Considering their antics before and after competition, the Three Stooges might also be an apt moniker. Once again, however, it’s already in use.
So what should fans call this trio of Temple athletes, the first Wildcats to compete as a group at the University Interscholastic League State Track and Field Meet since 1994?
“We’ll have a nickname for the group before it’s over,” senior long jumper Daniel Carr said. “And it will be Tevin who comes up with it.”
That would be senior triple jumper Tevin Reese, who along with Carr and junior high jumper Chris Randle will represent Temple’s medals hopes when Class 5A competition begins today at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
Each athlete is gifted in his event and all three have a solid shot to medal. That’s where the similarities end, though.
“They really are completely different as far as their personalities go,” Wildcats coach Wayne Ransleben said.
It starts with Reese as the ringleader. Described by both teammates as “goofy,” Reese is rarely serious outside the lines, even when competing in multiple events.
“I just try to have fun,” said Reese, a Baylor signee who captured state bronze last year in the 300-meter hurdles as part of a three-event day. “I know I have to have fun to win. And just competing is fun for me.”
Reese was in five events at the 5A Region II meet two weeks ago in Waco but made it to Austin in only the triple jump, in which he will try to improve upon last year’s seventh-place finish.
“It’s really cool to still be competing in anything and know that you still have something left to finish off your high school career,” he said in a startling moment of seriousness last week prior to practice before taking a moment to ridicule a schoolmate’s hair. “Nobody wants to finish their high school career early, so it’s a blessing to have something left to compete in.”
With Reese holding down the role of jokester, Carr and Randle take on other responsibilities that are easily visible, according to their coach.
“Daniel is probably a little bit more serious,” said Ransleben, the first Temple coach to guide three Wildcats to state since 800 runners Telly Moss and Kevin Ross and discus thrower Mike Lowrance competed at adjacent Memorial Stadium in 1994. “Tevin is kind of the clown. And Chris, this is all kind of new to him, so he’s probably somewhere in between.”
All three athletes echo their coach’s sentiments.
“Tevin is the goofy person who’s always laughing or trying to make us laugh,” said Carr, who finally broke through at the regional meet to earn his first trip to state. “I’m more serious. Chris can be serious sometimes, but he can be goofy, too.”
Added Reese: “If we’re playing a little too much, Daniel will put our heads back on and keep us in line. I make jokes about it, but I know he’s doing what’s right.”
He might not be the joker, but Randle is definitely the wild card in the bunch. His other sport is basketball - Reese and Carr play football - and he ascended to the rank of state qualifier in a shroud of anonymity. Despite his unfamiliarity with a duo that had long since bonded, Randle was quickly accepted because of his success and easygoing manner.
“I had usually never talked to them much, but we’ve gotten closer this season,” Randle said. “But I still don’t think I’m the serious one. I just sit back and laugh with them.”
The trick for this group is to still be laughing when the state meet - whose pressure only Reese has experienced - has concluded.
“What I remember most from last year is the hype and the crowd,” Reese said. “I remember how many people were there watching you that you don’t even know.”
With a hat trick of medals, though, this unnamed group of Wildcats certainly would be known by the crowd.
NOTES: Reese (48 feet, 1½ inches) ranks fourth in the eight-competitor field for the triple jump, which is set for 4 p.m. today, behind Katy Mayde Creek’s Emerson Sanders (50-11), defending champion Marquise Goodwin (50-3) of Garland Rowlett and Mayde Creek’s Devante Babin (48-11). . . . Carr (23-11¼) ranks third in the 11:30 a.m. long jump, behind defending champion Goodwin (25-6¼) and Galena Park North Shore’s Deandrew White (24-0). . . . Randle (6-8) ranks fifth in the 7 p.m. high jump, which features defending champion Toddrick Allen (7-1) of Plano East as one of three 7-foot jumpers.
