78 to run 1:55.17 for second place, he would lose to Michael's 1:54.09.
The 4x100 meter had a close race on both boys' and girls'
side. On the girls side the first three places were only separated by 2 second.
The Franklin girls would come out with the narrow win in a time of 50.57. They
would be followed by Americas in 51.82 and Montwood in third with 52.6.
The boys' race was even closer than the girls' race with first through third being separated by about one second! Looking at the prelim it looked to be a battle between Franklin and Montwood but in a turn of events Americas would come out to challenge the two teams. Americas would ultimately end up winning in a time of 43.04. They would be followed by Franklin with a 44.15 and Montwood in third with 44.16.
Those performances were just a few that went down this past Friday and Saturday. To see the rest, take a look at the video footage of the races. And be sure to keep an eye out for these athletes at later meets this season.