Reagan's Sam Abati broke the pole vault meet record on Thursday.
Thursday night was the opening of the 2024 track season for many teams including the those at the NEISD 8 meet at Heroes Stadium. Some of the top 5A and 6A teams in the area hit the track on a beautiful evening that was highlighted by Reagan's Samuel Abati setting a meet record by clearing 17-1 in the pole vault. (Meet Results, please note the 800m results are not completely correct)
On the track, the meet began with the girls 3200m which proved to be a fun race to watch. Alamo Heights senior Avery Brawner led through the first four laps, but then Johnson freshman Emily Krot made a move to pass her on the fifth lap. Over the next few laps the pair traded places before Krot took control of the race for good near the end of the seventh lap and won in a time of 12:02.09 while Brawner came in at 12:11.61.
The sprint relays featured the Reagan girls who took both the 4x100m and 4x200m relays. The group of Kiana Douglas, Romina Reyes, Katie Burnett and Nnenna Opara ran 48.16 in the 4x100m and then Burnett, Reyes and Opara teamed up with Mackenzie Dagrosa in the 4x200m to run 1:42.47 and win going away. The Sam Houston girls ran a quality 4x100m and came in second in a time of 50.45.
Reagan's Isabella Dagrosa won the 100mH in a meet record time of 14.24 and followed that up with two more victories on the day. She won the long jump with a leap of 18-5 and then she won the 400m easily in a time of 58.73. Her best event may be the 300mH, but she did not compete in that at the meet. Her sister, Mackenzie, tied a meet record by clearing 5-10 in the high jump, matching her personal record.
There were a few freshmen who showed up in a big way on the track. First, Savanah Moya of New Braunfels dominated both the 800m and 1600m winning in 2:18.54 and 5:17.03, respectively. Then it was Brandeis freshman London Graham who won the 100m in 12.23 and ran the lead leg on their winning 4x400m relay team. Graham gave Brandeis a huge lead that they did not relinquish as Kayla Radtke, Leila Smith-Harris and Payton Ware brought it home in 4:02.66, an outstanding early season time.
Johnson's Michaela Mitchell got her season started off on the right foot. She easily won the 300mH and jumped 17-3 in the long jump for second place. Her teammate, Jordan Peters, won the 200m from the third heat in a time of 26.65.
A pair of Reagan throwers swept the discus and shot put. Lila Chilton took the win in the discus with a toss of 108-1 in a strong event that featured three girls over 100-feet. Mariana Salazar won the shot put with a heave of 36-3.25. Carolina Vargas of Stevens finished in second after a nice performance of 34-5.75.
The triple jump was closely contested with Reagan's Aryiel Sherman holding off Johnson's Pinkey Karngbaye. Sherman leaped 34-9 while Karngbaye went 34-2.
The final field event was won by Brandeis freshman Charleigh Jacobs who cleared 10-6 in the pole vault. Reagan won the meet with 199.5 points while Johnson was second and Brandeis was third.
The boys meet started out very much like the girls with an entertaining 3200m. Reagan's Ethan Doyle led for the majority of the race, but Johnson's Evan Packard Johnson stayed near the lead pack the entire way and then out-kicked everybody to win in 10:11.00 while Doyle crossed in 10:12.98.
The sprint relays featured Reagan and New Braunfels going head-to-head. In the 4x100m it was the squad of Wallace Coleman, Ian Armstrong, William Calk and Joseph Baruwa who won in a time of 43.04 for the Rattlers while the Unicorns finished right behind them in 43.19. In the 4x200m the tables turned as New Braunfels won a tight race behind D'Andre Davis, Lane Duke, Edward Niland and Cole Tavarez in 1:31.09. Reagan came through at 1:31.19.
In between the two relays, Brandeis senior Hayden Scott made his first appearance on the track and won the 800m in 1:58. He came back later in the 1600m and outdueled Reagan's Luke Munoz thanks to a grueling last two laps. Scott finished in 4:24.86 while Munoz ran a quality time of 4:31.29.
In the hurdle events, Brandeis sophomore Caiden Rodriguez took the gold in the 110mH with a time of 15.44. Max Bacon of Alamo Heights came in second in the 110's, but came back in the 300mH to win with a time of 41.01. His teammate, Jack Hollimon edged out Rodriguez for second place.
After running the third leg on the winning 4x100m team, William Calk exploded out of the blocks in the 100m and won going away in a time of 11.12, nearly 4/10 of a second faster than second place.
New Braunfels senior Jakob Gilbreth posted an impressive double when he won both the 400m and the 200m with little rest. He won both races in dominating fashion. He clocked a 50.72 in the 400m and then was the only runner to break 24 seconds in the 200m with his time of 23.18.
The final running event of the meet saw the Reagan squad of Jay Esquivel, Ryan Rosemond, Jackson Hendrickson and Max Modesto win the 4x400m in 3:29.20 while holding a lead the entire race. New Braunfels finished in second thanks to a great anchor leg by Gilbreth where he moved the team up from fourth place.
Abati's performance led all field event performances. He cleared 16-0 and then moved the bar up to 17-1 and cleared it on his first try in the pole vault. In the discus, Ryan Ramirez and Hurst Tyler of Reagan went 1-2 with throws of 152-6 and 144-6, respectively. Roosevelt's Jeremiah Bustamante added a third place with a nice throw of 141-6. The shot put was a little bit of a surprise with Stevens freshman Kaleb Ned taking the top prize after a toss of 45-7.75.
Cole Tavarez started the season right where he left off in the long jump winning the event with a distance of 22-5.5. Johnson's Thomas Sutton won the high jump at an even 6-feet while Kingston Kennan of Alamo Heights pulled off a big upset in winning the triple jump with a mark of 39-7.
The Reagan both won a tightly contested team title with 138 points, less than 20 more than both New Braunfels and Alamo Heights.
Next week I will be traveling to the Boerne Champion Charger Relays on Thursday.