SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS - This past
weekend was the first one where nearly every local team was in action. Despite
the questionable weather conditions at most of the meets there were still many
outstanding results and it makes me excited for what is to come once the
weather begins to cooperate.
My goal for this weekly feature is to highlight some of the top things from every meet. I am sure that I will miss things throughout the year, but I am hoping to spotlight the local athletes who are excelling.
The Best Thing I Saw
This past weekend, I was able to cover the NorthEast 10 Track Meet at Heroes Stadium where there was a good mix of local public and private schools as well as out-of-town school Laredo Alexander who I am sure was using the meet as a chance for their athletes to get used to the surroundings of the stadium that will host the Regional meet.
The most outstanding performance of the meet belonged to Harlan's Iyanna Webb who won four individual events: long jump, triple jump, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. The junior showed that she is ready for a great season and her mindset is that she wants to get to the State meet in multiple individual events. Her best and favorite event is the triple jump where she jumped 38-1.25 in a strong crosswind.
Heading into the meet I was most interested in seeing Jefferson's Henok Hayele run. If you have not heard about him, he was a soccer player until this year and was 'discovered' in a fitness class back in the Spring. He ended up finishing fifth in the state in cross country and I was ready to watch him run for the first time. He dominated the 3200 meters. He immediately went to the front and stayed there well ahead of a pack that had some solid guys. He finished in 9:55 despite running into a 20 MPH headwind on every back stretch. Suffice it to say that I was impressed and believe he will post some fast times this year.
My final, "Best thing I saw" was the Churchill boys 100-meter runners. They had the heat winner in all three heats. It started with freshman Prestin Hawkins taking the first heat and he was followed by junior Miguel Romero in the second heat. That set the stage and put the pressure on teammate Ty Webb to win the third heat and he did in an overall winning time of 11.19.
School Records
This section is self-explanatory and I will be highlighting all the athletes and relays who set school records throughout the season. I think it is important to recognize these achievements and I hope that coaches and athletes will let me know when they happen. I am on Twitter @ShaneMeling.
Alyssa Jones, So., Smithson Valley Girls, 100 Meters, 11.80 at the Comal Relays
Smithson Valley Girls, 4x200 Relay, 1:43.02 at the Comal Relays (Jacquelyn Rolle, Favour Uduji, Jatorie Mobley, Alyssa Jones)
Samuel Abati, Jr., Reagan Boys, Pole Vault, 15-7.25, Dripping Springs Tiger Relays
Kira Dietrich Reagan, Sr., Reagan Girls, 3200 Meters, 11:19.90, Dripping Springs Tiger Relays
Isabella Dagrosa, Jr., Reagan Girls, 100 Hurdles, 14.40, Dripping Springs Tiger Relays
Around the City
In this section I will attempt to highlight two or three things from each meet that I gleaned from looking over the results.
The Southwest Joe Marsh Dragon Relays had some truly exceptional results. I want to start in the throws where East Central's Michael Pinones went over 61-feet in the shot put which was the best mark in the State. In the discus, Heath Vernor of Ennis (I know, not a San Antonio school but I had to mention him) threw it 178-7 which is also the best mark in the State. Another non-San Antonio thrower was Madeleine Fey out of Midlothian who posted a shot put of 41-11 and a discus mark of 150-7.5. One other note from that meet is that Southwest Legacy's Anthony Zapata seems ready to roll after running 1:57 and 4:34 in the 800 and 1600 meters.
South San hosted a meet where the Wagner boys and girls dominated the competition. The Wagner girls 4x100-meter relay and Sam Houston girls 4x200-meter relay squads each ran well and should be contenders at the Regional meet. Brackenridge's star distance girl Melody Espinoza was in mid-season form after running 5:21.65 and 11:33.85 in the mile and two-mile races even if the times were hand-held.
The second annual Comal ISD Relays had so many good things happening that I will be leaving out deserving performances. My top three for the meet were Smithson Valley sophomore Alyssa Jones who set the school record in the 100 meters (11.80), went 18-11 in the long jump and anchored the school record 4x200-meter relay team. In addition to Jones, there were three other girls who jumped at least 17-8; Grace Conley of Canyon, Emily Thames of Wimberley and Savanna Overholtzer of Canyon Lake. Wimberley's Gabriel Wray triple jumped 45-9 and New Braunfels sophomore Cole Tavarez long jumped 22-8. The girls pole vault was also flying high with Caressa Vajdos of New Braunfels, Alencia Lentz of Canyon Lake and Ella Pickron of Smithson Valley each clearing at least 11-feet.
The Steele Invitational had a number of top 5A and 6A teams, but the highlight of the meet was assuredly Armando Acevedo of Brennan who cleared 6-8 in the high jump despite the weather. Steele's Abdon Mata started the season right where he left it off throwing the discus 156-8 while the girls had five shot putters go over 34-feet. Judson's Alexis Jessie missed most of last year but showed that she is all the way back after starting her season with a long jump of 17-2 and a triple jump of 38-3.25.
Alamo Stadium hosted an SAISD meet where Aziza Ali Clark of Holmes showed out in the hurdles running 15.33 in the 100's and 46.78 in the 300's. The Taft boy had a couple of solid early season performances. Ethan Johnson was one of the few half-milers to break two minutes this weekend and Edward Cotter ran the best 100-meter dash time in the area at 10.72.
Holy Cross was host to a small season-opening meet on Wednesday. Brendan Smith, a sprinter from Great Hearts Northern Oaks, ran a couple of quality times in the 100 (11.2h) and 200 (22.3h). The Pleasanton boys 4x100-meter relay got out of the blocks quickly and ran a fast time of 44.0h. Host Holy Cross was led by Josue Lerma who threw the shot put 41-0 and the discus 137-11.
Reagan and San Marcos both traveled to the Dripping Springs Tiger Relays on Saturday. Reagan senior Kira Dietrich had a fabulous meet setting a school record in the 3200 meters (11:19.90) while also running a quality time of 5:22.30 in the 1600 meters. Samuel Abati cleared 15-7.25 in the pole vault giving the Reagan junior the top mark in the State right now. It is hard to narrow down the best performances at this meet because I could probably write every week about Reagan's Isabella Dagrosa who was awesome again, but it was teammate Kayla Beach who beat her in the long jump with a mark of 18-4.25. All three Reagan boys relay teams posted top marks while the Seguin boys posted the top 5A time in the 4x100 in the area.
The final meet I am going to mention is the Northside meet hosted at Gustafson Stadium. The Boerne Champion girls sprint relays are already rolling with the same four girls in both. O'Connor's Alma Lazo-Cazares ran an excellent double in the 400 meters (59.53) and 800 meters (2:19.30). Finally, Brandeis' Alyssa Rodriguez went 18-0 in the long jump and 36-7 in the triple jump for a great first meet. Brandeis field event stars Lokey Aguero (22-0.5 long jump, 44-1 triple jump) and Rafe Clendenin (164-9 discus) each excelled at the opener.
Previewing the Week
This week I will be traveling to a pair of meets. The first one will be at Heroes Stadium on Thursday where Madison, New Braunfels, Judson, Johnson, LEE, Roosevelt, Health Careers, Clark and Brackenridge are all scheduled to compete. Then, I will be headed to Boerne Champion on Saturday where Brandeis, Boerne, Center Point, Canyon, Ennis, Tivy, Alamo Heights, Sam Houston and Somerset are registered. Both meets feature some of the best teams in San Antonio and with temperatures supposed to reach the low-80s there should be some outstanding times and marks.
Clemens, Southside, Edgewood, St. Mary's Hall and Northside's Gustafson Stadium are all hosting local meets this week. Other schools in the area are slated to travel to meets hosted by Navarro, Lytle, Round Rock and Bastrop. Once again, I would ask that coaches can feel free to send me results and school records to shanemeling@gmail.com.