Photo of Cameron Bates (Mansfield Timberview)
UIL Track and Field State Championships
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UIL 5A Boys 110-meter hurdles
With last year's champion Arveyon Davis graduating and currently competing for Texas A&M, there would surely be a new champion.
Ja'Shaun Lloyd (Corsicana) was runner-up as a sophomore last year and entered with the second best qualifying mark from regionals at 14.03. It was Malik Esquerra (Killeen Shoemaker) carrying his 13.81 Region 3-5A winning performance as the top seed time.
After the gun, it was Lloyd getting a masterful start and pressing the pace through the first four hurdles.
Then it was Esquerra who found his stride and his rhythm and began to pull closer with each stride and cleared hurdle. Coming off the final hurdle, Esquerra was clean and used his momentum to sprint home for the win in 13.72 (+1.4).
Lloyd was runner-up again with a 13.85 and Alex Moore (Mansfield Timberview) was third in 14.03.
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UIL 5A Boys 300-meter hurdles
The boys long hurdles had the makings of a fantastic race.
Last year's runner-up Cameron Bates (Mansfield Timberview) ran 36.79 and was nestled in lane five. He came in with the fastest regional mark of 37.35.
Ashdyn Kahouch (Frisco Wakeland) was in lane four and had the second fastest qualifying time of 37.38 and Ja'Shaun Lloyd (Corsicana) in lane eight had the third fastest time of 37.39.
At the first hurdle, it was Bates and Malik Esquerra (Killeen Shoemaker) along with Karmine Stevens (Friendswood) coming through the first two hurdles simultaneously.
Esqeurra and Bates began to pull away with bates in charge heading off turn.
With the field slowly closing in, Bates would hit the last hurdle and hit the track. He stretched long and wide to get his chest across the line in a dive/fall for the win.
His winning time was 37.04 with Lloyd coming in for another hurdle runner-up finish. Esquerra slid in for third place .
