SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS - Saturday was a
day that track athletes and coaches dream about with clear skies, warm temperatures
and a light breeze at Ranger Stadium. The meet started with amazing
performances and ended the same way. In between there were a total of 51 elite
performances that is amazing considering there were only six schools at the
meet. Overall, it was the host Smithson Valley girls and the Reagan boys who
were the meet champions.
In the morning, the girls long jump got things going in a big way with a total of six athletes jumping over 18-feet: Isabella Dagrosa (19-2), Kayla Beach (18-10), Alyssa Jones (18-10), Ayleceia Pierson (18-5), Alyssa Rodriguez (18-3) and Grace Conley (18-1). The triple jump followed with Brandeis' Rodriguez (38-9) and Canyon's Conley (38-7) taking the top two spots. The high jump saw Mackenzie Dagrosa of Reagan take the win with a clearance of 5-6 while Canyon's Mia Dunaway went 5-4.
In the pole vault, Caressa Vajdos of New Braunfels and Ella Pickron of Smithson Valley showed why they are two of the best around. Vajdos cleared 12-8 and had a great attempt at 13-2 while Pickron went 11-8.
The throwing events, it was Canyon dominating the discus taking three out of the top five spots, including a first-place finish by Petyon Wilson who posted a mark of 114-11. The shot put was a bit of a surprise with Chyann Betts of San Marcos edging out Mariana Salazar of Reagan, 36-9 to 36-2.
The 3200 meters was the only other event held in the morning and it proved to be a highly competitive race with the top four girls all with 7.5 seconds of each other. Mikaela Garza of Brandeis took the victory in 11:23.78 and the top six finishers were all seniors.
As the afternoon opened, the track events began with Reagan taking the 4x100 relay in a quality time of 48.02. Isabella Dagrosa followed by showing why she is the best hurdler in the State right now. First, she won the 100 hurdles in 14.50 and then she blazed a trail in the 300 hurdles with a time of 42.57 giving her three individual victories on the day. The Rattler relay teams performed very well running times of 1:40.94 in the 4x200 and 3:53.11 in the 4x400, but in each case they ended up as runner-ups.
The Rangers ended up having an amazing day on the track. Alyssa Jones led the sprinting contingent with a victory in the 100 meters with a time of 12.07. Teammates Jacquelyn Rolle was second and Jatorie Mobley was fourth. The trio added Favour Uduji to the group, and they proceeded to clock a time of 1:38.11 in the 4x200 relay, the top mark in the State.
Smithson Valley junior Jazmyn Singh posted a nice double by winning the 400 meters in 55.95 and they she came back and won the 200 meters in 24.83 ahead of teammate Jacquelyn Rolle. Mia Perez matched Singh by winning the 800 in 2:15.04 and the 1600 in 5:14.43. In each case, she was able to out-sprint Brandeis' Jadelyn Malesich for the win.
The final event for the girls turned out to be a thriller with the Rangers and Rattlers locking up in the 4x400-meter relay. Jones and Isabella Dagrosa were matched up in the first leg with Jones making up the stagger but disaster nearly struck when the baton dropped out of her hand about 10 meters from the first exchange zone. Despite having to completely stop, pick up the baton and then get it to the first exchange, Jones was still clocked in 58.7. SV showed their mettle by battling back with Uduji running the second leg and Perez coming straight off the mile to split a 58.4 in the third leg. Singh ran an amazing anchor leg and pulled the Rangers into first after breaking 55 seconds and crossing the tape in 3:52.59.
Smithson Valley ended up winning the girls meet with 187 points and were followed by Reagan (154.5) and Brandeis (111).
The boys field events began with Joshua Minton of New Braunfels winning the high jump with a clearance of 6-4. Lokey Aguero-Munoz of Brandeis was second with a height of 6-2 and moved immediately over to the triple jump where he edged out Exavion Harris of San Marcos by a half inch, 43-6 to 43-5.5.
Aguero-Munoz also jumped 21-11 in the long jump to give him the bronze medal. New Braunfels sophomore Cole Tavarez and Reagan senior Jayden Bagley each leaped 23-0 with Tavarez winning thanks to a better second jump.
Reagan notched their first win of the day in the pole vault when Samuel Abati cleared 15-4, his third straight meet of the season jumping over 15-feet.
The throwing events were also strong. Three boys eclipsed 50-feet in the shot put led by Canyon's Aidan Peddycoart who hit 52-0. Rafe Clendenin of Brandeis was second at 50-10.5 and Smithson Valley's Gavin Garcia threw it 50-4. Clendenin came back to win the discus with a mark of 172-4 while SV's Jaxson Maynard took second with a toss of 166-8. Peddycoart posted his best discus mark of the season with a throw of 153-5.
On the track, the best of the sprint events took place in the relays. Reagan won the 4x100 in a time of 41.42 over Smithson Valley's 41.85. The Rattlers also won the 4x200 relay in 1:27.86 while it was New Braunfels coming through with an excellent time of 1:29.38. The 100 meters came down to a photo finish between Smithson Valley's Elijah Hudson and Reagan's Shaun Evans. Hudson won by 3-thousandths of a seconds. Reagan swept the top three spots in the 200 meters with Cole Pryor, Bagley and Grant Williams taking the points.
Reagan's Kanalu Wong, Gavin Chapa and Ethan Rodriguez took went 1-2-3 in the 800 meters. Wong won in a time of 1:55.73, Chapa finished in 1:56.41 and Rodriguez also broke two minutes with a time of 1:59.12.
Smithson Valley's AJ Breault won the 400 meters in a time of 49.03 while teammates Kevin Uduji and Jalen Davis each crossed the line in 50.75 for third and fourth place, respectively. Logan Rosas of New Braunfels was second with a time of 50.56 despite not running in the fast heat.
The 1600 meters was a fantastic race with Hayden Scott of Brandeis, Canyon's Nathan Aguilar Canyon and Chapa dueled throughout the race. Scott was in third after 800 meters, but he ran negative splits to win in a time of 4:16.19. Chapa grabbed second in a time of 4:20.09 and Aguilar was third in 4:21.54. It was Aguilar's second third place finish of the day after he took third in the 3200. His teammate John Kelemen won the two miles in a time of 9:47.32.
The 110-meter hurdles saw James Voss of Brandeis win with a time of 14.61 for his second straight week under 15 seconds. The 300 hurdles was a thrilling race that came down to the wire. Canyon's Deuce Adams broke the tape in 40.36, 1-hundredth of a second in front of Reagan's Derek Davisson.
While it was Reagan winning the meet with 190 points, it was the Rangers who ran away with the final event of the meet winning the 4x400 relay. They ran a school-record time of 3:15.51 behind Breault (48.96), Davis (50.36), Frederick Dubose (47.77, six months after ACL surgery) and Hudson (48.30). SV finished second as a team with 119 points, Brandeis (110) was third and New Braunfels (104) was fourth.