Temple senior Daniel Carr grabbed a silver medal in the boys long jump and Belton senior Morgan Toone defended her regional crown in the pole vault, punching their tickets for the state meet and highlighting the final day of competition at Baylor’s Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex.
They’ll be joined in Austin at the University Interscholastic League state meet by a slew of area competitors, who mixed equal parts of success with failure and everything in between.
Belton senior Kyle Voss claimed a bronze medal in the discus event but came up one spot short of earning a trip to Austin to cap his high school career, and Temple’s Tevin Reese turned in average performances - which are anything but the norm for the talented Wildcat senior.
When all was said and done at arguably the most talented Region II meet in recent years, area athletes had qualified for state in a dozen events - by far the highest number in recent memory for the group of 5A schools.
“It’s exciting to have more kids going to state,” Temple boys coach Wayne Ransleben said. “It’s something that will draw more kids into a good thing.”
After performing in the shadow of Reese for almost two full seasons, Carr eclipsed his teammate and 22 other competitors by uncorking a personal-best leap of 23 feet, 11 inches to finish second behind defending state champion Marquis Goodwin (25-6¼) of Garland Rowlett.
“I knew I had a shot to make it. Tevin and I challenged each other and it paid off,” said Carr, who was fourth in Friday’s triple jump event and fifth in the long jump at last year’s regional meet. “It’s my senior year, so I wanted this pretty bad.”
Reese - a state qualifier last season in the long jump, triple jump and 300-meter hurdles - will compete only in the triple jump June 5-6 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin.
On Saturday, he was fifth in the long jump and 110 hurdles, fourth as part of the Wildcats’ mile relay and seventh in the 300 hurdles with a time of 39.12 seconds - a second and a half off his bronze-medal time from state last year.
“He was disappointed that he didn’t perform his best,” Ransleben said. “He got a really good start in the 300s, which got him to the first hurdle one stride earlier. Then his steps were off from there.
“He hit the first hurdle in the 110s. If you do that early, especially against a quality field, it’s hard to make that up.”
Toone’s goal since the season began has been to improve on the bronze medal she received last year in Austin, and she needed only three attempts Saturday to guarantee herself that chance.
After battling mononucleosis much of the season, a finally healthy Toone entered the competition when the bar was at 11-0 and only three other athletes remained. She cleared that on her second try and 11-6 on her first to wrap up her second straight regional gold.
“I feel a lot better. I’m finally not sick anymore and I’m gaining my weight back,” said Vanderbilt signee Toone, who competed at the regional meet for the fourth consecutive year. “I have confidence now, and that’s a big thing. This year, I knew I was probably going to win. My goal all season has been the state meet.”
Voss - a three-year anchor on the Tigers’ football team - recorded a personal-best throw of 170-7 to finish third in the discus and put a bronzen cap on his high school career.
“Everything I do, I try my best,” said Voss, who has signed to play football at NCAA Division II West Texas A&M. “I think I’ve had a good career at Belton High School, but I can’t wait to get to college and go play some ball.”
Belton had a trio of seventh-place performances from junior Regan Tindell in the girls 1,600, senior Myca San Miguel in the girls 300 hurdles and freshman Kyle Rhoads in the boys pole vault.
Seven regional records fell and Killeen Ellison’s Steven White almost made it eight when he won the 300 hurdles in 36.50, only a hundredth of a second off the regional mark.
And that was only one highlight for the Eagles, who also got victories from Prezel Hardy in the 100 and from their 400 and 800 relay teams.
Also earning state berths Saturday were Harker Heights’ Aliese Hyde in the 800, Ellison’s Kehri Jones in the 100 and Killeen Shoemaker’s Chaniqua Corinealdi in the 200.
Counting the state slots reserved Friday by Reese, teammate Chris Randle in the high jump and Heights’ Melissa Mays in the triple jump, the area’s 5A schools will be represented in 12 events at the state meet.
“As tough as this region was this year, I thought it was exciting to see how well all our district schools did,” Ransleben said.
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
