The Johnson boys and girls varsity track teams made it a clean sweep on Thursday night at the Northside ISD Meet #1 at Gustafson Stadium. Their girls team tallied 131 points to hold off Boerne Champion by 10 points while the boys team accumulated 177 points to easily win.
The Jaguars only won three of the events on the girls side. Adriana Parra claimed the victory in the 800m in 2:22.15 thanks to a strong finishing kick. Her teammates, Emily Krot and Adeline Mekeres, added big points by taking third and fourth, respectively. O'Connor freshman Maiya Hanson was nearly able to hold off Parra but settled for second place in 2:22.69. In the 400m, Diana Soto (59.73) and Kylee Koch (1:00.36) to the top two spots for Johnson and then both were members of the winning 4x400m relay team along with Arielle Diaz and Avery Hale. They held off Boerne Champion who finished in second place less than two seconds behind to secure the team title.
The meet opened with the 3200m where Taft's Adelyn Miller controlled the pace from the start. She was never threatened and won in 11:33.35 while Emma Radtke (Boerne Champion) and Evie Fitch (Alamo Heights) followed in the next two spots. Miller added a third-place finish in the 1600m with a solid time of 5:15.99, but it was not a match for Payton Kidder (Boerne Champion) who unleashed a furious kick to run down Johnson's Kira Albino in the final few strides and finish in 5:09.73.
Harlan followed by taking the 4x100m relay in 48.11 and then they built on that in the 100mh and 100m. Alexa Mitchell took the gold medal in the hurdles with a time of 15.10 to hold off Tina Pham (Boerne Champion). In the 100m, Dessalyn Rogers gave the Hawks a third straight win as she edged out Juliana Syroney (Boerne Champion) 12.21 to 12.22. Alzara Mysliwiec (Alamo Heights) won her heat in 12.42 to take third place overall. Syroney made it back to the winner's stand in the 200m when she easily won in 24.95. Mysliwiec added a second bronze medal in the event.
After the 800m, Sotomayor picked up a nice victory in the 4x200m relay with a time of 1:43.02 while Johnson and Boerne Champion each broke 1:45.
Taft added a second race victory in the 300mh. Addison Pitts got off to a great start and cruised to victory in 47.00 while Mariam Dadzie (O'Connor) and Ava Madere (Johnson) each picked up medals.
Sotomayor's Kaelony King was the big star in the field events. She took gold in the long jump (17-10.75) and triple jump (37-1). Nyla Folks was the runner-up in both events while Mysliwiec added her third bronze medal of the evening in the long jump. There was a three-way tie for first place in the high jump with Maelee Mares (Boerne Champion), Audrey Smolik (Alamo Heights) and Sadie King (Sotomayor) all clearing 4-10.
In the throwing events, Harlan's Kiara Shaw and Adyson England of Sotomayor took the top spots. Shaw won the shot put with a toss of 34-7.75 while teammate Monique Cannon was the runner-up and Macy Bitner (O'Connor) was third. Bitner was also the runner-up in the 200m. England heaved the discus 106-8 and her teammate, Destiny Ugwu, was second.
The pole vault featured a pair of strong performances from Kennedy Veale (Alamo Heights) and Patrisia Ruiz (O'Connor). Veale cleared 11-6 while Ruiz went over 11-0.
The Johnson boys won a total of seven events during the meet. They showed their strength in the 200m and 400m. Austin Anderson, normally a 300m hurdler, stepped into the quarter-mile and showed he is one of the best around. He took control of the race from the start and crossed the line in 48.07. A few seconds behind him Ayden Nunez (Sotomayor) and John David Alvarado (O'Connor) battled for second and third place. Later in the 200m, Yashiyah Griffin (21.77), Briggs Bailey (22.37) and Chris Tijerina (22.47) swept the top three spots for the Jaguars.
In addition to winning the individual 200m and 400m races, the Jaguars took the 4x200m and 4x400m relays. Their 4x200m team held off both Boerne Champion and Sotomayor in a tight race. The Jaguars clocked a 1:28.56 while Champion and Sotomayor were each less than a second behind. In the 4x400m relay, the Jaguars were in dead last at the first hand-off, but came back with three straight outstanding legs. They won going away in 3:23.82 while Champion and O'Connor took the next two spots in just under 3:30.
Joshua McNeil led the way for the Jaguars in the throwing events taking titles in the shot put (50-6.5) and discus (143-6). Logan Valdez (Sotomayor) and Blake Stehling (Boerne Champion) fought it out for second in the shot put with each throwing over 47-feet. Taft's Ryan Harr was runner-up in the discus while Valdez added a bronze medal in the event.
Cameron McDuffie gave the Jaguars their final victory of the meet with a triple jump of 44-8.25 to nip Harlan's Damari Fields (44-6.5) and Noah Folks (44-5). Folks flipped things in the long jump with a winning mark of 21-4 while McDuffie had to settle for second place.
The distance events featured some great performances. In the 3200m, Shawn Edwards (Boerne Champion) and Taylor Royce (Sotomayor) went back-and-forth with Edwards eventually accelerating past Royce at the start of the final lap. He won in 9:41.87 while Royce posted a big personal best of 9:45.55. In the 1600m, Edwards held off another strong challenger in Silas Gonzalez of O'Connor. He and Gonzalez came down the home stretch neck-and-neck and Edwards crossed the finish line in 4:25.05 while Gonzalez came through in 4:25.25.
Earlier in the meet, Gonzalez had to settle for another second place finish. This time in the 800m. Gonzalez and teammate, Chris Esparza, pushed the pace early, but it was Sotomayor's Ayden Nunez who took the gold medal in 1:55.67. Gonzalez and Esparza each broke 1:57 and three others also broke two minutes.
Jack Hollimon (Alamo Heights) took victories in both the 110mh and 300mh. In the high hurdles, Hollimon held off Johnson's Thomas Sutton and Paul Fisch with a time of 15.12. In the 300mh, Hollimon's teammate, James Lynch, gave the Mules a 1-2 finish. Hollimon won the first heat in 38.91 while Lynch took the second heat in 40.26.
The 100m dash featured Jay's Brennan Oliver winning in 10.88 while Gabriel Tovar (O'Connor) and Blake Bader (Alamo Heights) followed in second and third place. In the 4x100m relay, Boerne Champion ran past both Johnson and Harlan and a tight race separated by just 0.23s.
The high jump featured a pair of jumpers who cleared 6-4; Timothy Calvin (Taft) and Gavin Robinson (Sotomayor). The pole vault was won by Harlan's Malachi Johnson who cleared 14-6 while Johnson's Tyler Bucks (13-6) and Tyler Orwig (12-6) took the next two spots.