A seventh-place result and two sixths were all Temple’s trio of competitors could muster on Saturday, when area athletes captured nine medals at sizzling Mike A. Myers Stadium.
The Wildcats’ day started with senior Daniel Carr’s seventh-place finish in the Class 5A boys long jump, continued with senior Tevin Reese’s sixth-place showing in the triple jump and was capped by junior Chris Randle’s sixth in the high jump.
In between Carr’s effort in the morning and Randle’s performance at night, the Killeen Ellison boys produced three gold medals, a silver and a breathtaking performance by 100-meter champion Prezel Hardy in 5A competition; Bartlett’s Ted Crews earned a silver medal in the Class A boys shot put and Belton’s Morgan Toone took silver in the 5A girls pole vault, as did Harker Heights’ Melissa Mays in the 5A triple jump, Ellison’s Kehri Jones in the 100 and Killeen Shoemaker’s Chaniqua Corinealdi in the 5A 200.
Counting opening-day results Friday, the Saturday performances pushed the area contingent’s medals haul to five golds and seven silvers.
- ThriceCats’ struggles -
Reese, a three-event qualifier and bronze-medalist hurdler as a junior, never found his groove Saturday afternoon.
He scratched on his first two attempts, barely made it to the sand on his fourth and had a best jump of only 45 feet, 10¾ inches - more than 3 feet short of his personal record.
Garland Rowlett’s Marquise Goodwin defended his title with a leap of 50-5¾, well ahead of runner-up Emerson Sanders (48-11¾) of Katy Mayde Creek.
“Today wasn’t my day,” said Reese, who is headed to Baylor on a football scholarship. “We changed my mark (on the approach) because I don’t have as many events as I usually do. We moved it back. I knew the first one was a scratch. I really didn’t think the second one was, but they said it was.”
Reese finished one spot higher than he did last year in the event but said his memories of high school athletics won’t be dominated by his results at the state meet.
“I’m going to remember the experience I gained from this,” he said, “and what my coaches taught me during my years running track at Temple High and use that to be a greater man in life.”
Like Reese, Carr never got comfortable in the long jump. To cap a season in which he broke the school record twice - pushing it to 23-11¾ - his best leap measured only 23-3¼. It left him well back of two-time champion Goodwin, who tied the national high school federation record of 26-4¾.
“It was different than I thought it would be,” Carr said of his first and only state meet experience. “There’s a lot of competitors out here. I just had a bad day. It’s disappointing.”
Like Reese, he had no complaints about his Wildcats career.
“I’m going to remember the stuff that I accomplished,” he said. “I know I broke the school record two times in a row. I feel good about my name being up there at the school with the record.”
In his first trip to the championship event, Randle showed no signs of nerves early before yielding under the pressure of a stacked field.
Only one of the eight jumpers was eliminated through the first three heights, each of which Randle cleared on his first attempt before bowing out at 6-8 when the field was cut to five competitors. San Antonio Warren’s Anthony Johnson was one of five jumpers to clear 6-10 and claimed the gold based on number of misses.
“It’s overwhelming being here as a junior,” Randle said. “I was kind of slipping and my arm kept hitting the bar. Hopefully I’ll come back next year and do better and win it.”
- Flying Eagles -
After several years in decline, the Ellison boys track and field program proclaimed its return to the upper echelon of 5A in loud fashion.
The Eagles captured titles in the 100, 300 hurdles and 800 relay, were runners-up in the 400 relay and finished second in the team standings with 56 points, 10 behind two-time champion Rowlett.
Hardy had a hand in everything but the 300 hurdles. He drew a collective gasp from the 9,500 in attendance with a blazing run of 10.08 seconds to become the second 100-meter champion in Ellison history.
His time was faster than the state and national federation record of 10.15 set by Greenville’s Henry Neal in 1990, but Hardy won’t be credited with a state or national record because of a 2.2-meters-per-second tailwind - 0.2 meters too many.
He filled out his night by sandwiching anchor legs on the Eagles’ 400 relay (41.04) - in which he rallied from 30 meters back to kick Ellison from fifth to second - and 800 relay (1:25.66) around the 100 in a span of only 45 minutes.
“It was pretty tough. I just had to get some liquids in my system while I moved from event to event,” said Hardy, a junior and Ellison’s first 100 champion since Prince Fields in 1982. “I was surprised with myself, actually. I don’t know where all of this came from tonight. God just blessed me.”
Steven White capped the Eagles’ night by winning the 300 hurdles in 37.06 for Ellison’s first title in the 300s since Bob Rachal in 1991.
- Medals mongers -
Having already captured his second career medal in what he considers his best event - a silver in the discus on Friday - Crews closed his days as a Bulldog with a silver in the shot put. His heave of 52-11¾ was almost 2 feet better than his regional meet-winning toss but still more than 2 feet short of champion Caleb Berry (55-1) of Canadian.
“It’s medals; two pieces of hardware,” Crews said. “That’s the way to go out. It’s not the two pieces I wanted, but it’ll work.”
The area’s other four medals Saturday were silvers earned on the girls side.
Toone cleared 12-3 to finish behind only New Braunfels’ Demi Payne (12-6), an improvement of one spot on the bronze Toone took home last year.
Corinealdi (23.84) finished just a quarter-second behind Kimberly Duncan of Houston Cy-Springs in the 200, and Jones’ difference between gold and silver in the 100 was even slimmer. Jones posted a 11.51 to the 11.50 clocked by Dallas Skyline’s Tiffany Hines.
“She just had the better day, the better race,” Jones said. “I did all I could do.”
Mays grabbed her silver in the triple jump but was more impressed by the mark she needed to claim it - a personal-best 40-3.
“I just took it as a regular track meet, but I actually surprised myself,” said Mays, who finished second to two-time champion Dallas Rose (42-½) of Pearland. “I really wanted to get 40 feet, and I might be more happy about that than I am the medal.”
- Tough sledding -
Crews’ performance was the area’s lone highlight Saturday in the smaller classifications.
Rockdale senior Krysten Brooks was seventh in the 3A girls 100 hurdles and Cameron Yoe sophomore Brook Brashear did the same in the 300 hurdles.
Brooks - daughter of 3A boys 300 hurdles state record holder Tony Brooks - was in the top three through the first 50 meters before fading to finish in 15.36 seconds. Kemp’s Sharda Bettis won in 14.53.
Brashear didn’t duplicate Brooks’ quick start and was in danger of slipping to last coming off the curve before finding her stride to hold onto seventh in 46.63. Sweetwater’s Morgan Shelton won in 43.93.
At the 5A level, Copperas Cove’s Roberto Camacho (38.13) was sixth in the 300 hurdles after being added to the field earlier in the week.
Ellison’s Bobbie Williamson - a late add to the discus field when DeSoto’s Skylar White decided not to defend her title - was seventh at 130-11. Her toss was more than 16 feet shorter than that of New Braunfels’ Andrea Hannasch (147-7).
Heights’ Aliese Hyde was the defending bronze medalist in the 800 but was disqualified for running out of her lane in the 800, won by Odessa Permian’s Shartanae Swearingen (2:16.25).
NOTES: Three records were set on the final day. . . . Whitesboro’s Hayden Baillio broke a 31-year-old record with a toss of 68-7¼ in the 3A boys shot put, eclipsing the 67-¼ set by Waller’s Carlos Scott in 1978. . . . Whitney’s Wren Bonner went 13-0 to break the 3A girls pole vault mark of 12-6 set by Gonzales’ Arianna Ince in 2005. . . . The 2:09.81 by Dallas Madison’s Simone Brickley in the 3A girls 800 broke the record of 2:11.74 set by Bellville’s Amy Goodwin in 1987.
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
