The Texas Relays are the second largest track meet in the United States and draw some of the best competition in the nation. While it is a collegiate competition at its heart, the top Texas high school athletes also compete with a stringent list of qualifying times required to enter. While it may not be the state championships, it isn’t too far off, and in some categories it can be even more difficult.
The Wimberley boys’ track team sent senior Moses Wray to compete in shot put against the top 30 qualifiers in the state of Texas regardless of school size as well as the relay teams for the 4x200 and 4x400-meter, one of the most celebrated and sought-after races in the sport. The girls’ track team sent one for all three relay events in the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400-meter relays as well as the 100-meter hurdles.
The Texan 4x400-meter relay, which returns all four runners from the team that made the state meet last year, had something to prove. They proved it.
“They finished the year off last year at the state track meet with a bit of disappointment,” Track Coach Josh DeMarco said. “We wanted to finish on the medal stand, and they have made a real effort that they want to get back and compete at that level. I think we took a big step last week.”
The relay team of Canyun Staton, Nathan Brooks, Landon Gary and Juan Olmedo-Barraco busted their previous school record by four seconds to take first place in the 4x400-meter relay in High School Division I at the Texas Relays with a time of 3 minutes, 19.75 seconds.
“Competing with those schools and running that time this early – I am just really excited about that,” DeMarco said. “To my knowledge, I don’t think we’ve ever had anybody win a medal for the boys at the Texas Relays.”
The relay team didn’t just come home with one. They came home with two after the same crew placed second in the 4x200-meter relay with a time of one minute, 27.62 seconds finishing .07 seconds behind first place.
“We had a bad (baton) exchange going into the last leg,” DeMarco said. “I think if Juan had about six more meters, I think he would have caught him. It will be exciting to see if we can progress and get back to that point in the future.”
Wray has been adding strength since finishing up the football season and competed against the top shot put competition in the state. He’s likely the only running back to be competing at such a level in the shot put and he is only getting stronger.
“He worked so hard this spring,” DeMarco said. “I think the disappointment of the fall (football season) and things not going the way we hoped has made some of these guys hungrier. I think Moses is hungry. He has worked really hard and dedicated himself to be pretty good at shot put.”
Wray put the shot 56.4 feet, just two feet shy of a school record, and placed fifth. The only competitors to finish ahead of him were from 6A schools much larger than Wimberley.
In some respects, the girls’ relay teams are used to performing at the Texas Relays, but in high school sports, the experience is often graduating.
“It was a good opportunity for our kids to go and run there,” Track Coach Lacey Lambert said. “If we are fortunate enough to make it to the state meet, this is the only other opportunity you get to run in the (Mike A. Myers Track & Soccer Stadium at The University of Texas at Austin)… It is a big ‘wow’ factor for the kids who have never run there, so it is a good opportunity and to compete and get some of those nerves out.”
The relay teams included multiple freshmen in Lauren Foster, Laney Hennesse and Addison Laney and sophomore Baylee Gold as well as a few returning runners in juniors Emily Thames and Rylee German and seniors Grace Harney and Haley Hall. Harney also ran in the 100-meter hurdles. None of the girls’ made the finals, but there was still plenty of value in running on one of track’s largest stages.
“They competed hard,” Lambert said. “We had a long week of track. We finished right in the middle of the pack. We didn’t quite run our best times, but we gained a lot of experience from it.”
