AUSTIN, TEXAS - The final day of
the UIL State Track and Field featured thunderstorms in the morning that turned
into a nice day by the time the afternoon rolled around.
Only a few of the San Antonio athletes had their events disrupted by the inclement morning weather. However, Reagan's Mackenzie Dagrosa and Brennan's Armando Acevedo faced the worst of it as they attempted to high jump while water was puddling up all throughout the jump area. Dagrosa seemed unfazed as she cleared both 5-2 and 5-4 without a miss in the heavy rain. Acevedo had a little more difficulty in the early going missing twice at the opening height of 6-2. Around that time lightning flashed and the rain came down even harder forcing a halt to the meet that lasted over two hours.
When the meet restarted, Dagrosa cleared 5-6 on her first attempt. She was unable to clear 5-8 and settled for a well-earned bronze medal. Acevedo hit his stride when he returned from the break and cleared the next four heights on his first attempt. After he cleared 6-10, only reigning State champion Jace Posey of Houston Strake Jesuit remained in the competition. Posey cleared 7-0 on his second attempt while Acevedo was unable to match him. It was his fourth straight meet where he cleared at least 6-10.
There were two gold medals won by local athletes and each came in the throwing events in dramatic fashion. East Central's Michael Pinones has been the top shot putter in the State all season long. However, he found himself in second place heading into his final throw. He responded to the challenge by unleashing a winning toss of 65-11.5, his best throw of the year. Similarly, Rafe Clendenin of Brandeis was in third place in the discus heading into the final three throws. On his fourth attempt, he hurled the discus 184-3 to move into first place. The throw proved to be enough to win the gold medal.
Three other athletes earned medals in the field events. Reagan's Sam Abati showed a high level of consistency all season long and it was no different on Saturday when he was perfect through 16-0 in the pole vault. He missed once at 16-3 before clearing it on his second try which was enough to get him the silver medal. Ella Vajdos of New Braunfels nearly matched her season best in the pole vault clearing 13-3 to grab the bronze medal in her senior year. Judson's Alexis Jessie briefly led the triple jump before settling for second place. She had two jumps over 40-feet, including her best of 40-3.25.
Once the track events started it was the Reagon boys 4x100m relay getting on the board first. The quartet of Jayden Bagley, Liam LeCavalier, Grant Williams and Ikenna Opara took sixth place in a time of 41.60. The Rattlers 4x200m team of Joshua Torres, LeCavalier, Williams and Opara finished in fifth place after crossing the line in 1:25.67, their fastest time of the season. Later, Opara added a fourth-place finish in the 200m with a time of 21.52. Reagan finished as the top local 6A boys team with 18 points, which put them in ninth place.
For the Reagan girls, Isabella Dagrosa capped off an amazing season by taking the silver medal in the 300m hurdles. Her time of 41.80 was a new personal record and set a new school record. In the 4x400m relay, Dagrosa teamed with Josephine Zink, Nnenna Opara and her sister Mackenzie to run a season best time of 3:47.37 to finish in sixth. Reagan finished with 15 points and a 12th place team finish.
Brennan's Caila Lyons was the final local 6A athlete to earn a State medal. She ran a phenomenal 800m race and closed with a flourish to take second place in a time of 2:09.82. On the boy's side, Kyree Wilson placed fourth in an exciting 110m hurdle race with a time of 14.09.
Brandeis' Ethan Malesich was the wild card qualifier in the boys 800m. He made the most of his extra race by running a season best of 1:53.99 to take fifth place.
Ariana Sutton of Clemens and Elijah Hernandez of Sotomayor each finished sixth in their respective 400m races. It was the third straight year in the State finals for Sutton who clocked a time of 55.72. Hernandez scored the first ever points at the State meet for Sotomayor with his time of 48.01.
The final person to highlight is Steele senior William Davis. Davis saved his best for last running a time of 37.86 in the 300m hurdles to grab sixth place.