For the first time in school history, Wimberley High School will bring home a state championship in Track and Field.
Following a dominant gold medal performance in the mile relay, the Wimberley Texans boys’ track team brought home 11 state medals to capture the 4A State Championship.
“It honestly still feels like a dream,” Head Track Coach Josh DeMarco said. “It still hasn’t completely set in. Reflecting on the boys I’m still really proud of the state championship and the state medals but at the same time I’m most proud of the fact that on that stage we performed so well and that we were ready. The moment wasn’t too big for them. Not everyone can come into that situation and handle that pressure. Not only did they handle that pressure but they rose to the occasion.”
In the boys’ shot put, senior Moses Wray captured the bronze medal with a throw of 54 feet, 9.5 inches.
But Moses wasn’t the only Texan to make it on the podium. In fact, he wasn’t the only one to medal from his own family.
Younger brother Gabriel Wray captured the bronze medal in the boys’ triple jump with a jump of 46 feet, 6.25 inches.
Even though the brothers captured bronze medals, they still wanted a better result. However, their third place finishes were able to set the table for the Texans state title run, as DeMarco explained.
“Both of them were upset, because they wanted better results,” DeMarco said. “When they were done, we told them ‘You got a medal at the state track meet. That is an accomplishment very few people do.’ You know both of them (Moses and Gabriel) are such competitors… When Gabe got his medal, and they were both walking away, I told those guys, ‘I don’t know if you understand what y’all just did, but let me explain. I know you’re mad about getting a third place medal, but nobody else is. I also know y’all want to get a ring, and what y’all did this morning might give us a chance to get a ring and win a state championship.’ ...Their whole attitude changed after that, and man, they were the biggest fans of those runners. I think they realized what they did was a much bigger deal than the pressure they had put on themselves. Their energy was infectious for those (runners,) and it carried over… We don’t win a state championship if they don’t perform the way that they did.” Having captured 12 points in field events, it was up to the Texan runners to keep up the momentum.
The Texans first event was the 800-meter relay with the team of Canyun Staton, Landon Gary, Nathan Brooks and Juan Olmedo- Barraco. Wimberley proceeded to capture the silver medal running one minute, 26:79 seconds, which was .28 seconds behind state champion Decatur.
The Texans’ time also broke the school record set this year by the same team.
The lone individual boys’ runner for the Texans was Staton who competed in the 200-meter run.
Needing a top three finish to stay ahead in the team standings, Staton finished the race with a time of 21.42 seconds which was good enough for the silver.
With the Texans sitting in first place in the team standings capturing 36 points, Wimberley needed a strong showing in the mile relay to seal the state championship.
Even though the Texans were ahead in the team standings, it wasn’t enough for the mile relay team. They wanted to win it all and finish what the team had started last year when Wimberley came up just shy of a gold medal in the race.
“I was trying to drown out every single person who was trying to tell me how much we were ahead and all of the scenarios. I knew those boys wanted to win the mile relay,” De-Marco said. “I know there were people telling them, ‘Just get the baton around,’ but no, those guys wanted to win. That was the only thing that they were thinking of at that moment of time… That was the goal from the beginning of the year. They didn’t care about the state championship at that moment in time. They wanted that gold medal, and to show that they were the best 4X400-meter relay in the state of Texas in 4A.”
Blazing through the competition, the Texans set another school record with a time of three minutes, :17:5 seconds beating second place Dumas by a whole two seconds. As Wimberley soared past the finish line to capture the elusive gold medals and plaque, they put to rest a year’s worth of effort aimed at getting back to that very moment.
Also competing for the Wimberley girls’ at state was the trio of Emily Thames, Elise Brown and Grace Harney.
Thames finished in fourth place in the long jump competition while Elise Brown finished the pole vault event in eighth place.
Grace Harney competed in the both hurdle competitions finishing eighth in the 110-meter Hurdles and ninth in the 300-meter Hurdles.
Though the girls did not capture a state medal, it is still a proud moment for them to compete at the State Track Meet, which is a feat athletes rarely achieve in itself.
