Texan Stadium hosted the Wimberley Texan Relays with nine schools competing at both junior varsity and varsity levels, including a couple of district foes for the Texans as both Canyon Lake and Fredericksburg High Schools brought their teams to town. Field events started early in the afternoon followed by the 3200 meter run.
Before the National Anthem and running events started, a Texan Relay tradition continued as meet officials conducted the 50-meter fun run for Wimberley elementary students. Athletes from all schools lined the track on either side for the full 50 meters, cheering on the Pre-K through fifth graders as they lined up by grade and gave great effort to finish first.
That great effort rolled over for the Texans teams as both junior varsity teams finished second while the varsity girls placed third. The varsity boys finished second to Fredericksburg by a slim, two-point margin. There were fabulous finishes for the Texans at all levels.
Addison Parks and Joanna Lopez took the top two JV girls discus spots easily, and Haley Lopez won the 400m dash in the same division with a personal record just tenths of a second in front of her teammate and second place finisher Uxue Portillo Floro.
JV boys hurdles races proved to be two of the most exciting finishes of the night. Luke German and Rayder Pack fought side by side over the 110m hurdles with German getting the lean to finish third in front of Pack by one one hundredth of a second. In the 300 meter hurdles, the two battled side-byside over the last four hurdles with Pack edging out German by less than half a second to claim the top two positions.
Varsity teams were not without their own drama. Gabriel Wray and Nate Brooks, along with a competitor from Fredericksburg, fought to a thrilling conclusion in the 200m dash. All three sprinted arm-in-arm for the last 75 meters for a photo finish with Wray in first by three one hundredths of a second and Brooks in third just over a tenth behind. The boys 4x100 relay of Lane Towns, Zach Patek, Cody Heckel, and Wray came in fourth out of a bundle of three crossing the line less than five hundredths of a second apart. The entire field of eight teams crossed the line within less than a second of separation.
Some results were more dominating. Emily Thames took long jump gold, clearing the field by over a foot with Bailey Gold finishing second comfortably ahead of third place. Gold, Thames and Holland Wyatt nearly swept the triple jump taking three of the top four spots. Gold was good for gold with Thames awarded the bronze. Wray demolished the field in the varsity boys triple jump as he has all season. Last year’s state silver medalist continued on pace to return to the state meet, soaring almost six feet further than the second place competitor with a 46’11” leap. He also won the long jump by over a foot at 23’1”.
Texan track travels to San Antonio on Thursday, March 30 for the Pieper High School Warrior Relays as a final tune up before their district meet Tuesday and Wednesday, April 4–5, in Geronimo Navarro. Qualifiers move on to the Area Meet at Canyon High School in New Braunfels scheduled for Wednesday, April 19.
