SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS - NorthEast ISD
hosted their second meet of the season on Thursday night at Heroes Stadium and
it was the Judson boys and girls winning the varsity team titles.
The meet opened with a few big performances right off the bat. Judson's Alexis Jessie eclipsed 40-feet in the triple jump on two of her jumps and finished with a mark of 40-1.5 and she had two teammates also jump well, Alyssa Renney (36-4) and Ja'kyla Strogen (34-11.75). Jessie would later win the 200 meters in 25.10 and the long jump with a leap of 17-1.25.
On the track, the 3200 meters featured two good races. In the girls race, Brackenridge twins Melody and Marissa Espinoza ran away from the pack and clocked excellent times of 11:28.02 and 11:50.84, respectively. They would later finish 1-2 in the 1600 meters with times of 5:16.22 and 5:33.11. The boys 3200 meters was a little more tactical between Lee's Arlo Gonzales and New Braunfels' Ethan Stutts. Stutts led for most of the race, but Gonzales was just letting Stutts break through the strong wind before putting on a nice move over the final 800 meters to win in 9:53.37.
The boys 4x100-meter relay ended up being one of the most exciting races on the evening. Judson, New Braunfels and Roosevelt each entered the meet with similar times and it showed during the race as the it was the Unicorns edging out the other two schools in a time of 43.27 in a photo finish.
Veterans Memorial senior Brian Caloca surprised some people in the 800 and 1600 meters. First, he went out under control in the half mile and hit the 400 in sixth place but quickly starting passing runners and eventually he ran down Clark's Jaydan Douglas around the 200 mark and continued to accelerate to the finish line to win in 2:02.39. Caloca ran a similar race in the 1600 as he joined both Stutts and Gonzales in an exciting race that he won with a long push over the last 700 meters to win in 4:34.69. Douglas bounced back with a win in the 300-meter hurdles with a strong time of 40.18.
Judson's Darinasia Taylor rolled to a win in the girls 100 meters running a nice time of 12.27 to defeat Madison's Indirah Morrison who crossed the tape in 12.59. Taylor joined Jessie, Renney and Aaliyah Henderson on the winning 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams.
The Judson boys also dominated the sprints. Sophomore Cole Walker won the 100 meters in 10.93 while Armon Couch (21.95) and Myles Davis (22.33) took first and second in the 200 meters. All three were on the winning 4x200-meter relay team. At the end of the meet, the 4x400 team of Jaden Castillo, Josiah Harris, Couch and Jeremiah Jones cruised to a win in a time of 3:27.41.
New Braunfels boys picked up wins in the 400 meters (Vantz Mills), high jump (Joshua Minton) and long jump (Cole Tavarez). Johnson junior Lionel Scott swept the throwing events with tosses of 147-2 in the discus and 45-10.75 in the shot put. Jaguar sophomore Thomas Bucks continued to fly high in the pole vault as he set a new personal record of 15-0.
The rest of the girls meet was highlighted by Michaela Mitchell of Johnson who won the 100 hurdles in 15.86 and the 300 hurdles in 47.12 in a close race against Judson's Leah Snipes. Mitchell's teammate Daniell Cantu won the pole vault with a clearance of 11-6.
The Judson girls dominated the throwing events. Gia Booth won the shot put with a throw of 37-10.25 and Violetta Bilotto won the discus with a mark of 111-11 and they went 1-2 in both events.
Judson won the girls meet with 209 points while New Braunfels and Johnson tied for second with 108 points. The Judson boys won with 147 points as they edged New Braunfels who had 138.5 points. Johnson finished third with 104 points.