Photo of Hayden Long (Ponder) and Noah Stroman (Holliday)
UIL Track and Field State Championships
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3A Boys 800m
The UIL boys 3A race was highly anticipated. There were four boys entering the state meet competition with 1:55 marks from the regionals championships.
The new comer to this year's affair was Noah Strohman (Holliday) who won state titles in the two longer distances last season. He was also coming with the 3,200m race on his legs from earlier this morning.
At the gun, it was Strohman charging to the lead coming through the 200 in 27- seconds, with the entire field in tact.
At the halfway mark, he continued to lead with Haden Long (Ponder) close in tow.
On the backstretch four boys pulled away from the field coming through 600m in 1:24.
By time they hit the homestretch, it was Strohman continuing to lead, but Long gave chase in a valiant effort, pushing Strohman to the finish line.
Overall, it was Strohman holding on for the win with a time of 1:53.54. Long finished second with a 1:53.79 and Benjamin Castro (McGregor) putting on a fantastic kick to pull-up for a third place finish and a finishing time of 1:54.18.
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3A Boys 1,600m
Defending state champion Noah Strohman had the top regional time of 4:18.50. However, he was fresh off the 3,200m and 800m wins earlier in the day.
From the gun, it looked like Strohman would use a different tactic than his usual start to finish lead.
A 1:05 first lap split from Kason Miles (Winona) was good enough to engineer a 15-meter gap on the field. He carried that lead through the 800m split with Strohman moving from the third to the second position.
By the 1K mark, it was Miles and Strohman running 1-2 at a clip of 2:46.
When the bell rang to signify the last lap, Strohman led with a time of 3:19 with Benjamin Castro (McGregor) and Christopher Kopecky (East Bernard) challenging.
At 200m to go Castro pulled along side of Strohman, but that challenge was answered. Coming off the turn, it was Kopecky's turn to press Strohman.
However, Strohman's fitness was tested and it proved to withstand all challenges. He ran 4:16.68 to win over Kopecky's 4:16.91, with Castro third in 4:18.79
