I have to admit that I was a little surprised when Duncanville girls head coach Yvette Green told me this was Duncanville's first girls track and field state championship.
In today's world, one might think Duncanville wins in everything. Now, we can further legitimize that thought.
When the championship season began, I felt the Lady Panthers were one of the teams who would be hard to beat, but they'd have to survive the tough Region 1-6A Championships. Several region races could have gone almost anyway between three or four teams. After everything was complete, Green's squad appeared to have enough to advance to Austin for a good chance of taking home the title.
At the state meet, controlling the controllables is what Green's squad did. They knew their competition and they did what they had to do. They faced off with UIL team runner-up Klein Forest at the regional meet. They competed against DFW area squads like Flower Mound, DeSoto, and Prosper who all finished in the top 10 team standings before.
However, the team they knew the most was themselves. Perhaps that's why Duncanville and their supporters travelled to both Waco and Austin deep and with high expectations.
Duncanville scored in five events. Those five events have been their strength all season long, but they've also been some of the most competitive events across the whole state. That didn't deter them from believing in themselves.
Their scoring got started in the 4x100 relay, when they finished second place behind Klein Forest. That gave them 16 points. Moments later, they would see their score rise when Indyia Walton finished in fourth place in the 100 meter hurdles. That provided them with four points that was quickly followed by another 16 for the 4x200 relay; that quartet again finished in second place.
Walton came through again in the 300 meter hurdles with a third place finish and six more points that was followed up by their 4x400 relay that was fourth and adding eight points.
The 10 point win was a nice margin, but could have gone the other way in two of the three relays. The 4x100 relay beat Lewisville by 0.04 of a second, which would have been a four point swing, the 4x200 relay they again beat out Lewisville for second by 0.12, and another four point swing.
Walton's third place finish in the 300 meter hurdles easily could have been a fifth or sixth place finish and far less points. However, the senior was determined to medal and score higher for the team.
Other than Walton, Kayli Hill and Kennedy Brown are the only seniors of this year's state meet line up. They return Simpson De'Kayla, Aaliyah Gipson, Sanyah Keeton, Gabrielle Goodgames, Trezur Connley, Ashley Lister, and Chloe Mann.
Coach Green's girls could be in a good position to repeat in 2024.
I have to admit that I was a little surprised when Duncanville girls head coach Yvette Green told me this was Duncanville's first girls track and field state championship.
In today's world, one might think Duncanville wins in everything. Now, we can further legitimize that thought.
When the championship season began, I felt the Lady Panthers were one of the teams who would be hard to beat, but they'd have to survive the tough Region 1-6A Championships. Several region races could have gone almost anyway between three or four teams. After everything was complete, Green's squad appeared to have enough to advance to Austin for a good chance of taking home the title.