Track meet curtailed by storm

The Albany Lions and Lady Lions track and field programs were denied a chance to compete in a big meet Saturday, March 16 when the Possum Kingdom Relays at Graham were cancelled because of inclement weather.

The Albany athletes return to competition Thursday, March 21 (today) at the Clyde Relays.

In missing out on the Graham meet, athletes lost a chance to compare their development against a large field that included several larger schools.

“It was going to be a huge meet, but it got cancelled,” boys coach Rod Britting said. “There were supposed to be 50-60 throwers between JV and varsity, and they had more than 30 heats of the 200, 28 heats of the 100, three heats in JV sprint relay and three in varsity. They had 45 kids running the mile and two heats of the 800 with about 25 in each.”

The cancellation puts Albany behind schedule as far as preparing for the District 10-2A meet, scheduled for Thursday, April 4 at Cisco.

“We needed to run if we could,” Britting said. “We didn’t have everybody, but the ones who were there were ready to go. You hate to load them up and haul them there, then not get to compete.”

Girls coach Lauren Peacock said the situation is made worse by some teams getting meets in last week.

“Haskell got their meet in at San Angelo,” she said. “It’s definitely a disadvantage. You just keep training the kids and take the opportunity whenever you get it.”

Britting said he still has several questions regarding the lineup he will enter at district.

“There are some decisions still up in the air on who’s doing what,” he said. “I still haven’t had the four guys I expected to be on the mile relay together yet. We haven’t run a varsity mile relay yet, and Clyde is the fourth meet on our schedule.”

Only a handful of Albany athletes competed in field events before lightning stopped the meet. In the boys discus, Lanxton Viertel threw 117 feet and Kolt Koemel scratched on his only attempt.

JV shot putters Zane Green (34 feet), Wesley Gleitz (32 feet), and Aaden Mendez (31 feet) posted marks, but the event was not completed.

Ashlyn Miller was the lone Lady Lion to compete, going out at 4-8 in the high jump.

“They started it higher than usual, so Ashlyn had a tough time clearing her opening height, but it was good practice for her,” Peacock said. “We didn’t get any of our running in. That was disappointing.”

Peacock said she especially wanted to see hurdler Avery Everitt in action.

“Avery went to a hurdling camp and worked hard over the break,” Peacock said. “I’m excited to see what she can do in the 100 hurdles at Clyde.”

At Clyde, field events will start at 3:45 p.m. with running events starting around 6:30.

“It should be a good, quality meet,” Britting said. “There’ll be some 3A schools there to push everybody a little bit and get us better.”