AUSTIN – The storied history of Canyon High Lady Eagles track added a “you’ve got to be kidding me” story Thursday night ending in a state track and field co-championship.
Canyon decorated senior Addyson Bristow made a gutsy 15-meter dash somehow weaving her way from fifth to the first on the anchor leg of the Lady Eagles 1600 Relay stunning the Mike A. Meyers crowd, the four other runners, sending Canyon fans and her teammates into a tizzy of a celebration.
Bristow’s courageous sudden burst not only won the Class 4A girls state 1600 Relay, the 20 team points pushed Canyon’s team total to 58 and into a co-championship tie with Dallas Lincoln.
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One of the schools Bristow passed in the 1600 Relay with her “Addy Dash” was Dallas Lincoln. Canyon finished at 3:50.09 in the 1600 Relay, second place Katy Freeman at 3:50.17 and third place Dallas Lincoln at 3:50.24. Incredibly, fifteen hundredths of second separated first to third.
“I just told myself I don’t care if I get fifth I’m going for it,” Bristow said of the late burst of energy which netted her third gold medal of the day, her 15th individual or relay state medal and to the top of the list as arguably the most decorated runner in 806 history. “This ending to my career is better than I could have ever imagined.”
Canyon coach Ray Baca, owner of four state track and field championships and a state runner-up effort since 2019, had told his girls with two races remaining if we can place first and second in the 1600-meter, then win the 1600 Relay, we can win state.
It happened.
Canyon freshman phenom Presli Pool and Bristow ran a strategy race in the 1600 biding their time and making sure the leaders didn’t get away. Then the pair each ripped off a 61-second final 400 meter in the four-lap race fending off determined Randall junior Brooke French, who made a challenge on the final lap.
Bristow won in 4:59.96, while Pool was second in 5:00.52, thus securing 18 team points. French earned the bronze at 5:02.19 giving the Canyon ISD a sweep of the medal stand.
“That was a strategy race,” said Pool, who announced herself to the state early on Thursday winning gold in the 3200-meter run and setting a state meet record. “We needed to save our energy.”
The quick turnaround to run the 1600 and then the 1600 Relay is gut check many runners back off from.
But less than 30 minutes after running the 1660 it was Pool leading off the 1600 Relay, handing off to Aubrey Holloway in the middle of the pack of the nine-team race. Holloway ran a much-needed steady leg handing off to Reese Wilson who put together a strong 57.94 split getting the baton to Bristow in fourth place.
That’s pretty much where Bristow ran the majority of the last leg hovering between fourth and fifth place, and quite honestly, anybody watching the race as she reached the final 75 meters thought would end that way and no Canyon state title.
But Bristow being Bristow _ early in the evening she won her third consecutive 800-meter gold medal – closed the gap on the leaders and then seemingly out of nowhere burst through two runners, stretching at the finish line for the victory.
“Just so proud,” Baca said. “So proud of all of them. Presli coming off the 1600 and doing her job. Aubrey and Reese are so good. And then what can you say about Addy? Some athletes are able to do things you can’t coach. I liken it to when Brett Favre played. He might not do anything for three quarters and then suddenly you see him doing things that you can’t coach. That’s what Addy did.”
Wilson said winning a state championship for Coach Baca means a great deal to the entire Lady Eagles team.
“It’s very cool,” Wilson said. “We are very grateful that we were able to do it. We put in a lot of work and he helps so much. We wanted to do this for him.”
Canyon wouldn’t have won state without opening its day with the record-breaking performance from freshman sensation Pool, already one of the top long distance runners in the state of Texas.
Pool wasted no time putting her name in the UIL Class 4A State Track and Field record books winning the 3200-meter run in a state meet record time of 10.26.73.
Pool took the lead in the 8-lap race on the backstretch of the second lap sending the message, catch me if you can. And nobody came close as she built a 10-meter lead after the third lap and never lost stride, winning by 27 seconds over Randall junior French.
This was Pool’s first-ever race at the state track and field meet and she broke the state meet record held by a familiar name to Canyon Lady Eagles fans in Hannah Stewart (10:30.12 set in 2023).
Pool is already proving to own the gift of handling pressure meets as she found the medal state last fall at the state cross country meet winning a bronze.
Pool’s effort arrived Thursday morning and at 5:20 p.m. it was all about the legend that is Bristow when she runs the 800 meters.
The senior Oklahoma State signee buried her competition using her style of going out fast and dropping jaws by maintaining the pace. Bristow won in 2:07.79, 60 hundreths off the meet record she set last year.
Bristow held a comfortable five-meter lead by the time she was allowed to cut out of her lane after the first curve. That lead steadily grew longer and longer as she won against the best of the best in Texas by a hefty seven-plus seconds with sophomore Annalee Bryant of Salado runner-up at 2:15.76.
The 800-meter gold placed Bristow in rare air with the win giving her a three-peat in the two-lap event, and four medal stand appearances in her 800-meter career with a silver medal effort as a freshman.
“I wanted the record,” Bristow said. “But the way may year has gone I’m good with the way it ended up. I’m happy with that race.”
Bristow’s happy turned into sheer joy by the end of the night as she and her teammates celebrated a co-state championship producing an ending that was one for the ages.