On the girls side, the Lady Cardinals advanced 12 athletes to the state meet behind the running of strong relays. The 800-meter relay and mile relay teams both earned gold medals. The 800-meter team of Amryn Cowen, Kyndall Osburn, Sophia Hall and Jennie Smith ran a time of 1:55.19. Then the mile relay squad of Smith, Mya Velazquez, Gabbie Parker and Mia Crawford clocked a gold medal time of 4:27.09.
Velasquez added to the hardware by claiming gold in the 300-meter hurdles (48.16) and a silver in the 100-meter hurdles (18.00). Teammate Kathleen Bartley qualified for state by winning the pole vault event with a leap of 8-foot-6 inches.
In boys action, Elijah Lara had a superb outing as he is going to state in three events. Lara swept the hurdle events by getting old in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.96 followed by a 43.95 in the 300-meter hurdles, and then took home a silver in the triple jump (40-feet-10 3/4 inches). Teammate Wes Brantley finished third in the 800-meter run and Eli Chow was fourth in the discus to also make it to the state meet.
“We always feel successful at the regional track meet when we move more than half of our qualifiers to state,” Ascension Academy track and field coach David Sanders said. “It was incredible that we got 12 of our 13 girls to state and three of the six boys to advance. I was especially proud of how our relays and hurdlers responded to the increased pressure of stiffer competition.”
The TAPPS Class 2A state track and field meet is set for May 5-6 at Waco Midway’s Panther Stadium.