SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS - It's official,
the 2023 outdoor track and field season is here. There were a couple of meets
in the Rio Grande Valley last week, but this week the first San Antonio area
schools start competing and by the following week nearly everyone will have
made it to a meet.
While there are no meets in San Antonio, we will get to see a few of the top area schools in action at the Lake Travis Relays on Saturday; Canyon, New Braunfels and Reagan. This meet is a little different than a normal invitational with seven different relays and the steeplechase. All of the field events will be competed as well as each of the hurdle events.
The Reagan girls team are the headliners at the meet with twins Isabella and Mackenzie Dagrosa signed up for their best events. Isabella is the top seed in the 100 hurdles but will be pushed by Sophia Farris of Drippings Springs and Brooklyn Gowdy-Williams of Austin Bowie. The 300 hurdles should be outstanding with Isabella and Farris going head-to-head as two of the top runners in the entire Region. Mackenzie is scheduled to compete in the high jump and she will be challenged by Ava Williamson of Dripping Springs who has a PR of 5-6.
I am also intrigued to see how the Reagan relay teams will run. I am sure they will be mixing and matching their relays with so many different options but I would still expect to see some quality times from the group.
The girls pole vault features a pair of big-time competitors in Caressa Vajdos of New Braunfels and Y'Lan Nguyen from Lake Travis. Obviously, cold and wind could affect all of the vaulters, but I like that two of the best in the Region will get to see each other this early in the season.
On the boys side of the Lake Travis relays, we will get to see Reagan's Derek Davisson and Canyon's Deuce Adams in the 110 hurdles. The both have PR's under 15.50, but neither is the favorite in the event. Davisson and his teammate, Liam Lecavalier, will also get a good look at two of the best 300 hurdlers in the Region, Caleb McQuinn of Round Rock and Gage Groce of Dripping Springs.
The Reagan boys had a great 4x100 relay team last year and this will be the first time we get to see who they have running this year. The 4x400 relay should also be a strong event at the meet and I would expect Canyon, New Braunfels and Reagan all to put forth strong squads.
New Braunfels has a pair of jumpers I will be keeping an eye on all year with Joshua Minton in the high jump and Cole Tavarez in the long jump. Tavarez jumped over 22-feet as a freshman.
Reagan's Samuel Abati in the pole vault and Canyon's Aidan Peddycoart in the discus and shot put are two field athletes who have a chance to post a top mark before anyone else has a chance.
The other meet I want to mention is the St. Dominic Savio Early Bird Relays in Marble Falls. It is a huge meet that has a number of San Antonio area private schools competing; Cornerstone Christian, Central Catholic, San Antonio Christian, Incarnate Word, Providence and St. John Paul II. Like the Lake Travis meet, it will feature a number of extra relays. This will be a good chance to see how the reigning State Champion Central Catholic team looks.
A glance at the entries shows that the Buttons have their top athletes scheduled to compete. Gerardo Mejia will be running the 110 and 300 hurdles and high jumping, Nathan Morales is the top seed in the 1600 meters and Cristian Villarreal is signed up for the 100 and 200 meters. Meanwhile, Cornerstone Christian has high hopes for 800-meter runner Christopher Miller-Harris.
On the girls side of the meet, I want to highlight Emily Easton of Cornerstone who is the top seed in the shot put and discus.