3 individuals, 1 relay qualify for state
The Albany Lions and Lady Lions withstood the competition and the elements to qualify three individuals and a relay team for seven state berths at the Region II-2A track meet.
The Class 2A state meet will be held Friday, May 3 at Myers Stadium in Austin. The top two finishers in each event at regional advanced. In addition, the top third-place finisher in each event from among the four regions receives a wildcard berth.
In what has been a recurring theme this spring, the II-2A meet was forced to adjust its schedule because of inclement weather. All field events and running prelims were held Friday,April 19. Running finals were delayed to Monday, April 22 because of thunderstorms on Saturday, April 20.
“We thought we were going to run Saturday, but officials informed us around 1:00-1:15 that we were not going to get to,” boys coach Rod Britting said. “We were ready to run in the rain if we had to.”
RegionII-2Awasamongseveral regional meets disrupted by the weather.
“It was nice to see the UIL had a plan in place with what they were going to do,” girls coach Lauren Peacock said. “We didn’t wait around all day.”
The move also created some rearranging of schedules for the District 10-2A tennis tournament, which began Monday and included several track participants.
Returning state medalists Kiana Roberson andAdam Hill each qualified in their specialties. Roberson won the discus and was second in the shot put. Hill won both hurdles races and anchored the 1600 relay to second place. He also finished third in the shot put, earning the wild-card bid.
Luke Marshall won the pole vault, giving him two legs of a spring sports state trifecta. Marshall is also qualified for state in golf and is a two-time state tennis qualifier.
The boys 1600 relay of Jayce Tinkle,ChipChambers,Jaxson Street, and Hill ran its two fastest times of the season. The quartet posted the fastest preliminary time of 3:26.42 on Friday, then clocked 3:25.38 in Monday’s final.
“The mile relay, to me, is about kids getting a little stronger each week,” Britting said. “We probably weren’t in our best shape at district, but we’re starting to get there now.”
Albany has lowered its time 5.05 seconds over its last four races at district, area, and regional.
Among Albany’s other regional qualifiers, Tinkle advanced to the finals in the 400, but withdrew to focus on the relay. Breylon Billington finished eighth in the pole vault, and freshman Ashlyn Miller finished 11th in the girls 400 prelims.
Hill, the reigning state champion in the 300 hurdles and two-time state silver medalist in the 110 hurdles,won both events by wide margins. In the 110s, he ran a season-best 14.49 in the prelims and 14.61 in the final, winning by 0.78 seconds.Inthe300s,heran 39.99 in the prelims and 39.93 in the final, winning by 0.84 seconds.
“Adam was really just coasting in the 300s because he wanted to save a little energy for the mile relay,” Britting said. “He kind of stuttered two or three hurdles and still ran 39.6.Nobodywaswithin10 yards in either race.”
Hill’s career-best times – 14.36 and 38.75 – were at last year’s state meet.
In the pole vault, Marshall had just one miss in clearing 14-6. He then bypassed 15 feet, which he cleared at area, to try 15-3.
“On his first jump at 15-3, he barely rubbed it off so we moved to a bigger pole,” Britting said. “He was way over on his second jump, but didn’t get enough penetration and came down on it. The third jump was kind of ugly, but the first two showed he has 15-6 in him.”
Billington cleared 11-6 after going 12-6 at area.
“Breylon started jumping so much better, and we started going through poles,” Britting said. “We went three poles up, and I should have recognized it needed to be two poles up.”
Roberson started Friday by throwing 36-7¼ in the shot put, finishing an inch behind Haskell’s Harley Medford.
“Kiana threw shot put first and didn’t have much recovery time because of the way they had to set the schedule up because of theweather,”Peacocksaid. “She literally left the shot put ring and went straight to discus.”
In the discus, Roberson uncorked a toss of 132-5 on her last attempt to move up from third place and edge Gabby Hoegger of Windthorst by two inches.
“Coach (Paul) Johnston and I were thinking she’d get the wild card, then she hit that last throw,” Peacock said. “It just takes one. That’s what we keep telling them. You just never know. She had a really good throw.”
Miller ran 1:04.32 in the 400 to finish sixth in her heat, missing a spot in the finals by 1.31 seconds.
“I thoughtAshlyn came out well,” Peacock said. “For a freshman, she competed well and held her own. She looked a little heavy on that first 200, but she was able to finish strong.”
Peacocksaidthegoalfor Miller, who also qualified for regional in cross country, was to experience the atmosphere of a big meet.
“I hope she’s going to be there the next three years,” Peacock said. “She took it all in and was a nervous wreck, which was to be expected as a freshman. It’s a learning experience for her.”
Tinkle ran 53.67 in the prelims for the seventh qualifying spot before withdrawing.
“The decision was totally up to Jayce,” Britting said. “We both knew he could run faster, but he didn’t know if he could run in the top two. Getting there in the mile relay was more important to him than getting there individually.”
REGION II-2A MEET GIRLS Team totals – 1. Hamilton, 65; 2. (tie) Haskell, 54; Stamford, 54; 4. (tie) Cisco, 48; Windthorst, 48; 6. Hico, 40; 7. Era, 37; 8. Clarksville, 32; 9. Nocona, 30; 10. Tioga, 28; 11. (tie) Muenster, 19; Lipan, 19; Lindsay, 19; 14. (tie) Alvord, 18; Albany, 18; 16. (tie) Whitewright, 14; Honey Grove, 14; 18. Itasca, 12; 19. Olney, 10; 20. Frost, 9; 21. Mount Pleasant Harts Bluff, 8; 22. Seymour, 6; 23. Chico, 3; 24. (tie) Alba-Golden, 2; Italy, 2; Tolar, 2; Wolfe City, 2; De Leon, 2; 29. (tie) Rio Vista, 1; Tom Bean, 1; Fruitvale, 1; Collinsville, 1.
Shotput– 2.KianaRoberson, 36-7 ¼ .
Discus – 1. Kiana Roberson,
132-5.
400 – (prelims) 11. Ashlyn Miller, 1:04.32.
BOYS Team totals – 1. Wolfe City, 81; 2. Stamford, 59; 3. Hawley, 55; 4. Albany, 52; 5. Lindsay, 51; 6. Tioga,33;7.HoneyGrove,32;8. Hamilton, 28; 9. Haskell, 26; 10. Era, 22; 11. Hico, 19; 12. Itasca, 16; 13. Rio Vista, 14; 14. Alba-Golden, 13; 15. (tie) Lipan, 12; Windthorst, 12; Ivanhoe Sam Rayburn, 12; 18. Alvord, 11; 19. Tolar, 10; 20. Mount Pleasant Harts Bluff, 9; 21. Collinsville, 8; 22. (tie) Muenster, 7; Nocona, 7; 24. (tie) Italy, 6; Archer City, 6; 26. Tom Bean, 4; 27. (tie) Whitewright, 2; Valley Mills, 2; Cisco, 2; Anson, 2; Poolville, 2; Olney, 2; 33. (tie) Quinlan Boles, 1; Cumby, 1; Frost, 1.
Shot put – 3. Adam Hill, 49-11. Pole vault – 1. Luke Marshall, 14-6; 8. Breylon Billington, 11-6.
110 hurdles – 1. Adam Hill, 14.61.
400– (prelims) 7. Jayce Tinkle, 53.67.
300 hurdles – 1. Adam Hill, 39.93.
1600 relay – 2. Albany (JayceTinkle,ChipChambers, Jaxson Street, Adam Hill), 3:25.38.
Photo By Chey’Anne Weaver
