The district track season is upon us and what a way to start.
The District 3-5A track and field meet took place Wednesday and Thursday on the campus of Lubbock-Cooper High School in Woodrow with the Lubbock-Cooper Pirates and Amarillo High Lady Sandies being able to bring home team championships.
The Lady Sandies had a very emotional day with standout athlete Memori Hibbler going down with an injury during the 100-meter dash. It did throw off her team mentally, however, the Lady Sandies pulled together for Hibbler to win the District 3-5A championship with 158 points. That was 50 points better than second place Cooper’s 98.
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Running without the speedster Hibbler on the mile relay, AHS had to step up. Trailing on the final lap, Willow Cornell took the stick and was able to rally back to chase down Tascosa’s Chandler Graham to get the Lady Sandies a gold medal with a time of 3:59.47. Cornell was stellar on this afternoon winning three gold medals. Not only did Cornell have the heroic finish in the mile relay, she also made it a clean sweep in the hurdle events by clocking a 14.47 to win the 100-meter and then a 44.94 to get on the gold medal stand in the 300-meter race.
Teammate Sofia Quilles was excellent in her own right. Quilles won gold in the 200-meter race sprinting to a 24.32, then turned around and won the 400-meter event with a 56.13. Quilles also qualified to the area round as a part of a silver medal sprint relay team (48.56).
There were some other top individual performances outside of the Lady Sandies championship. Lubbock High’s talented long distance runner Amelia Anderson won both the 1600-meter race (5:23.20) and the 3200-meter (11:40.77).
Lubbock-Cooper’s Abbey Watt blazed to a time off 11.84 to win the 100-meter and was part of the Lady Pirates gold medal sprint relay (47.59). Lubbock Monterey’s Mya Lewis popped off a 37-8 3/4 for a victory in the triple jump and won another gold in the high jump by clearing 5-feet-5 inches, and Plainview’s Ava Rushing made it a sweep in the throwing events. Rushing tossed a 44-4 1/2 to claim a gold in the shot put followed by a launch of 140-8 to win the discus.
On the boys’ side, Lubbock-Cooper held off Amarillo High to win the team title. The Pirates tallied 154 points to the Sandies 135.
Josiah Davis was the show stealer for the Pirates on Thursday. Davis set the tone with a blazing time of 10.18 to win gold in the 100-meter dash, and smoked the field in the 200-meter race with a 21.12. He then won his third gold with a leap of 23-2 3/4 in the long jump. Davis was also a part of Cooper’s silver medal performance in the 800-meter relay (1:28.77) to advance to the area meet, and grabbed another silver in the triple jump (45-8).
Tascosa’s Aaron Phares put on what one the more special days in Texas Panhandle history during the shot put. Phares had three throws over 60-feet and was able to set the new school record, previously held by Nick Jones, as Phares uncorked an eye-popping toss of 62-11 1/2 for the gold medal.
Palo Duro’s Kyron Brown highlighted the hurdles. Brown claimed his first gold in the 110’s with a time of 14.29, and earned his second trip to the gold medal stand thanks to a 39.43 in the 300-meter.
The Sandies relay teams made it a clean gold medal sweep. The sprint relay team won its race thanks to a 41.80, the 800-meter relay clocked a 1:27.48 for. a gold and the mile relay was impressive thanks to a time of 3:21.45.
The District 3-5A/ 4-5A Area Track and Field Meet is set for Friday, April 17 at PlainsCapital Park at Lowrey Field in Lubbock.
Track and Field quick hits
At the District 5-4A meet at PlainsCapital Park at Lowrey Field on Thursday, The Lubbock-Cooper Liberty Patriots won the team title with 208 points while the Frenship Memorial Lady Panthers claimed a team district championship with 185 points. Liberty’s Ella Hurst punched a ticket to area in five events, and won four golds Thursday. Hurst won a gold in the 100-meter dash (12.30), the 400-meter run (58.89). In the field events, Hurst went to the medal stand two more times winning the triple jump (37-2) and the long jump (17-5 1/2). On the boys’ side, Liberty’s Kaiden Joseph won the long jump (22-2) and was a part of the gold medal sprint relay team.
At the District 2-6A meet, the Frenship Lady Tigers tied for second with 126 points while the boys got fourth with 90 points. Highlighting the meet for Frenship was distance runner Zyla Deshone. Deshone won all three distance races by first winning the 3200-meter (12:23.02), then the 800-meter race (2:18.56) and capped her day off wit ha win in the 1600-meter (5:30.62).
Boys Ranch hosted the District 3-1A meet Wednesday. The Roughriders piled up 213 points to win the team championship and the Hartley Lady Tigers scored 192 points to win the girls team title. Boys Ranch’s Carter Esteban won the 1600-meter race (5:20.65) and the 3200-meter event (10:54.57). The Lady Tigers were paced by Eniada Villanueva, who won both hurdle events. Villanueva won the 100-meter hurdle event thanks to a time of 18.33 and then the 300-meter race with a 57.0.