For years, Canyon has been known for dominance in girls sports, and that hasn’t changed. However, the boys are also having their moment in the sun.

“We just have really good kids and they work really, really hard at what they’re trying to accomplish,” Canyon boys coach Cade Wartes said. “After last year winning the region we had quite a few of those kids coming back so they really had a focus and a mindset on trying to repeat. They’ve done a tremendous job this season.”

Canyon won five events, four running and one field event, to take home the title. Appropriately, the boys ended the day by winning the most team oriented event in track and field, the 1600 relay, in a region record time of 3 minutes, 17.07 seconds.

That ended a marathon day where the schedule was impacted by Friday’s anticipated inclement weather forcing some of the field events to start in the early afternoon, delaying the start of the running events until midafternoon. Wartes saw that as just another obstacle that his team handled well.

“You never know with injuries and things like that,” Wartes said. “When we were looking at it we knew we had a chance but we had to have a lot of things go right for us. Our kids competed their tails off.”

In the end, it was a combination of the boys living up to their reputations or in some cases exceeding them.

Senior Kelton Burgoon belongs in the former category, and he was the first competitor to bring home gold for Canyon in the early afternoon.The discus thrower had  the top qualifying throw of the meet, and made sure he began and ended the day with that same status.

On his first throw of the day, Burgoon uncorked a throw of 180 feet, 10 inches which figured to be hard to beat. It was, as Burgoon decisively won the gold medal to advance to the state meet.

Burgoon’s throw set the tone for the event, as the closest throw to him was by Pampa’s Parker Webb, Burgoon’s fellow District 4-4A competitor who finished eight feet behind Burgoon and also earned a spot in the state meet as the second place finisher.

“When I threw that I felt really good,” said Burgoon of his first throw. “I felt kind of relaxed. I’d been kind of tensing up. I said a prayer to keep me calm and give me strength.”

After that, it seemed as if the rest of the field didn’t have a prayer against Burgoon. Webb’s 172-3 wasn’t even the throw which came closest to breaking Burgoon’s mark. That was a 173-1 throw by Burgoon on his sixth and final attempt after he’d already clinched the gold.
As it was, Burgoon surpassed his own expectations entering the meet.

“I really wanted to get back into the high 170s,” said Burgoon, who entered regionals with a top seeded throw of 172-7. “I had kind of a bad practice meet earlier in the week. I was hoping just to make state, so whatever it took. You want to get a good throw quick so everybody has to go beat it.”

Canyon’s second winner on the day was senior Emmit Stewart in the 400 meters. Stewart was narrowly the No. 2 seed but rose to the occasion by taking almost two seconds off his qualifying time, winning in 48.25, edging fellow senior Baylor West in 48.31 for the gold.

Appropriately enough, West and Stewart ran the last two legs of the winning mile relay team to punctuate the team victory, with Nolan Prock and Jacob Asbill running the first two legs.

“I felt great after the 400,” Stewart said. “I had a positive mindset to go win the 4 by (400). In practice we push each other every day to get better. We always compete and trade back and forth winning.

“We always try to go into it open-minded because you never know who’s going to be good. Just run your own race and that will help you. It’s super special for the entire team our senior year.”

A more surprising win came from another senior, Aidon Tijerina in the 800. Tijerina came into the event with the forth fastest qualifying time, but improved on that in the final, blasting past the two-minute barrier to run a 1:58.24, beating top seed Jacob Marquez of Big Spring.

It was an ideal time for Tijerina to run his best race.

“I did more than I was wanting to,” Tijerina said. “I was just hoping for a new (personal best and that would be fine. I think the key was just staying with (Marquez) and then having him as motivation to push me along. I had to be stronger than him just for a little bit.”

Canyon’s fifth win on the boys side came in the 1600 and might have been the biggest and most symbolic of the day, Despite being a fourth seed, junior Dominic San Miguel took over seven seconds off his seed time and not only won in 4:20.71, but set a new meet record as well.

In that same race, Perryton sophomore Jacob Erickson also went below the previous record with a 4:20.86 for a second place finish.

Friday, Erickson got his first entry to the state meet when he won the 3200 in 9:15.99, also setting a meet record.

Setting meet records is old hat for Bristow, what with breaking three records in winning three golds each in last year’s state and region meets. She has five golds and two silvers from the state meet and it would be unwise to be bet against her adding to her collection in two weeks.

Bristow didn’t break any meet records Saturday, but shew nonetheless pulled off three more wins by taking the 800, 1600 and anchoring Canyon’s victorious 1600 relay team. She didn’t take her success in her final region meet for granted.

“I would say it’s extra sweet this year because it’s the last one of course and also it’s a lot more surprising to do what we did today,” Bristow said. “There have been a lot more ups and downs this season than in any other season I’ve been here. It’s so much nicer to reap the rewards after all we’ve done this season considering how things could have gone.”

Bristow had little trouble in her first win of the day, taking the 1600 in 2:08.45, winning by over nine and half seconds. However, it may have been her wins in the last two events which ultimiately clinch her reputation before she’s done.

In the 1600, Bristow was in the middle of the pack for about the first 1000 meters before she finally broke out. Canyon freshman  teammate Presli Pool, though, wouldn’t let Bristow take gold so easily, though, as the senior had to hold off Pool, running a 4:57.43 to win by .08 seconds as both runners reached the state meet.

“I’m so grateful I was able to do how I was able to do,” Bristow said. “It’s a balance this season between being realistic and pushing myself as hard as I could go. We had a race plan (in the 1600) where one of the options was to cross the finish line at the same time so we could preserve our energy and do what we did in the mile relay. We just push each other.”

Actually, Pool had clinched a trip to state a day before Bristow. In her region meet debut Friday, Pool won the 3200 in 10:46.23.

Appopriately, the day ended when Pool and Bristow ran the last two legs of the mile relay following Cleo Paine Willis and Aubrey Holloway. Bristow gave Canyon the lead on the final leg in clocking a 3:52.64 for the victory.

“You have to be in a state of mind where you act like the mile didn’t even happen,” Bristow said. “You have to trick your mind into thinking it’s just a bunch of gaslighting just to get that off your mind.”

Williams rises to the occasion in high jump

West Plains high jumper Brycen Williams entered his event as a healthy favorite, but had to wait until his final attempt to live up to his billing.

Williams and another 4-4A high jumper, Hereford’s Brix Machen, were the last two jumpers standing with the bar raised to 6-10. Both missed on their first two attempts, and Machen missed on his last, meaning Williams would win gold if he cleared it.

That he did, as Williams cleared 6-10 to win the gold and make a statement heading into Austin.

“I’ve been waiting four years for that so it was a big confidence boost,” said Williams, who was also a starting linebacker for West Plains highly successful football team.”I never try to see (myself as a favorite). I really do feel comfortable jumping at 6-10 and I feel like 7 foot’s going to be coming here pretty soon.”

Even though Williams had already clinched gold and a trip to state, he did make an attempt at 7-0 to try to put himself in the region record books and tie with another Canyon ISD jumper, Logan Brittain, who reached that milestone in 2012. However, Williams missed on all three attempts and settled for a victory instead.

“I’m definitely pumped up,” Williams said. “I’m actually kind of excited I missed (7-0) because it gives me more of an opportunity to great things at state. My confidence has been through the roof.”

West Plains had one other win on the day, as sophomore Jackelyn Hernandez won the girls 400 in 56.76.

Dominguez hurdles to victory

The other record set by a 4-4A competitor came in the boys 110 hurdles. Hereford senior Izak Dominguez stormed past the field late to set a new region record with a 13.87, barely edging the 13.88 by Jalen Hunter in 2014.

Dominguez more than lived up to the hype which came with being the No. 1 seed entering the event.

“It felt good,” Dominguez said. “All week during practice we had one goal and that was to go sub-14. Yesterday (at prelims) it was cold but today we got back at it and it was a good solid race.”

Despite Friday’s weather, Dominguez still emerged as the one to beat Saturday and he showed it, even if he didn’t necessarily recognize it.

“I didn’t pay attention to it,” Dominguez said. “I knew it was going to be a good race no matter what and I just wanted to advance and qualify, I knew if I could close this thing it would be a sub-14 and that’s what I did.”

Liberty sophomore Joseph bounces back

The best thing about the day for Kaiden Joseph was that it kept getting better.

Joseph, a Lubbock-Cooper Liberty sophomore, ran a grueling schedule at the region meet, as he was entered in five events. It didn’t start so well, but it ended a lot better.

After struggling in a pair of jumping events in which he had high hopes, Joseph made the most of things in the afternoon running sessions. He won a pair of silver medals as part of two relay teams, and in between he won an exciting 100-yard dash.

The highlight for Joseph was the 100, in which he won an extremely tight race with a time of 10.59 seconds.

“I’ve been working a lot on speed endurance and trying to beat people in the end,” Joseph said. “I’m getting better and better at that and it’s always been the best part of my race. It just takes a lot out of your body but you can’t let it effect you.”

In addition, Joseph was part of the 400 relay with Becton Hogg, Harry Vitz and Gavin McPherson which was second in 41.57, and he teamd with Vitz, McPherson and Cobin Walker to take silver in the 800 relay in 1:26.52. This came after he finished third in the triple jump and 13th in the long jump, both well below his standards.

“I didn’t do as well as I intended to,” Joseph said. “I guess it wasn’t my day today. When I don’t do as well as I want to in a certain event, I want to make up for it in another event.”

Two Lubbock Estacado sprinters also brought home gold. Adalia McNeal won the girls 100 in 11.86 and Ivyerson McGuire took home gold in the boys 200 in 21.38.

Next up

The UIL Class 4A state track and field meet is set for Thursday, May 14 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin.

Check out the results

The top two athletes from each event advance to the UIL state track and field meet. For a complete look at the results from Region I-4A meet, please visit https://milesplit.live/meets/736849/schedule