Reese bounced back from disappointing finishes in his two field events by rallying down the homestretch to finish third in the Class 5A boys 300-meter hurdles Saturday night at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
Reese’s bronze in the last of his three events was the only medal area athletes garnered in the boys events on the final day of the meet. He was seventh in the triple jump and eighth in the long jump.
Academy’s Cody Sultenfuss was fourth in the 2A 400-meter run, missing out on a medal by one-tenth of a second. Bartlett’s Ted Crews - the Class A bronze medalist in the discus on Friday - was seventh in the shot put, and Academy’s Andrew Sodek did not clear the opening height of 12 feet, 6 inches in the 2A pole vault. Killeen Shoemaker’s Derrick Mayes was fourth in the 5A 200.
A junior trying to cap his breakout season with a tri-medal haul, Reese struggled against the stiff competition in the relentless heat during the jumps before making a stand in the hurdles.
“It was a lot of pressure (in the hurdles) because I knew the community and my school was counting on me to come out here and perform,” he said outside the medals tent, where a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and replaced with the bronze hardware. “I couldn’t do it in the jumps, so I had to do it in the hurdles.”
After waiting through a rain and lightning delay of almost 2 hours, Reese started in Lane 9 - well ahead of his competitors due to the large stagger.
That stagger was gone by the time he reached the top of the curve and he was fifth coming out of the turn. Austin Westlake’s Clay Nelson - in Lane 8 - fell as the field started down the final straightaway, and Reese passed Duncanville’s Kennedy Daugherty going over the final hurdle to finish third in 37.65 seconds.
It was only .40 seconds slower than his regional time on a dry track, but a few steps behind champion Brandon Tucker (36.38) of Lewisville and Spring Westfield’s Jamele Mason (36.79).
“I knew who was ahead of me and I didn’t care who was beside me or behind when I came off the turn - I just knew I was going to cross the finish line with a medal,” Reese said. “I saw that guy crash in the other lane, but I was going to catch him anyway.”
With the girls 300 hurdles competitors preparing to enter the blocks and with the eight boys competitors standing in the infield, the stadium was emptied and athletes were sent under the stands because of lightning and rain.
“I was ready to run the first time, then they told me there was going to be a delay,” said Reese, whose 7:15 p.m. race didn’t have the gun fired until 9:01. “I kind of lost a little umph, but I gained it back.”
That umph was born from the frustration he found in the field events.
“He didn’t really say a whole lot outwardly, but I could tell it was bothering him (after the jumps) because of how much he loves to compete and be successful,” Temple boys coach Wayne Ransleben said. “That was his first meet where he wasn’t clearly one of the best two competitors in the field.
“That takes something out of a kid, especially if he’s not used to it. Anytime you try to force your body to do something, you tighten up a little bit. And then mentally, you get exhausted quicker under that pressure. So I’m really glad that he got a medal - to end on a good note.”
And by the time Reese had the medal around his neck, the long jump - in which he leaped 21 feet, 2 inches - and triple jump (46-6) were distant memories.
“What I’m going to remember most is the hurdles race because I got a medal,” he said. “But I have to come back next year and get a gold one, not a bronze.”
NOTES: Garland Rowlett was the 5A team champion with 70 points, followed by Lewisville (66) and The Woodlands (31). . . . Arp won the 2A crown with 52 points. Hempstead (42) was second, and Floydada (38) and Crane (38) tied for third. . . . The Class A title went to Rule (42), followed by Hull-Daisetta (32) and Chilton (28). . . . The only meet record set on the final day came in the 5A boys long jump when Rowlett’s Marquise Goodwin leaped 26-1½ to break the all-classifications mark of 25-6 set by Odessa Permian’s Roy Williams in 2000.
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
