Hannah Lowe (Garland Sachse) L and Aliyah Johnson (FW Southwest Christian) raced all of the way to the finish at the Texas Relays
Texas sprints have always had a questionable aura surrounding it. Accurate timing and the lack of anemometers to measure wind speeds at the majority of reported events are the major contributing factors to the questionable accuracy.
The Texas relays is one event that doesn't have those issues.
While the winds were high at points, the girls who competed proved that this season, the sprints are starting to catch fire.
Entering the weekend, Indya Mayberry (North Crowley) at 11.46 +1.6 and Celeste Robinson (Cypress Ranch) with her 11.49 and +1.7 lead the FAT/wind legal rankings in the state.
Mayberry also leads the all conditions FAT rankings with her 11.35 +2.5 run.
This past weekend, the performances continued to litter the season rankings and raised the bar for the remainder of the season.
On Friday, the 100m prelims saw a flurry of sub 12-second runs.
In the Division I girls heats, Taylor Nunez (Randolph) ran a 11.50 qualifying mark with a +2.8 wind reading and Amya Barefield (Sour Lake Hardin-Jefferson) also ran under 12-seconds with her 11.99 +5.0 performance.
96th Annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays DII girls 100m
The Division II girls were led by senior Aliyah Johnson (Fort Worth Southwest Christian) and her 11.37 run. That was heavily assisted by wind with a +4.6 reading.
However, that now ranks Johnson TX No. 2 all-conditions behind Mayberry. Johnson, the Indiana University signee displayed a solid starts with uber-impressive frontside mechanics in her technique.
Round Rock Westwood senior Violet Hewett at 11.38 +2.5, Bailey Johnson (Arlington Bowie) at 11.39 +2.8, Skylar Brazzell (Northwest Nelson) at 11.50 +4.1, Alyssa Jones (Fulshear) at 11.51 +2.5, Amariya Hardeman (Fort Bend Bush) at 11.51 +2.6, Anya Jackson (Bridgeland) at 11.57 +4.6, and Hannah Lowe (Garland Sachse) with a time of 11.58 +3.9 were the Texas girls qualifiers for the finals.
Additionally, there were 15 girls who weren't able to qualify for the division II finals, but still ran under 12.0 (at least+2.6 winds).
In the finals, the girls were able to continue their strong running. Nunez ran away with the division I girls race. She won her second straight Texas Relays 100m title with a 11.48 +4.2 run. Gwendolyn McDaniel (Fort Worth Southwest Christian) showed her school has two quality sprinter. She also ran under 12-seconds with her 11.99 +4.2 race in the finals.
For the division II girls race, Lowe was able to turn her fortunes around. She was the last qualifier to the finals, but used in a fiery top end/deceleration phase to close on Johnson.
Johnson put pressure on the field when she came out of her drive phase into the the transition. When she got upright, she had a major impact on the race.
In the end, with a +2.2 m/s wind reading, Lowe finished with a 11.46 just ahead of Johnson at 11.52. Hewett crossed the finish line in 11.63 for third place; each of the nine finalist crossed in 11.76 or faster.
While the runners will have no say-so in the conditions they'll compete in over the upcoming weeks, they do have control over their performances.
If the results from the Texas Relays are sign, we could see the Lone Star ladies continue to push the event to some outstanding times.