Here is a photo of the razor blade thin type of close finish of the girls record breaking 4x200 relay at the 2025 Texas A&M Bluebonnet Inv.
On Friday, the Humble Atascocita girls 4x200 relay picked up where the 2024 Atascocita boys left off in the 4x100 relay - - running into national prominence and breaking state records.
The quartet of Mariah Maxwell, Mia Maxwell, Dalis McClennon, and Teresa Malone who are all juniors ran the relay together for the first time this season and showed that they are ready to to keep Atascocita in the national spotlight.
Their run of 1:33.69 at the Texas A&M Bluebonnet High School Invitational was the third fastest time ever run by a high school team from the same school and the best by a team from Texas. St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) is the only school to ever run faster than the Atascocita girls; they are the national record holders with their 1:33.43 performance in 2014; they also ran a 1:3.47 in the same season.
Atascocita runs TX A-T No.1 and US A-T No. 3 1:33.69 over Shadow Creek 1:33.76
This is just the beginning of the possible assault towards the national record for Atascocita as they aren't finished this season.
"This is the first time we've been working together on this relay, the first time coming out here at a big meet like A&M (Texas A&M Bluebonnet Inv.) to showcase what we really have and show everybody this isn't going to be the last time," Mia Maxwell said. Mariah Maxwell added, "we are not going to get slower," with a laugh.
National All-Time 4x200 Relay
| School | Time | year |
|---|---|---|
| St. Thomas Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) | 1:33.43 | 2014 |
| St. Thomas Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) | 1:33.47 | 2014 |
| Humble Atascocita (Humble, Texas) | 1:33.69 | 2025 |
| Bullis School (Potomac, Maryland) | 1:33.71 | 2023 |
| Shadow Creek (Pearland, Texas) | 1:33.76 | 2025 |
| Poly (Long Beach, California) | 1:33.87 | 2004 |
| Nansemond River (Suffolk, Virginia) | 1:34.23 | 2016 |
We will have to wait and see if the Atascocita girls make the 4x200 relay a cornerstone of the 2025 season. Separately, the group has multiple individual events to compete in. However, winning a UIL 6A team title gets a little easier with the double relay points. If they forgo the 4x200 relay, they are just allowing the competition like Duncanville, Lancaster, Klein Forest, and Shadow Creek get a points advantage.
They could still just make concerted effort at remaining regular season meets to improve. Malone said, "I feel like we all work together well, we all have a bond because we've been together so long," and McClennon added, "we practice well and push each other in practice so we can get better."
Speaking of Shadow Creek, they also ran a fantastic race on Friday. Their performance produced the second fastest all-time performance from a Texas team and the fifth fastest all-time run nationally.
With a time of 1:33.76, they join Atascocita as the only Lone Star squads to run under 1:34. Teams like the 2003 Elsik, 1998 Westbury, and 2017 were some of the all-around all-time best teams and were all loaded with talent, but none of them were able to go sb 1:34.
Shadow Creek is deep with talent and they have a shot at a UIL 6A team championship, but they could also be eyeing a national record of their own with their run this past weekend.
The squad of Jaden Small, Lailah Hudson, Trinity Fruge, and McKenzie Roberson was destined to run a fast time, as Small said, "All of us run under 24 (seconds), so we knew it was going to come in fast and at the end the day we knew what hard work we've been putting in."
The Shadow Creek anchor leg, Roberson closed hard and came close to catching Atascocita and believes it can happen if they continue to hold one another accountable, saying, "I think if we hold each other accountable and we all execute what we all know how to do then we'll be good."
Texas All-Time 4x200 Relay
| School | Time | year |
|---|---|---|
| Humble Atascocita | 1:33.69 | 2025 |
| Shadow Creek | 1:33.76 | 2025 |
| Alief Elsik | 1:34.51 | 2003 |
| Houston Westbury | 1:34.60 | 1998 |
| DeSoto | 1:34.87 | 2017 |
| Duncanville | 1:35.05 | 2018 |
| Shadow Creek | 1:35.14 | 2022 |
Shadow Creek was second overall as team at the 2024 UIL 6A Track and Field Championships and got big relay points that were double point earnings. They finished second place in both the 4x100 relay and 4x400 relay while coming in third in the 4x200 relay.
The Sharks' 4x200 relay will have a lot riding on the line and weighing in the balance. It could take a national record to give the team state championship. That is how good they'll have to be in 2025 and it is a good thing they have the greatest of all-time type of potential.