Girls And Events To Watch At Texas Relays

The Texas Relays is the big event in the state this week. There are top athletes and teams throughout Texas as well as nationally who will be in Mike A. Myers Stadium this weekend.

As far west as California and as far east from the nation's capital, representatives are here.

We have highlighted just some athletes to watch for. There are some events that are loaded and we tell you which ones to pay attention to.

Taylor Nunez (Randolph) - Nunez is a complete sprinter; she is a two-time state champion in the 100m in which she is running this weekend and the long jump. She won last year's Texas Relays in 11.53.

Hannah Lowe (Garland Sachse) - Lowe was third at last year's UIL 6A state meet in the 100m. Ran a SB last weekend at Jesuit-Sheaner Relays with 11.53 win.

Bailey Johnson (Arlington Bowie) - Johnson has rocked the sprints this year. The Bowie junior ran a 11.58 SB last week and a 23.47 200m PR.

Makki Hart (Shallowater) - The Shallowater senior is last year's UIL 3A runner-up in the 400m with her 55.13 PR run. She is entered in the 100m this weekend where she has a 12.02 SB.

Alyssa Jones (Fulshear Churchill) - Jones is the reigning defending UIL 5A 200m state champ (23.59) when she was at Smithson Valley. Her 11.76 100m PR is from last year's Texas Relays.

Abby Elmore (Gunter) - Time used to watch Elmore's compete in her events will be time well spent. She has proven to be one of the best overall athletes in the world. The Pan Am U20 Heptathlon silver medalist is entered in the 100H, high jump, and the long jump.

Hurdles

The girls 100-meter hurdles will be quite the events. It has US No. 2 ranked Lillian Harden (Cypress Bridgeland) who will make it a clock watching time of day when she runs.

However, the field is loaded with other Texas talents. Kailyn Head (Denton Ryan), Kaleigh Frazier (Tomball Rosehill Christian), Isabella Dagrosa (San Antonio Reagan), Kyla Hill (Goliad) and Grace Bettencourt (Flower Mound). One to watch is last year's UIL 6A third place finisher at the state meet Riyah Burns (Spring). Burns hasn't competed in the hurdles yet this year, but her 13.73 PR is enough not to play with!

Louisiana's Makeriah Harris (Scotlandville) is another top national hurdler and will add to the already potent hurdle mix.

In the 300-meter hurdles, it'll many of the same names. Definitely Hill, Dagrosa, Head, Frazier, Harden, and Falyn Lott (Frisco Panther Creek) will push for the winning time, but Yierra Flemings (Cameron Yoe) is the national leader with her 40.74 SB will be tough to beat.

Girls Distances

Some of Texas' top distance runners in every league and classification are competing this weekend.

Elizabeth Leachman (Boerne Champion) will compete in the Inv. 5,000m. The Steecplechase will feature TX No.2 all-time and 2023 Texas Relays Champion Margaret Thompson (Hockaday)

1600m

Nicole Humphries (Flower Mound)  - TX No. 1 - 4:43.51

Samantha Humphries (Flower Mound) US No. 3 indoor mile 4:39.11 

Macy Wingard (Denton Braswell) - 4:51.50 TX No. 6 1600m

Sophia Bendet (Randolph) - 4:51.91 indoor mile

Emma Wade (Cedar Park Vista Ridge) - TX No. 6 4:52.82

3200m

Margaret Thompson (Hockaday) - 10:49.04

Elizabeth Mustacchia (Austin Vandegrift) - 10:50.32

Isabel Conde De Frankenberg (Cedar Park ) - 10:25.15 3200m PR (3rd last year's Texas Relays)

Impressive Relay Teams

Brookshire Royal - Royal crushed the state meet last year and we'll see them against high level competitors this weekend.

Fort Bend Christian - Like Royal, FBCA will be in the small school division. They were dominant at last year's Texas Relays and should give us deja vu this year. They ran 3:49 indoors in the 4x400 way back in January. 

Lancaster - The Lady Tigers are already tasting success in their first year under Coach Lakeidra Hayes. They are ranked top eight in the state for each sprint relay 4x100 relay (TX No. 5 45.69), 4x200 relay (TX NO. 8 1:37.86), and 4x400 relay (TX No.4 3:46.54).

Scotlandville (Baton Rouge, LA) - Scotlandville was US No. 17 indoors in the 4x400 with a SB 3:51.11.

Archbishop Carroll (Washington DC) - Carroll was the US No. 3 ranked 4x200 squad indoors this year with a 1:38.58.

Calabasas (CA) - Outdoors, Calabasas is ranked US No. 17 with a time of 46.26.

Long Beach Wilson (CA) - Wilson is like the lion in the jungle. It's always their race to lose when they are on the track. They rank US No. 15 in the 4x200 relay ( 1:38.91),  US No. 5 in the 4x400 relay (3:44.63),  and US No. 6 in the 4x800 relay (9:21).

Lovejoy - Lovejoy is like LB Wilson, they can ran any relay at any distance. They are ranked TX No. 6 in the 4x400 relay (3:49.13).

4x800 Relay

This will be an outstanding race.

Montgomery Lake Creek is ranked US No.5 in the 4x800 relay (9:18.91) in the country making them the highest ranked squad in the field this year. LB Wilson is right behind them at US No. 6 with a 9:21 SB, however, they had a race they'd like forget last year.

Edmond Memorial (Ok) is another strong team in the field. They are ranked US No. 22 with a SB of 9:34.27.

The Flower Mound Lady Jags are the defending Texas Relays champion. They blazed a 8:55.80 last year for the win. The possible quartet they can roll out will be reason alone to watch the 4x800 relay.

They have US No. 3 Samantha Humphries (2:06.59) and US No. 4 Nicole Humphries 2:07.03 in the 800m. Add freshman Adeline Bennett (2:12.46) and junior Alexandra Fox (2:15.34). 

Don't miss this race!

High Jump

A lot of people go to Texas Relays to watch the relay races. However, many know the field events are also excellent and very competitive events.

The horizontal jumps, throws, and the pole vault have been headliners in recent years.

However, this year, it's the high jump that should earn your viewing.

We've mentioned Pan Am U20 silver medalist  Abby Elmore already. She is the national leader in the high jump with her 5-10.25  winning jump from last week at the Jesuit-Sheaner Relays.

Although she leads the nation, it is by a small margin and there are a lot of girls close behind in this field alone. Seven girls in the country are tied for the US No. 2 mark of 5-10. Three of them (Jillene Wetteland (Poly), Savannah Byers (Kingwood), and Mackenzie Dagrosa (San Antonio Reagan) are entered in the Texas Relays.

Also ranked in the top 10 nationally with 5-8 clearances are Cate Bryant (Houston Memorial), her sister 5-8 Cali Bryant (Memorial) (5-10 from indoor season), Brentley Preston (Lubbock Cooper), Nia Harrison (Greenhill) (5-9 from indoor season), and with a 5-7 clearance,  Aubrey Vanden Berge (Stephenville).

Horizontal Jumps

National outdoor leader Loren Webster (Long Beach Wilson) brings her 20-1 top hop to the deep field of Texas girls. 

Yierra Fleming (Cameron Yoe) and Nia Thompson (St. Dominic Savio) are tied at US No. 4 in the country with their 19-2 outdoor bests.

During the indoor season, Tristen Harris (West Feliciana, LA) jumped 20-5, Skylynn Townsend (Rock Hill) went 20-2.5, Samantha Ennin (Plano John Paul II) went 20-1.50.

Just about every other girl entered has jumped 19 or 20 feet prior to this season.
The triple jump features many of the same girls. Townsend won the Nike Indoor Nationals with a 42-6 jump and should lead the charge. Lily Muzzy (Georgetown), who has a 40-10.25 best should contend for the win.

Shot Put

Lauren St. Peters (Aledo) was the Texas leader in the shot put with a 48-1.5 and sits No. 3 with a 48-10 SB. 

Madaleine Fey (Killeen Chaparral) - Just threw 49-3 to win at Jesuit-Sheaner and take the state lead.

Jazmine Thompson (Harlingen) - Thompson is a state meet medalist and has a 46-0 toss indoors.

Sophia Grinstead (Bracken Christian) - The TAPPS thrower has a 46-0 outdoor SB.

Valerie Hunt (Monahans) - Hunt also has a couple of 46-0 tosses this season.

In the discus, look for Peters and Fey to battle for the top tosses as they are both over 170 feet.

However, other key throwers to watch are Olamide Favour Ayeni (Denton Ryan) who threw 165-6 last week for the third best toss in Texas and Bolaji Subair (Midland Legacy) follows closely with a 161-6 toss.

Not over 160 feet yet, but in the 150s and competing are Taylor Wiseman (Childress) and Thompson.