San Antonio News and Notes for Week #7

The Best Thing I Saw

I did not make it out to any meets this past week, but I did come across a couple of things online from local athletes. The first thing that caught my attention was Boerne Champion's Connor Warzecha competing unattached at the Texas State Charles Austin Classic in the javelin. He nabbed second place at the college meet with a huge throw of 211-6 is the current #2 throw in the nation. As a Pennsylvania native where the javelin is competed at every high school meet it is impressive to me that Warzecha has done this despite very limited competitions in Texas.

The other video I saw was a showdown between two of the top 4A boys 100m sprinters in the area, Davyeon Burch of La Vernia and Darion Brown of Davenport. Burch won the La Vernia Bear Relays over Brown thanks to a great start, but Brown was closing on him hard in the last few meters to make it a photo finish. The two are in different districts but are set to meet up at the District 27-28 4A Area meet.

School Records

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

Leo Bowen, Alamo Heights, Pole Vault, 16-6 at NISD Meet #4
Maddie Reagan, Davenport, 3200m, 11:24.78 at Texas Distance Festival
Kenneth Lott, Steele, High Jump, 6-6.75 at NISD Meet #4
Alyssa Goodman, Steele, Shot Put, 42-6 at NISD Meet #4
Josh Lopez, Sotomayor, 5K, 16:24.29 at Texas Distance Festival
Jaxon Smith, Gloria Deo Academy, 1600m, 4:45.00 at Alamo City Mile
Ryan Kovacs, Davenport, 300mH, 49.35 at La Vernia Bear Relays
James Voss, Brandeis, 110mH, 14.33 at Candy Tanner Relays
Jayden Bagley, Reagan, Long Jump, 23-6.75 at Alamo Heights Mule Relays
Audrey Asher, Round Rock Christian Academy, High Jump, 5-4 at Faith Academy Relays
Rachel Milikan, Round Rock Christian Academy, Discus, 110-7 at Faith Academy Relays
Garrett Jones, Round Rock Christian Academy, Discus, 119-8 at Faith Academy Relays
Fredericksburg Girls, Sprint Medley, 4:34.30 at AJ Loth Relays (Cameran Whiting, Elizabeth Erlandson, Rilyn Grona, Anna Munoz)
Fredericksburg Girls, 4x800 Relay, 10:01.90 at AJ Loth Relays (Anna Munoz, Rilyn Grona, Ann Claire Cop, Taylor Grona)
Fredericksburg Girls, Distance Medley Relay, 13:13.87 at AJ Loth Relays (Ann Claire Cop, Ava Stuewe, Rilyn Grona, Taylor Grona)

Around the City

The Alamo Heights Mule Relays was the best meet of the weekend with 39 elite performances. The long jumpers and pole vaulters were outstanding in both the boys and girls meets. Isabella Dagrosa (Reagan), Kayla Beach (Reagan) and Justice Boston (Steele) all jumped over 18-3 while Jayden Bagley (Reagan), Cole Tavarez (New Braunfels) and Kenneth Lott (Steele) all went at least 23-feet for the boys. Four girls cleared at least 10-6 with Caressa Vajdos of New Braunfels winning with a 12-6 vault while three boys were over 14-feet with Alamo Heights' Leo Bowen going 16-4 and Reagan's Samuel Abati clearing 15-6. The Reagan boys and Boerne Champion girls sprint relays squads continued to excel and Boerne Champion's Elizabeth Leachman ran an impressive double of 5:04.43 in the 1600m and 10:53.11 in the 3200m. I also cannot leave out Joshua Minton of New Braunfels who cleared 6-8 in the high jump.

The Wimberley Texan Relays were dominated by Fredericksburg due to their quality and depth, especially in the distance races, but the very best performances came from other schools. Pieper's Gentry Boykin won the 100m in 12.22 and was second in the 200m in 25.78. Reigning State champions Caroline Peterson (high jump) of Pieper and Alencia Lentz (pole vault) of Canyon Lake continued to show why they will be tough to beat. Wimberley had a trio of jumpers show well. Gabriel Wray won the boys long jump (23-1) and triple jump (46-11) while Juniper Daniel cleared 5-4 in the high jump and Emily Thames won the girls long jump (18-4).

The Ro-Hawk Relays featured the host Randolph girls teams, the reigning 3A State Champions. Sophomores Sophia Bendet and Taylor Nunez showed why they are likely favorites again this year. Bendet won the 800m in 2:17.78 and the 1600m in 5:14.85 while Nunez won the 100m in 11.56 and the 200m in 25.22. Cole's Maddison Kitson had a strong jumping performance going 17-10 in the long jump and 36-3.5 in the triple jump. Great Hearts Northern Oaks senior Brendan Smith put together an impressive individual performance getting third in the 100m (10.88) and winning the 200m (22.70) and 400m (49.76).

Cornerstone Christian School hosted their second meet of the season on Thursday. They had three of their own athletes put up outstanding performances. Emily Easton won the shot put (39-11) and discus (108-8) and is currently the #2 shot putter in TAPPS. Christopher Miller-Harris rolled through the 800m in 1:55.52 and Carter McCray dominated the long jump with a leap of 23-0. Shylah Abbott of DDS won the 100mH and 300mH while her brother, Darian Abbott, won the 100m and 300mH.

Judson hosted the Candy Tanner Relays and had many of the top 6A teams as well as Wagner from the 5A level. The girls 400m saw Ariana Sutton of Clemens (57.64) hold off Harmoniey Rector of Wagner (58.04). Harlan's Iyanna Webb had another strong meet running 15.54 in the 100mH, 45.97 in the 300mH and a huge triple jump of 41-3. Webb moved into the top spot in the triple jump in San Antonio by defeating the former #1, Alexis Jessie of Judson who also jumped 39-10.5.

On the boys side of the Candy Tanner Relays throwers Michael Pinones of East Central and Rafe Clendenin of Brandeis were in top form. Pinones won the shot put with a throw of 63-5 while Clendenin won the discus with a 178-10 mark and also went 52-4 in the shot put. Brandeis' James Voss cruised through the 110mH with a school record mark of 14.33 and he defeated one of his big rivals, TJ Butler of Harlan. Lokey Aguero-Munoz of Brandeis had another big day jumping 22-11.75 in the long jump and 44-8.25 in the triple jump.

Medina Valley hosted a meet last week that featured the Brennan boys sprint crew. Omar Finney-Harding won the 100m in 10.80h, Devin Gills won the 200m in 21.78h while Kyree Wilson took the gold in the 110mH and 300mH. On the girls side of the meet, Caila Lyons of Brennan went head-to-head with Marissa Espinoza and Melody Espinoza of Brackenridge and came out on top in both the 800m and 1600m. Lyons won by seven seconds in the 800m, but it was a closer race in the mile with all three running under 5:20.

The La Vernia Bear Relays featured many of the top 4A teams in the area. The Marion boys 4x400m relay has proven to be consistently good week after week and won the meet in 3:28.50. The Davenport boys 4x100m relay edged out La Vernia in a clash that figures to continue at the Area and Regional meets. I have already mentioned Davyeon Burch and Darion Brown earlier, but each won another individual event in addition to their 100m showdown. Maddie Rogers of Davenport swept the 1600m and 3200m and Marion's Maggie Rudisaile cleared 11-0 in the pole vault on the girls side of the meet.

Harlandale hosted a meet on Wednesday and it was Churchill winning all four team titles. Harold Releford led the Charger sprinters by winning the 100m and 200m. Maggie Mizell won the girls 800m for Churchill in a time of 2:22. Southwest Legacy's Anthony Zapata was the star of the meet running a 1:54 in the 800m and 4:27 in the 1600m. Skyla Lovett of Stevens ran a fast 200m in 24.92h.

Previewing the Week