Judson Girls, Brennan Boys Take NEISD 9 Team Wins

Heroes Stadium was the site of the season opening NEISD 9 track meet that had many strong performances and showcased some of the teams that should be in contention for District and Regional titles later in the season. While the Judson girls and the Brennan boys were the team champs there were two individuals who stood out above the rest, Cristina Garcia of Laredo Alexander and Thomas Bucks of Johnson.

Garcia, a junior, opened the meet by winning the triple jump with a leap of 37-10 and then she held off a game Darinasia Taylor of Judson in the long jump with a winning mark of 17-9. On the track, Garcia blazed to an easy win in the 100mh out of the slow heat in 15.05 and then added another gold medal in the 300mh with a quality time of 46.74.

Bucks, a senior, had to wait three hours before he was finally able to step on the runway of the pole vault. Once there, he put on a show that had the crowd fired up. After opening at 14-0, he quickly cleared 15-0 and 15-6. At 16-0 he had his first miss but responded with a clearance on his second attempt. He then cleared 16-5 on his second attempt and despite tiring he was able to go over 16-8 to cap off his night with a new school record.

The Judson girls only won four events, but their overall team depth was the difference in the meet as the accumulated 187 points. Johnson was second with 101 points and Brennan was third with 100 points. Taylor was the big point-getter for the Rockets. In addition to her silver medal in the long jump with a leap of 17-7, she anchored the winning 4x100m relay team to a winning time of 47.65 and individually she took first in the 400m (58.42) and 200m (24.85). Freshman Avery Dalmyda provided their other first place finish in the 100m with a time of 12.63 as she held off Madison's Mia Stewart.

Maria Bernhardt, Anastacia Garza and Maria Flores all supplied the Rockets with runner-up finishes in two events. Bernhardt was second to Brennan's Giana Brown in the discus and Madison's Cyani Ingram in the shot put. Brown won with a throw of 110-4 while Bernhardt tossed the discus 105-1 and Ingram took the shot put title with a mark of 37-6 and Bernhardt came in at 35-6. Garza was edged out at the finish line in the 800m by Brennan's Kailyn Brunson by a mere 0.02 seconds and then she ran 5:26.31 in the 1600m but once again it was Brunson winning in 5:22.71. Flores finished second to Garcia in both hurdle events. She clocked a 16.74 in the 100mh and 49.92 in the 300mh.

Johnson showed off their strength in the 3200m where Isabella Porter and Emily Krot easily took the top two spots in 11:28.17 and 11:32.72. It was the only race they would run, but in the future they will be adding the 1600m to their meet schedule. The Jaguars 4x200m relay team looked strong en route to winning in 1:44.29 with Jordan Peters supplying the anchor leg. She later grabbed second place in the 200m with a time of 26.11. Their top thrower, Jera Salters, and State qualifying pole vaulter, Taylor Fuentespina, did not compete.

Kennedy Veale of Alamo Heights ended up winning the pole vault late into the night with a height of 10-0. Fernanda Omana of Laredo Alexander was the other individual champion taking the high jump with a clearance of 5-2. The Brennan Bears took gold in the 4x400m winning by nearly 30 yards over Judson in a time of 4:05.82. It was the only event that former 800m State Runner-Up Caila Lyons competed in since she was coming off an illness, but she looked strong running her leg.

The Brennan boys took gold in five events and finished with 133 points. Johnson finished a close second with 120.5 points while Alamo Heights was third with 89 points. Zac Miller and the Bears' sprint crew scored a lot of points for the squad. Miller opened the meet by winning a tough 3200m race against some top-level competition. He controlled the race from the start and was never threatened as he crossed the line in 9:24.67. He took a similar position in the 1600m although the race was much closer than the 3200m, it was never really in doubt as he won in 4:27.54. In the 4x100m relay, the Bears eked out a close victory over both Madison and Laredo Alexander in 42.63. Devin Gills and Clifton McBride followed that up by taking the top two spots in the 100m in 10.86 and 10.93, respectively. McBride added a second place finish in the long jump with a leap of 21-10 while Quentin Jones (42-11.25) and Demone Hatcher (42-5) took first and third in the triple jump.

The 400m and 800m each had exciting finishes. In the 400m, Bryce Lloyd of Sotomayor passed Abdou Ndiaye of Johnson and Quincy Baker of Judson in the final few strides to win in 50.48. Alexander Williams of Johnson ran down Brennan's Wolfgang Thoener in the home stretch of the 800m to win in 1:57.87 while Thoener was a stride behind in 1:58.33.

The hurdles featured a pair of tight races as well. In the 110mh, Max Bacon of Alamo Heights easily won the first heat in 14.89, but had to hold his breath as Laredo Alexander's Rickey Carson nearly matched him in a later heat with a time of 14.97. Carson was also the long jump winner with a distance of 21-11. In the 300mh, it looked like Bacon was going to cruise to the win, but he tied up late in the race allowing Austin Anderson (40.33) of Johnson and teammate Jack Hollimon (40.44) to pass him at the finish as he crossed in 40.46.

After getting disqualified in the 4x100m relay, Judson came back with a vengeance in the 4x200m relay by winning in 1:28.26 as they held off solid performances from Johnson and Laredo Alexander. Laredo Alexander capped off their night with a spectacular race in the 4x400m where they grabbed the lead early and never relinquished command and they crossed the finish line in 3:22.91 and Judson had to settle for second place in 3:24.01.

Cole Crosley of Alamo Heights posted a huge personal best en route to winning the high jump with a clearance of 6-5. McKell Johnekins of Sotomayor and Kimball Gurr of Brennan each had solid performances with clearances of 6-2. Sotomayor's Julius Johnson showed out in the long jump (21-3) and triple jump (42-5.5) with a pair of top three finishes.

Judson's Josiah Green swept the throwing events. He took gold in the shot put with a heave of 48-1.5 and then followed it up with victory in the discus with a mark of 149-1.