Conquering Canyon- Addyson Bristow sets three meet records, Canyon boys win first UIL Region I-4A team title

In winning the 800 and 1600 meters, Bristow ran so far ahead of her competitors that they might as well have been in another county. Bristow began her gold rush by winning the 800 by breaking her own meet record set last year with a time of 2:07.60, shattering it by almost three seconds.

She was hardly done, as she also broke the meet record in the 1600 with a 4:52.96, breaking the previous record set by another former Canyon runner, Hannah Stuart, two years ago.

“Honestly, I was,” said Bristow of trying to rewrite the record books. “I was just trying to beat myself from last year and that’s what I did. My ultimate goal, I’m super happy with it. “

The biggest opposition Bristow seems to be facing is herself, because she doesn’t seem to be getting much of it from anybody else.

That dominance overshadowed an equally big day for the Canyon boys team. While the girls have won several regional and state titles, the Canyon boys brought home their first Saturday afternoon, scoring 91 points to finish 15 ahead of second-place Stephenville.

“It’s definitely something we’ve been talking about,” Canyon boys coach Wes Kirton said. “We made sure we had a bigger goal than what we’ve been doing. I’ve been talking to our (mile relay) guys a lot and I said let’s dream big. We knew it was a possibility, and we were excited about it.”

All the Canyon boys needed to do going into the day’s finale, the 1600 relay, was finish ahead of Stephenville. Not only did they do that, they finished less than a second behind gold medalists Dumas, who fell just short of a region record with a time of 3:17.95.

Oh, and Bristow was part of another region record to end the day, as she anchored the 1600 relay to a 3:50.78, beating the previous record set by Canyon in 2014 by over a second.

No one would blame Bristow if she’d chosen to spend that event under Canyon’s team shade tent approximately 20 minutes after she won the 1600. But did anybody think she’d sit out the finish?

“I was a little tired but not worried,” Bristow said. “I knew when it comes down to my team winning or losing I’m going to give it everything I got. I wanted to bring us to a victory and I’m happy that I did.”

As it turned out, Canyon had little trouble ending the day with another win. Brooklyn Kinsey got Canyon off to a strong start on the leadoff leg, and after falling behind on the backstretch, Reese Wilson rallied in the second leg before handing off to Sydney Winfrey.

When Winfrey opened up a big lead in the third leg, victory seemed like a mere formality when she passed the baton to Bristow. The only question was if Canyon would set a region record and by how much, as the Lady Eagles finished almost six seconds ahead of second place Brownwood.

Canyon girls winning the mile relay to close the region meet sounds like a broken record at this point. It’s no surprise that there were three more of them at the end of the day, thanks in large part to Bristow.

“I think at times there’s not so much competition so it’s definitely me versus myself at the end of the day,” Bristow said.

Sound cocky? Not when you consider that Bristow will enter the state meet in Austin as the defending 800 champion and likely prohibitive favorite, and that she will compete in the 1600 after finishing second there last year.

Canyon had a typically strong meet with 75 points, but that was far behind Brownwood, who won the team title with 113 points. The Canyon boys weren’t about to finish behind anyone.

Like the Canyon girls, the boys were dominant in the distance events, winning the 1600 and 3200. Senior Ryan Fernandez almost joined Bristow in the record books, winning the 1600 in 4:21.44, only .38 seconds off the region mark.

Fernandez needed to run that fast since he beat teammate Lathan Lewter by .27 seconds, with Aaryan Katwal-Shaver joining the Canyon teammates on the medal stand with a bronze medal to complete the sweep.

“I know I have more for state which is the end goal but I’m pretty happy with it,” Fernandez said. “I’ve been dealing with some stuff with my leg a little bit but I’m happy I was able to come out here and perform. We push each other all the time, every workout every day. (Lewter) took the first two laps and I took the second two.”

Lewter already was guaranteed a trip to state after winning the 3200 on Friday in 9:26.41, less than two seconds ahead of Fernandez.

Canyon’s other win Saturday came in the 400, again, with the Eagles taking the top two spots. Baylor West ran a 50.02 to edge fellow junior Emmitt Stewart for the gold.

It was no surprise that West ended the day running the leadoff leg of the mile relay to clinch the team title, with Stewart running the anchor and Jacob Asbill and Adrian Ramos filling the middle two legs.

“It wasn’t my best race but it still felt pretty good,” said West of the 400. “I had to pace myself along with (Stewart) and I knew exactly when to push. It feels great to do my part. We knew there was a chance.”

Johnson clears new heights

A tradition continued for the Canyon girls when they won their first medal of the day thanks to junior Hadley Johnson in the pole vault.

Following in the footsteps of three-time state qualifier Kashle Dickinson who graduated two years ago, Johnson took home region gold. She reached a personal best vault of 11 feet, 9 inches to reach her first state meet.

What particularly stood out about that number was that the cold conditions weren’t conducive to personal best vaults.

“The weather was definitely a factor,” Johnson said. “I was going for an 11-6 just to make it. Once I got it was going for a PR.”

The 11-6 was the PR Johnson had entering the event, which was tied for second best qualifying vault. Johnson’s fellow Canyon ISD rival, Randall’s Sophia Bush, had the top qualifying vault at 12-0.

Johnson, Bush and Brownwood’s Grace Sparks were the final three left standing when the bard was raised to 11-6. Johnson was the only one to clear the height, earning the gold before she aimed for 11-9.

Bush, a senior who was a state qualifier last year, got silver and the region’s second state berth by virtue of having fewer misses than Sparks.

“I was just trying to stay with (Bush),” Johnson said. “We’ve been vaulting against each other since my freshman year. It hasn’t really sunk in yet.”

Two Randall athletes “jump” start way to pair of golds

Randall swept the boys and girls long jump events, but those wins were just the beginning for the gold haul for Collin Miller and Tenera Gray.

Miller won the boys long jump with a leap of 23-3 1/2, and Gray took gold for girls with an 18-8 3/4. Later in the day after running events started, they both doubled their pleasure.

Two days after helping Randall’s baseball team win a 16-13 slugfest at Hereford by driving in four runs, Miller was in the leadoff spot for the track team. Miller ran the leadoff leg for the 400-meter relay team, sparking Randall to a win in a time of 41.65.

“It’s perfect in my book,” said Miller of his day. “I’m only here for two events and got first in both of them. What more could you ask for?”

Miller took a calculated risk in the long jump, as he made what proved to be the winning leap on his first attempt. Stephenville’s Tristian Gentry had a jump of 23-2 3/4 in his first attempt, and Miller was confident that no other jumper would surpass that.

“I was just waiting for someone to outjump me before I took another attempt,” Miller said. “I kind of tightened up a little bit (running the leadoff leg).”

Miller teamed with Phoenix Sherwood, Breckan Gilbert and Kaiden Miller to win the 400 relay, with Kaiden Miller’s strong anchor leg bringing it home.

Gray’s experience in the long jump was the polar opposite of Gilbert’s. She didn’t know she’d won until taking her final jump. where her leap surpassed the 18-6 1/2 by Brownwood’s Kaya Phillips to win gold.

That was a mere prelude to the 300 hurdles, in which she was favored and won in a region record time of 43.45

The 300 hurdles turned out to be one of the most eventful races of the day. Gray seemed in control most of the way, but she wasn’t the only one who dramatically improved her time.

Kinsey and Brownwood’s Kate Tindol chased down Gray and couldn’t catch her as they finished in identical times of 44.02. A photo finish indicated that Tindol had the edge for second place and the automatic berth to state.

“I was in the blocks when I was thinking about it and in that last 100 I heard footsteps and I knew I had to push it,” Gray said. “I think it motivates me to do better.” 

A Demon of a time

After Randall won the boys 400 relay, Dumas won both the 800 and 1600 relays. Ivan Nava, James Coaly, Colton Mills and Imanol Marquez won the 800 in 1:28.15 and Nava, Mills, Marquez and Reese Waddell combined to win the 1600 to end the day.

Marquez was the biggest factor in finishing both, running superb anchor legs to bring home the golds.

“I’ve been doing it for two years now and honestly I love the pressure,” Marquez said. “It pushes me to move as fast as I can. I knew in the 4 by 400 we had a better chance and in the 4 by 200 it was going to be tight. I told them to trust me to get that gold medal and they set me up for that.”

Dumas freshman Emily Gross didn’t bring home gold but had two school records with bronze medal performances in the 3200 (11:16.25) and 1600 (5:09.88).

The other gold medal won by an area athlete came in the boys 110 hurdles. Junior Izak Dominguez ran a 14.61 for the win after suffering a broken collarbone just two weeks ago.

Check out the results

The top two competitors from each event qualified for the UIL Class 4A state track and field meet set for May 1-3 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin.

For a look at the full results from the Region I-4A meet, please visit https://milesplit.live/meets/681501