AUSTIN, TEXAS - Thursday night was the
3A and 4A UIL State Track and Field meets and it was the Randolph girls team
that shined as the biggest stars. The Ro-Hawks won six events and tallied 94
points en route to winning their second straight 3A Girls State Title.
The Randolph girls got started early in the day when sophomore Taylor Nunez won her second straight long jump title with a meet record leap of 20-2.5. She took the lead on her very first jump and never trailed. Once the track events started at 5 p.m. Nunez took over the meet.
First, the 4x100m relay team found themselves in fourth place going into the final exchange when Nunez took the baton and raced past everyone. She teamed with Jaela Smith, Cai Rogers and Jourdann Cathro in the victory and posted a time of 47.27. A little while later, Nunez stepped into the blocks for the 100m and cruised to the win in 11.44 that was not a meet record because the wind was +3.7 m/s. Finally, Nunez closed out her day in the 200m running a scintillating 23.42 putting her nearly a second ahead of second place.
Nunez's sophomore teammate Sophia Bendet was also outstanding. She won the 800m and 1600m in near identical fashion. She sat on the leader and waited to make a charge in the last 100m and each time her closing speed was up to the challenge. She raced to a 2:16.01 in the 800m and followed that up with a 5:07.56 in the 1600m. In addition, she ran the second leg on the 4x400m relay team that included Smith, Grace Kistler and Cathro and finished in third place. The 4x200m relay team of Tiana James, Jones, Rogers and Cathro also nabbed a third-place finish.
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The Randolph girls were not the only San Antonio area athletes to perform well on Thursday. Lytle senior Moriah Gomez dueled Bendet in the 800m and came up just short, but still managed to nab the silver medal with a time of 2:16.35. Poth freshman Brooklyn Albert made her mark by grabbing the bronze medal in the 3200m with a time of 11:17.85 and then closed out the meet with a strong fourth place finish in the 1600m. Marion's Maggie Rudisaille tied for fifth in the pole vault with a clearance of 10-6.
The 3A Boys team results saw Randolph finish as the top local team with 18 points which put them in 13th place. They scored in three total events starting with Austin Young grabbing fourth place in the long jump with a leap of 22-4.25. On the track, Parker Cabra ran a great race in the 110m hurdles and took home a bronze medal after crossing the line in 14.45. Their 4x200m relay team of Young, Braylen Brown, Lee McMooain and Kaleb Brown snuck into fourth place with a time of 1:28.25.
Karnes City's Jerrick Beaver was the lone local 3A boy to win a State title. He did not take over first place until clearing 6-7 on his second attempt and then he cleared 6-8 on his first attempt just for good measure.
Blanco's Reggie Johnson picked up a silver medal in the discus. He had a nice series of throws going over 162-feet on three consecutive tosses including a best of 164-8. The other local 3A boys to score points were Isai Moran of Great Hearts Northern Oaks with a fifth place finish in the 1600m and Aiden Martinez of Great Hearts Monte Vista with a sixth place in the 110m hurdles.
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The 4A Girls meet saw a variety of strong performances throughout the day. Fredericksburg scored 13 points to lead the way, but they were missing Cameran Whiting who had qualified for both hurdles events but came down with an illness this week. Despite that, Ann Claire Cop scored in both distance races and earned the bronze in the 1600m with a time of 5:12.95. Taylor Grona missed the bronze medal in the 800m by a scant .01s running a 2:16.39. The Fredericksburg 4x400m relay team finished in sixth with a time of 3:58.91 and included all underclassmen.
Canyon Lake and Wimberley each brought home gold medals. Canyon Lake's Alencia Lentz won her second straight pole vault title by clearing 13-6, a new meet record. In the long jump, Emily Thames of Wimberley jumped 19-3 to win by one inch. Canyon Lake added two points in the 1600m thanks to Cadence Patterson's fifth place finish in 5:17.10.
Boerne and San Antonio Kennedy each had athletes win silver medals. Boerne's Tori Adams finished off an outstanding career with a runner-up finish in the shot put saving her best throw for last when she heaved it 43-4 on her sixth and final throw. Treasure Vallerie of Kennedy was not expected to be a medalist, but that did not stop her as she snuck by three runners in the final meters of the 400m to take second in 57.34.
The only local 4A boy to score was Wimberley's Gabriel Wray. Wray and Thames won their long jump titles just moments apart from each other and were able to celebrate together. Wray was in second place in the long jump after the first three jumps, but then unleashed a 23-6 mark on his fourth jump to take a lead he would hold onto. In the triple jump, Wray had a great series with three jumps over 48-feet and two more over 47-feet. His mark of 48-4.75 was good enough for third place.