San Antonio News and Notes for Week #5

The Best Thing I Saw

I attended a pair of meets this week, the Davenport Wolves Relays on Thursday and then the Alamo City Mile and Steeplechase on Saturday. I have to start with the best thing that I did not actually see, the girls high jump at Davenport. Hopefully, you will forgive me for not being able to follow the event since I was busy recording the races on the track. However, the showdown between Pieper's Caroline Peterson and Boerne's Kendall Lemm was fantastic. Heading into the meet it was Lemm who had the best mark coming into the meet, but Peterson, the reigning UIL 4A Champion, took it up a level and cleared 5-8. Lemm maintained her level of excellence by once again clearing 5-6. Each should be on the short list of favorites at the State meet in two months.

Harlan's Iyanna Webb's performances appear to be trending in the right direction. She posted her best career regular-season long jump with a leap of 18-5.75 and then bettered her 300-meter hurdle time from the Regional meet last year with a winning time of 45.08. She continued to triple jump well and she ran the anchor leg on the winning 4x400-meter relay team that posted a time of 4:00.12.

It was the first time I had been to the Alamo City Mile and it did not disappoint. I saw so many personal records that it would seem to be the meet to attend for any aspiring milers. There were over 400 athletes who ran the mile plus another two heats of the 2000-meter steeplechase.

The two athletes who really stood out to me were junior Hayden Scott of Brandeis and sophomore Caila Lyons of Brennan. Scott was the top male competitor and ran an impressive 4:13.40. Lyons was the top female competitor and ran a 4:54.90 which would be the #3 time in the State. Please click on the video for more on their races.

School Records

I am on Twitter @ShaneMeling or you can email me at shanemeling@gmail.com with any new school records.

Caila Lyons, Brennan, 400 Meters, 56.82 at Ron Faught Relays

Caila Lyons, Brennan, 800 Meters, 2:11.30 at Ron Faught Relays

Danel Hernandez, Brennan, 3200 Meters, 11:39.28 at Ron Faught Relays

Hipolito Salazar, Southwest, Discus, 167-5 at Southwest Legacy Relays

Darion Brown, Davenport, Long Jump, 22-10 at Davenport Wolves Relays

Joe White, Alamo Heights, 1600 meters, 4:19.70 at Alamo City Mile (broke a 1975 record)

Around the City

There were so many good meets this week to write about. I am going to start with the Navarro Panther Relays where Canyon Lake's Alencia Lentz became just the second girl to clear 14-0 in the pole vault in the entire State this year. The Fredericksburg girls showed they have some quality athletes led by the Grona sisters, Taylor and Rilyn and Cameran Whiting. Taylor Grona won the 800 (2:18.95) and 1600 (5:27.02) while her sister was the runner-up in both events. Whiting swept the hurdle events and ran an impressive 15.01 in the 100 hurdles. Finally, Wimberley's Emily Thames went 19-0.5 in the long jump which is easily the best in 4A this year.

East Central hosted another meet and it was no surprise that the marquee event was the boys shot put. Michael Pinones of East Central continued his mastery and consistency in the event throwing 63-2, but he was not the only one who threw well. Brandeis' Rafe Clendenin, Travion Smith of Clemens and Ray Espinoza of East Central all threw the shot at least 51-3. Pinones also added a winning throw of 170-6.5 in the discus. The 110-meter hurdles saw one of the best matchups of the season with Taft's Malik White knocking off James Voss of Brandeis with a hand-held time of 14.29. That puts White in the #1 spot in the Region IV. The final event to look at was the girls 3200 meters where Brackenridge's Espinoza twins and Brooklyn Crow of Taft ran really well. Marissa Espinoza was the winner in a time of 11:18.80 while Melody Espinoza was second (11:27.50) and Crow was third (11:31.50).

Gustafson Stadium hosted NISD Meet #4 on Thursday and they finally avoided inclement weather. Steele's dynamic duo of William Davis and Kenneth Lott put on a show. Davis won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.40 while Lott was the runner-up in 14.80. Both are season-best times and puts them in a head-on collision with White and Voss in the post-season. Lott was not a one-trick pony as he also went 22-8.75 in the long jump and cleared 6-6 in the high jump, the second-best mark in San Antonio this year. Leo Bowen of Alamo Heights continues to soar to high heights in the pole vault. Two weeks after going 16-0 in Boerne, he cleared 16-6 and is #2 in the entire State. On the girls side, it was Johnson's Daniell Cantu clearing a personal record of 12-3 in the pole vault.

South San hosted another meet this week and it was Medina Valley who had the best performances. Carter Hewitt won the 100 and 200 meters in hand-held times of 10.97 and 21.99, respectively. In the girls 300-meter hurdles, 2022 Regional finalist Tristan Moreno ran a big personal record of 47.22. The boys 300-meter hurdles saw Clark's Jaydan Douglas continue to excel with a time of 38.81.

Southwest Legacy's prized junior Anthony Zapata starred in his home meet. He won the difficult double of 400 and 800 meters. He ran a hand-held time of 50.11 in the 400 meters after rolling to a win in the 800 meters with a great time of 1:54.90. Churchill's Ty Webb continues to put together a strong senior campaign winning the 100 meters (10.94) and long jump (21-11.5). Southwest's Hipolito Salazar highlighted the field events by setting a new school record in the discus with a toss of 167-5.

The Harlandale meet opened with a duel in the 2-mile and had a number of strong sprint results. Jefferson's Henok Hagos and LEE's Arlo Gonzales pushed each other through 3200 meters and it was not decided until the final few meters. Hagos won with a time of 9:41.19 while Gonzales was right behind at 9:42.02. The Roosevelt boys ran a solid 4x100-meter relay winning in a time of 42.26 led by Brennan Carroll who ran a hand-held time of 10.44 to win the open 100 meters. The Wagner girls showed off a pair of top sprinters in Keviyana Lee and Harmoniey Rector. Lee won the 100 meters in 11.96 while Rector easily won the 400 mters in 57.81.

The Cornerstone Christian meet featured several of the best non-public school athletes. Bracken Christian's Sophia Grinstead had an awesome day in the throws. She won the shot put with a toss of 42-8 and took the double with a win in the discus with a mark of 122-2. Isabella Godoy of the Geneva School of Boerne was the TAPPS State Champion in the 800- and 1600-meters last year. She won both in the meet with a time of 2:23.31 in the half-mile and 5:27.82 in the mile. The boys 2-mile race saw a duel between former Johnson High School and currently unattached runner Tate Underwood and Farrin Mangelson of FEAST. Underwood won in a time of 9:31.27 just ahead of Mangelson (9:31.62). The final athlete to mention is Darian Abbott of DDS who won the 100, 200 and 400 meters.

The Canyon Cougars Relays featured elite performances all throughout the meet despite missing Reagan's Dagrosa sisters and Smithson Valley's Alyssa Jones. The Reagan boys won the meet and continued their exceptional season. All three of their relay teams were outstanding while distance runners Gavin Chapa and Rafa Hakim Montemayor showed that the Rattlers have no weak spots on the track. Long Jumper Jayden Bagley and pole vaulter Samuel Abati give them strong field event performers as well. The meet was so loaded that it is hard to limit who I write about. Seguin's Daisha Shular is starting to stand out as she continues to put together great meets. She won the 100 meters with a time of 12.16 and the long jump with a leap of 18-6. I also want to mention the Smithson Valley 4x400 boys and girls relay teams. They are both the top team in Region IV. The boys ran a 3:16.93 despite their anchor leg, Elijah Hudson, out with an illness. Despite that, they still had all four runners break 50 seconds. The SV girls were missing Jones who is a potential 55-second lead leg, but they were able to sub in hurdler Zada Zimmerman who broke 60 seconds, and the team ran their fastest time of the season, 3:51.78.

Somerset's 12^th Annual Sonny Detmer Relays were dominated by the Boerne Champion boys and girls who were missing a few of their top athletes at the Nike Indoor National meet. The Champion girls were particularly dominant winning all but two events. Their 4x100 and 4x200-meter relay teams were excellent running 47.83 and 1:41.65. Champion boys swept the shot put and discus with Connor Warzecha taking the discus and Riley Wampler winning the shot put. Pleasanton's Sean Ramos won the 400 meters with a time of 50.26 and Central Catholic's Gerardo Mejia smoked the field with a time of 14.14 in the 110-meter hurdles.

Previewing the Week

I won't be making it to any meets this week since I am traveling for Spring Break. The track season is quickly closing in on District meet season with just about a month to go before they all start. Once again, I would ask that coaches can feel free to send me results and school records to shanemeling@gmail.com.