SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS - This weekend
was the first great weather weekend of the year, and it showed up with some amazing
performances including a pair of #1 times in the USA. The season has rolled into
March and most teams are now just five weeks away from their district meets.
The Best Thing I Saw
On Thursday, I attended the San Antonio Christian meet that had over 1100 athletes from at least 19 schools. The two best athletes there happened to compete against each other in three different events. Aiden Martinez of Great Hearts Monte Vista and Xavier Garza of Holy Cross went head-to-head in the triple jump, 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles. Martinez won the first two events and was second in the 300 hurdles. Garza was third in the triple jump, second in the 110 hurdles and he won the 300 hurdles. He also won the long jump and was part of the winning 4x400 relay team.
San Antonio Christian has a great setup at their track where the elementary school's playground backs up to the stadium. Since the meet started while school was still in, there was a stream of 20-30 elementary students standing against the fence cheering for their heroes. It was a nice reminder of why sports are great.
Saturday turned out to be one of the best regular season track meets I have ever been too. The Smithson Valley Ranger Relays had a total of 51 Elite Performances according to the MileSplit website so it is difficult to come up what was actually the best things I saw, but I have narrowed it down to Reagan's Isabella Dagrosa, the Smithson Valley relay teams and the annual Thrower's Relay.
Dagrosa has been having a great season and this was my first time to see her in person this year and she did not disappoint. She opened the meet by winning a stacked long jump competition that had six girls jump over 18-feet. She eclipsed 19-feet twice and had a best of 19-2. On the track, she blazed through the 100 hurdles winning in a time of 14.50 and then she topped it all off by running the top time in the USA in the 300 hurdles with a phenomenal 42.57 without breaking a sweat.
The Smithson Valley boys and girls relay teams put on a show as well. The girls 4x200-meter relay squad of Jacquelyn Rolle, Favour Uduji, Jatorie Mobley and Alyssa Jones posted the #1 time in the USA, 1:38.11. The girls 4x400 relay team of Jones, Uduji, Mia Perez and Jazmyn Singh persevered through a dropped baton and still ran a time of 3:52.59 to win the meet. The SV boys went nuclear in the 4x400 relay to close out the meet. The squad of AJ Breault, Jalen Davis, Freddie Dubose and Elijah Hudson broke a 15-year old school record with a time of 3:15.51. The most amazing part was Dubose running a split of 47.7 just seven months removed from ACL surgery.
My final note comes from the Thrower's Relay which is always my favorite part of the Ranger Relays. It is always fun to see how excited the throwers get when running the race and pumped the crowd is in cheering for the different relay teams. For those that have not witnessed the relay, the teams pass and carry a tire rather than a baton.
Read more about the Smithson Valley Ranger Relays
Read more about the San Antonio Christian Invitational
School Records
I am on Twitter @ShaneMeling or you can email me at shanemeling@gmail.com with any new school records.
Maddie Reagan, Davenport, 1600 Meters, 5:26.93 at Round Rock Quad
Maddie Reagan, Davenport, 3200 Meters, 11:42.79 at Round Rock Quad
Christian Pena, Davenport, 1600 Meters, 4:27.96 at Round Rock Quad
Logan Strong, Davenport, High Jump, 5-0 at Round Rock Quad
Zae Limmer, Davenport, Discus, 104-6.5 at Canyon Lake Hawk Relays
Jack Saberon, Davenport, Shot Put, 41-0.75 at Canyon Lake Hawk Relays
AJ Graham, Davenport, Discus, 145-1.5 at Canyon Lake Hawk Relays
Kyler Payne, Davenport, High Jump, 6-2 at Canyon Lake Hawk Relays
Darion Brown, Davenport, Long Jump, 22-6.5 at Canyon Lake Hawk Relays
Clayton Williams, Davenport, 300 Hurdles, 44.52 at Canyon Lake Hawk Relays
Tori Adams, Boerne, Shot Put, 44-9, Boerne Greyhound Relays
Tori Adams, Boerne, Discus, 141-2, Boerne Greyhound Relays
Connor Warzecha, Champion, Discus, 179-8 at Boerne Greyhound Relays
Smithson Valley Girls, 4x200 Relay, 1:38.11 at Ranger Relays (Rolle, Uduji, Mobley, Jones)
Smithson Valley Boys, 4x100 Relay, 41.85 at Ranger Relays (Hudson, Dubose, Milam, Breault)
Smithson Valley Boys, 4x400 Relay, 3:15.51 at Ranger Relays (Breault, Davis, Dubose, Hudson)
Jayden Bagley, Reagan, Long Jump, 23-0 at Ranger Relays
Marion Boys, 4x400 Relay, 3:28.40 at Ron Faught Relays (Castellanos, Hallmark, Rios, Stahl)
Elijah Hernandez, Sotomayor, 200 Meters, 23.21 at Border Olympics
Elijah Hernandez, Sotomayor, 400 Meters, 50.71 at Border Olympics
Elijah Hernandez, Sotomayor, 800 Meters, 1:56.24 at Border Olympics
Iyanna Dixon, Sotomayor, 200 Meters, 25.56 at Border Olympics
Iyanna Dixon, Sotomayor, 400 Meters, 58.43 at Border Olympics
Sotomayor Girls, 4x100 Relay, 50.09 at Border Olympics (Perez, Regalado, Jarett, Dixon)
Around the City
The week started with East Central hosted a meet on Wednesday. EC's Michael Pinones continued to shine winning the shot put and discus. He threw the shot 63-1 and still has the #1 mark in the country. In the discus, he posted his best mark of the season, 166-8. In the jumps, it was East Central's Austin Vivier jumping 22-1 in the long jump and 44-6 in the triple jump putting him near the top of the rankings in Region IV-6A. Finally, it was Sophia Zadel of Alamo Heights throwing her hat into the ring as a contender in the Region IV-5A high jump after clearing 5-4.
Northside's Gustafson Stadium hosted its third meet of the year on Thursday and the meet ended early due to inclement weather. Despite the weather, Harlan's Iyanna Webb had her best jumping day of the season going 18-10 in the long jump and 39-11.5 in the triple jump putting her #2 in the Region in both events. Webb's teammate, Alexis Owens, had a strong performance in the throws going 37-8.5 in the shot put and 123-3 in the discus. Finally, LEE's Arlo Gonzales and Taft's Tony Favella dueled to a fantastic finish in the 3200 meters with Gonzales edging Favella 9:59.13 to 9:59.15.
Steele hosted a meet that was also cut short due to the weather. The Steele boys showed they are strong in the 110 hurdles with William Davis and Kenneth Lott each running 14.9. Lott also cleared 6-5 in the high jump, a personal record. Steele's Justice Boston won the long jump (17-2.5) and triple jump (38-7.75). Alyssa Goodman of Steele posted the second-best shot put in Region IV-6A with a toss of 42-6.
At the Boerne Greyhound Relays, there were many strong track performances, but it was in the field events where things went wild. Champion's Connor Warzecha threw the discus 179-8 and the shot 49-2.5 while his teammate Riley Wampler went 167-8 and 49-10.5. Boerne's Tori Adams is ranked #1 in the Region in the discus (141-2) and shot put (44-9) after her performance. Boerne's Kendall Lemm cleared 5-6 in the high jump and moved into the top spot in the State in 4A.
The Canyon Lake Hawks Relays saw some of the best 4A marks in the State this year. The headliner was Gabriel Wray of Wimberley who leaped 22-8 in the long jump and 46-3 in the triple jump. Fredericksburg's Taylor Grona busted out the top 4A time of the year in the 800 running 2:19.02 after she won the 3200 meters in a time of 11:39.72. Canyon Lake's Alencia Lentz appears ready to repeat as State champion in the pole vault after clearing 13-0.
The Ron Faught Relays hosted by Judson is always a meet that has top performances, and it was true again this year. The Judson girls posted the top 4x100 and 4x200-meter relay times in Region IV-6A this year while their boys had run the best 4x200 relay time. Randolph's Taylor Nunez showed the rest of the State why she can lead the Ro-Hawks to another State title after running 11.94 in the 100 meters, long jumping 20-3 and she ran an amazing anchor leg on the top 4x100 team in the State for 3A. The final highlight comes from an athlete not from the San Antonio area, but she still needs to be mentioned. Harlingen's Faith Franklin was amazing in the 100 (12.07), 200 (24.23) and 400 (53.65).
The Border Olympics had a few local teams competing. NISD's newest high school, Sotomayor, had a great meet led by Elijah Hernandez on the boys side and Iyanna Dixon on the girls side. Seguin's Daisha Shular ran an outstanding time of 11.98 in the 100 meters.
Bandera hosted a meet that was headlined by Darian Abbott of DDS. Abbott was strong in the 100 and 200 meters but was amazing in the 300 hurdles running a time of 38.92. The Bandera girls 4x200 and 4x400-meter relay teams showed they will be a tough out this year. Finally, Devine's Aaron Saenz posted the #3 boys Region IV-4A time in the 110 hurdles, 15.61.
Floresville, Somerset and SAISD all hosted meets. Medina Valley's Carter Hewitt ran a hand-held time of 10.61 in the 100 meters and Floresville's Jace Williams cleared 14-0 in the pole vault in Floresville. Southwest Legacy's Anthony Zapata cruised to a time of 1:56.61 in the 800 meters at Somerset running all by himself. Central Catholic's Nathan Morales won the 3200 meters at the Tapia Relays in 9:37.35 while Treasure Vallerie of Kennedy ran strong times in the 200 and 400 earning wins in each event.
Previewing the Week
This week I will be traveling to a pair of meets. On Thursday, I will be at the Davenport Wolves Relays where Boerne, Harlan, Kerrville Tivy, La Vernia, Luling, Pieper and TMI Episcopal are all registered to compete. On Saturday, Antonian is hosting the Alamo City Mile and Steeple at Ferrara Stadium that starts at 4 p.m. Last year, there were over 250 athletes at the meet. Once again, I would ask that coaches can feel free to send me results and school records to shanemeling@gmail.com.