UIL 5A Boys State Meet Preview

The UIL 5A Boys Track and Field Championship will likely come down to the final event of the day, the 4x400m relay.

The prediction here is that Fort Bend Marshall will have a lead, but Mansfield Timberview has a strong 4x400m team that will know what place they need to finish in order to win the first State title in the program's history.

Timberview has entrants in five individual events plus all three relays. They are projected to score 18 points in the relays and 18 more in the hurdles.

Cameron Bates and Alex Moore each made the State meet last year in the 300H and this year Bates has the top time coming in with his 37.03 while Moore should pick up points and has broken 38 seconds in the event.

Moore is also projected to finish in the top three in the 110H and finished third in 2023.

Timberview's Omari Mitchell is one of three athletes who has broken 21 seconds in the 200m this year while Tyler Madison should pick up a point or two in the 100m.

Finally, long jumper Michael Henderson will be one of the top contenders for a State title after posting the best mark at Regionals a week ago.

Fort Bend Marshall will have to hope that their top-level quality wins the day since they only have entries in the 4x100m, 4x200m, 100m and 400m as they attempt to win a third straight State title and seventh in the last decade.

They are ranked first in both relays coming in and have run 40.28 in the 4x100m and 1:25.17 in the 4x200m but they cannot afford any slip ups because the challengers in each race are close behind.

William Mitchell (198) won Region 3-5A in the 100m

William Mitchell is running the 100m for them and comes in with the fifth-fastest time of 10.42 while freshman Jordan Riggs will be considered a top challenger for the 400m title.

Unlike the 5A girls, there are no athletes who have qualified for more than two individual events. However, Amarillo's Adam Burlison returns to the State meet trying to repeat as champion in both the 1600m and 3200m.

Last year, he won the 1600m in 4:08.64 and the 3200m in 8:54.47 for Grapevine. He will have plenty of competition in both events and may not even be considered the favorite heading into the meet.

In the 1600m, Caden Gary of Lucas Lovejoy has the best time, 4:10.32 and he has the experience after finishing fourth last year.

Melissa's Logan Tauch and Southwest Legacy's Anthony Zapata are two others that could win.

Tauch and Gary enter the 3200m with the two best times coming in but Burlison and Georgetown's Joseph Wienen, both have all run within two seconds of each other this year so it will be anyone's race.

Despite not having the top times coming in it will still be tough to pick against Burlison who has not lost a 1600m or 3200m race this year.

Cooper Lutkenhaus (lane 4) and defending state champ Malik Franklin (lane 3) will get to face off again in Austin

One of the stories of the meet is Justin Northwest freshman Cooper Lutkenhaus who has the fastest time in the State in the 800m (1:50.80) and he ran the fastest time at the Regional meet, 1:53.19.

Anthony Zapata is the only competitor to run the 800m at the State meet previously meaning Lutkenhaus' youth may not be a big factor. Zapata has been getting better and better as the year has progressed and ran a season-best 1:53.23 to win Region IV.

Three others have ran faster than 1:54 but Lutkenhaus' superior speed figures to be too much to match.

Lutkenhaus has a chance to win the difficult 400m-800m double. He is seeded second in the 400m with a best time of 47.33 this year. He will have to defeat Fort Worth Wyatt's Malik Franklin again if he wants the title and it was Franklin who took gold in 2023.

Franklin clocked 47.19 back in February at the Duncanville Bob Alpert Relays prior to an injury. Jordan Riggs and Eugene Bynum of Frisco Lone Star are two others who will have a say in the State title. Bynum ran the fastest time at Regionals, 47.61.

The final returning State champion is Lake Belton's Kendrick Jones, Jr. who destroyed the field as a freshman last year.

He won in 20.57, nearly a half-second faster than second place. At the regional meet he ran 21.04 and has a best time of 20.73 this season.

The top two challengers are Omari Mitchell and Jaeden Servantez of Sam Houston who each have 20.99 times next to their names. Prior to the Regional meet Servantez had a best time of 22.21 but he ran 21.29 in the prelims and 20.99 in the finals at the Regional meet.

Jones has a chance to grab a gold medal in the long jump as well. He is the only jumper who has gone over 24-feet this year while there are five others who have soared past 23-feet.

The 100m features a completely new group of nine finalists from last year. There are four sprinters who have run in the 10.3's this year led by Magnolia's Blake Holland who ran an even 10.30. Holland should also factor in the 200m where he has a top time of 21.03.

Killeen Shoemaker hurdler Malik Esquerra (484) is Region 3-5A champ in the 100-meter hurdles

The hurdle events feature four runners who are entered in both races. Killeen Shoemaker's Malik Esquerra is the favorite in the 110H and he has a best time of 37.50 in the 300H.

However, Corsicana's Ja'Shaun Lloyd is the hurdler who has the best chance to pull off the double. In 2023, Lloyd finished second in the 110H and sixth in the 300H but it appears he has improved in the longer event and is seeded second in both races.

Alex Moore is another one who was in both races a year ago when he finished one place behind Lloyd in both races. The remaining athlete to compete in both races is Max Bacon of Alamo Heights who has improved quite a bit in the past month.

In the field events, the shot put and discus could see some huge throws. Brandon Schirck of Friendswood has thrown 67-11.25 this year in the shot put while Midlothian's Kyen Purser and Mansfield Summit's Travis Buhake have each thrown over 60-feet.

Schirch is also ranked second in the discus with a season best of 189-11 while Banks Goodmanson of Galveston Ball has thrown 195-0. There are four other throwers who have eclipsed 180-feet this year. Schirck was the runner-up in the shot put and Purser was the runner-up in the discus last year.

The Mansfield Timberview 4x100 relay crossed the finish line first at the 2024 Region 1-5A Championships

Midlothian Heritage's Julian McCullough enters the meet with 7-0 clearance in the high jump. Red Oak's Kameron Franklin will be the biggest challenger since he has cleared 6-10 already this year.

All three jumping events have nine new competitors this year and in the triple jump it is Mont Belvieu Barbers Hill's Jayden Thrower who enters as the top seed. He jumped 47-11 at the Regional meet and has gone over 48-feet this year. There are five other jumpers who have gone over 46-feet.

The pole vault should be a closely contested event. Eight of the nine vaulters have cleared at least 15-0, but no one has gone higher than 15-9. Rouse's Caden O'Hara has gone 15-9 and cleared 15-6 at the Regional meet and will be a slight favorite to start the meet. Santa Fe's Jonathan Wright, Aledo's Braylon Brown and Ryder Harrison of Gregory-Portland have all cleared at least 15-6 this year and will be in medal contention.

Timberview enters the meet with the fourth fastest time in the 4x400m relay and will likely need to finish at least fourth to win the meet. In the end, the meet could come down to how much their star hurdler, Cameron Bates, has left in the tank to run the anchor leg. Whatever happens, it will be exciting.