Unicorn Relays Feel the Breeze

NEW BRAUNFELS, TEXAS - The sun was bright and the wind was strong, 35 miles per hour strong, throughout the New Braunfels Unicorn Invitational on Saturday. The cross-wind was difficult to handle, but the athletes powered through and still produced excellent performances on the track and in the field events.

The girls team title went to Smithson Valley who finished with 211 points. Despite missing a few of their top distance runners, they still looked like the team to beat in the Region. Steele finished in second place with 177 points while the host Unicorns were third with 99 points.

The field events were highlighted by the pole vault and discus. In the vault, seven athletes cleared at least 10-feet in the competition. Smithson Valley's Sofia Mitschke set a new personal record en route to winning at 12-6. Canyon's Cassidy Henderson was second at 12-0 and Marion's Kaitlyn Rackley showed she is just as good as any big school vaulter with her 12-0 clearance. Canyon's Peyton Wilson and Annabelle Jehl of Medina Valley, the two best discus throwers in the San Antonio area went head-to-head with Wilson prevailing with a toss of 135-2 while Jehl took second with her mark of 130-8.

Clemens picked up big points in the shot put with Jaiden Thomas (31-3) and Madison Kessel (30-7) taking the top two spots.

Seguin's Leah Brown led the way in the jumping events. She won the high jump with a clearance of 5-1 to top Bryn Biesenbach of Smithson Valley and Jazelle Howard of Clemens who each went 5-0. Brown tripled jumped 36-0 which matched Steele's Desarae Johnson, but Johnson won the gold thanks to a better second mark. Johnson's teammate, Anaiya Wood, finished in third place just one inch behind the top pair. The long jump was just as close with Alaina Fugate of New Braunfels winning with a 16-7 jump to hold off Steele's Kaya Williams who jumped 16-6.

On the track, the meet opened with the distance medley relay that was won by the Smithson Valley quartet of Lilly Koenig, Izabella Sutherland, Skyler Fonseca and Brady Solansky in a time of 12:27.15. They won by 26 seconds over New Braunfels. Koenig, Sutherland and Solansky teamed with Addison Briscoe to win the 4x400m relay at the end of the day with a time of 4:03.55, comfortably ahead of Steele (4:11.74) and New Braunfels (4:13.87).

Solansky, Koenig and Briscoe went 1-2-4 in the 800m for the Rangers. Solansky won in 2:14.60 while Koenig finished in 2:17.09 and Briscoe ran 2:22.89. Savanah Moya of New Braunfels broke 2:20 to finish in third place in a strong event.

Fonseca won the 1600m in 5:17.68 and was able to pull away from a top-level lead group that included Ava Briley (5:19.54) of New Braunfels, Madi Molinar (5:20.49) of Canyon and Kassia Kozarski (5:20.62) of Steele.

Sutherland, the final member of the Rangers DMR team also added a silver medal in the 400m with her time of 1:01.30. The 400m was won by Steele's Jadyn Cook who weathered the wind to run a great time of 58.54. Jerzie Saylor of Clemens took third in 1:01.62.

Kozarski had to settle for fourth in the 1600m, but she shined brightest in the 3200m. She ran away with the win crossing the line in 11:26.45 well ahead of Molinar (11:44.83) and Smithson Valley's Addison Knibbe (12:01.11).

The Steele 4x100m relay team of Deshae Knox, Caydence Jackson, Nia Reed and Lauren Dobbins took the gold medal in 48.85 as they held off Smithson Valley (49.13) and Clemens (49.84). Steele's 4x200m traded out Anaiya Wood for Knox and easily won in 1:43.65 while New Braunfels was second in 1:46.79.

Steele and Smithson Valley swept through the hurdle event. In the 100mh, SV's Maycee Moody won the race in 15.42 while Steele's Layla Frieson (15.67) and Wood (16.11) took the next two spots. In the 300mh, Wood won in a time of 47.10 and her teammate, Keira Reyna, was second in 47.93 and Smithson Valley's Erika Arzu (48.36) took third.

Smithson Valley also had the individual champions in the 100m and 200m. Avianna Miller won the 100m in 12.56 as she out-leaned Kaidyn Holmes-Oliver of Cornerstone at the tape. Jazelle Howard (12.76) took the bronze medal in a photo finish over Karis Leyendecker of Smithson Valley. Leyendecker ended up winning the 200m in 25.83 while Nia Reed (26.05) was second and SV's Brooklyn Singh (26.19) was third.

The Steele Knights won the boys meet with 163 points to finish ahead of Clemens (138) and New Braunfels (115). Steele won eight total events and were led by their horizontal jumps crew and speedsters Maverick James and Israel Wray.

In the long jump, the Knights took three of the top four spots with Donnell Williams (22-4), Braeland McBride (21-7) and John Williams III (21-6). New Braunfels senior Cole Tavarez nabbed third place with a jump of 21-6. In the triple jump, Williams III continued his season long dominance with a mark of 46-9 in the difficult weather conditions. Brixton Shullanberger of New Braunfels and Davinci Johnson of Clemens each jumped 40-7 to take second and third in the triple jump.

On the track, James and Wray have been going back-and-forth against each other all year. In the 400m, James was able to pull away from Wray late to win in 49.21 while Wray finished in 49.56 and Seguin's Daniel Pinones (51.31) grabbed third place. The rematch came in the 200m where Wray nipped James at the tape by 0.01s in 21.76. SV's Hunter Haug took third in 22.45.

Both throwing events were won by Smithson Valley's Hans Scheff who threw 48-5 in the shot put and 140-7 in the discus. Francisco Medina (46-6) of Seguin and Slash Rosinski (45-2) of Steele rounded out the medal winners in the shot put while Case Dierschke (134-7) of Clemens and Steele's David Robledo (133-4) were second and third in the discus.

Canyon's Tapiwa Hananda set a new personal record in the high jump clearing 6-6 to win the event. Seguin's Cordel Leon was the silver medalist with a clearance of 6-2 while Canyon's Rowdy Proctor was third at 6-0.

The boys pole vault matched the girls pole vault for quality with nine vaulters clearing at least 13-6. William Moffatt (Canyon), Jace Bennett (Utopia) and Luke Nichols (Clemens) all cleared 15-6 and they finished in that order based upon misses. It was a school-record for Nichols and Bennett, the 2024 1A State champion eclipsed his season best from a year ago.

New Braunfels won the distance medley relay behind Jordan Alonso, Maddox Bethke, Jeremiah Moore and Carson Pair. They clocked a time of 11:06.50 to finished ahead of Clemens who ran 11:13.78. The Unicorns kept their winning ways going in the 3200m with Talmage Powell taking the gold in 10:16.55. Aric Pinguelo of Clemens finished second in 10:19.00 and Alpine's Hatfield Cason made the trip across the State over Spring Break to finish third in 10:27.84. Pair also won the 800m in 2:04.48 while Timothy Lawson (2:04.90) and Matthew Beatty (2:05.79) of Clemens took the next two spots.

Smithson Valley won their lone track event in the 4x100m relay. Their 2024 State qualifying squad (Bradley Sowersby, Caden Spradling, Conor Drott, Liam Magee) is back from last year and they looked good in winning in 42.27. Clemens was second in 43.26 and New Braunfels was third in 43.47.

Steele freshman Liam Jones is starting to make a name for himself in the hurdles. He won the 110mh in 15.41 to edge out Clark Mills (15.47) of Clemens and Marcus Troy (15.90) of Seguin. Jones won the 300mh comfortably in 40.98 as Troy and Mills took second and third, respectively.

Deven Langston took the 100m title in 10.95 for Steele while Elliot Weaver (11.12) of Seguin and Conor Drott (11.18) were medal winners.

New Braunfels was the surprise winner in the 4x200m relay over Steele. Colton Butler, Lane Duke, Stephen Brown and Kingston Brown won the race in 1:30.13 while Steele was second in 1:31.00 and Clemens was third in 1:31.40.

Jayce Love of Clemens won an exciting 1600m race in 4:39.28. SV's Zebene Martine led the race for the first three laps by about 10 meters, but could not hold on as Love, Timothy Lawson and Steele's Cameron Jamerson all ran him down. Initially, Lawson looked like he was going to win, but Love sprinted past him in the last 25 meters.

The final event of the meet featured Seguin winning the 4x400m title behind Daniel Pinon, Adrian Aguirre, Ramiro Galvan and Caliste Henson. They won in 3:26.55 to easily take gold over New Braunfels (3:30.68) and Smithson Valley (3:32.39).