1-5A
Girls
Although there were no wind indicators at the meets, but the sprints will be heavily competitive. There are five girls who ran sub 12.0 at their area meets with one of them being a state meet qualifier last year; Nia Trammell from Ft Worth Wyatt qualified to Austin in the 100m and in the 200m, Norah Nwonumah (Mansfield Timberview) ran 24.02 at the Area 7 & 8-5A UIL. She is the sister of Adriane Nwonumah who qualified for the 100m and 200m last year and could make it back-to-back years in Austin for the family.
In the 400m, Midlothian Heritage freshman Angel Brefo ran 55.50 at her area meet for the top time from the rounds. Three girls in the district ran 2:15s at the area meet rounds in the 800m with five more under 2:19.
In the hurdles, Kailyn Head (Denton Ryan) returns after qualifying to state as a freshman in the 100 meter hurdles. She ran 14.20 in the area rounds as well as 44.74. Anaya Potter (Justin Northwest) checks in with a 44.92 from the area rounds and Zaniah Lacy (Arlington Seguin) wasn't far behind at 44.93.
In the girls 4x100 and 4x200 relays, three teams should be at the top of the heap in battling for the two automatic qualifying positions. Mansfield Timberview ran 46.38, Burleson Centennial went 46.40, and El Paso Chapin went 46.68 in the 4x100. In the 4x200 relay, Centennial ran 1:38.02, Timberview 1:38.08 and Chapin 1:40.72. We'll see if Chapin can get a charge with the DFW area competition.
In the 4x400 relay, Burleson checks in with a 3:49, nearly five seconds ahead of the next fastest time. They performed well last year in the 4x200 and 4x400 relays with fourth and sixth place finishes, respectively.
The throws events should be a showdown between two star throwers in the state. Juniors Lauren St. Peters from Aledo and Madeleine Fey (Midlothian) are both two of Texas' best and both throw over 45 feet in the shot put and over 150 feet in the discus.
The same high level of experts will be going at it in the jump events. Taylor Fingers is one of the best overall horizontal jumpers in the country was second in the long jump and third in the triple jump last year. She has a 20-2.25 from the area meet with London Tucker (Burleson Centennial) and her 20-1 from area with Morgan Little (El Paso Chapin) at 19-3 being the third over 19 feet.
Fingers at 41-0, Sofia De Groot (Lubbock-Cooper) at 38-3, and Dorie Davis (Mansfield Summit) were all over 38 feet in the triple jump.
Niomi Wines (Lubbock-Cooper) jumped a 5-8 PR in the high jump. The sophomore could have an easy win or have a tough go at it with three other grls who jumped 5-6 in the area rounds. That doesn't include Anaya Potter (Justin Northwest) who finished seventh at last year's state meet.
Boys
The boys 100m and 200m competitions will be wide open this weekend. Josiyah Taylor and Da'Marqis Lewis from Denton Ryan both figure to have good changes to qualify in both events. Taylor has the fastest time from area in both events with his 10.35 and 20.79 and Lewis checks in with 10.53 and 21.22 performances. There are six total boys who at 10.53 and under heading into Lubbock and seven under 22.00.
Last year's regional champion Ethan Moffett has the second best time entering this weekend. The Mansfield Timberview senior was eighth last year at state and is one of the only returners from state. He has a 47.87 PR from last year and he will need to get back to that form because Fort Worth Wyatt junior Malik Franklin is clicking this year. He ran 47.86 at his area meet for the top time entering this weekend.
Andrew Lutkenhaus is looking to improve on his state meet 800m finish from 2022. He has the best time from the area rounds in the region with his 1:53.12 from last week. Several guys are under 1:59 from last week including Brett Jacobs (Colleyville Heritage), Vincent Luffey (Aledo), and Jackson Hutton (Burleson Centennial) who all ran in the 1:57s last week.
The graduation of Walker St. John and Isaac McGill didn't lower the talent level of the region in the 1600m and 3200m. Several of Texas' top distance runners are in Region 1-5A like Adam Burlison and Alberto Rayon from Grapevine, Wyatt Athey (Denton), Tyler Westrom (Argyle), David Mora (Lubbock Monterey) and Noah Watt (Amarillo). Burlison and Mora both individually qualified for national meets during the cross country season, but the rest of the field will race with high expectations.
Last year, Cameron Bates qualified to state in both hurdle events. The Mansfield Timberview junior is the top qualifier from the area rounds for this year's regional meet and should be the favorite to grab one of the two automatic qualifying positions to get back to Austin. However, Jaylyn Ferguson (Fort Worth Southwest) and Kenan Reil (Justin Northwest) won't make it easy as they are both coming in with 14.00 and 37s from areas.
In the throws, two Jaguars from Mansfield Summit, Brodick Stewart and Travis Buhake have the top area throws of 58-7.75 and 57-9.75 in the shot put. Midlothian sophomore Kyen Purser checks in third with a 55-6, but in the discus his 171-10 is the top throw from areas with Garrett Finley (Colleyville Heritage) at 169-8 and Marcus Garcia (Denton Ryan) at 163--4 check in over 160.
In the pole vault, Gator Young (Argyle) is the favorite in the region. At area and two other occasions this season he has cleared 16-0 and could be ready to extend his season of drastic improvement.