All in all Amarillo ISD will send to the 2026 UIL state meet two relays and five individuals, Plainview’s Ava Rushing will go in the discus and shot put, and several Lubbock-area athletes from the 806 are headed to Austin.

Team wise for the AISD, the AHS boys opened eyes placing second with 50 points to first place Mansfield Timberview (90 points), Palo Duro  8th, Tascosa 10th and Caprock 28th. On the girls side of things, defending regional champ AHS was fourth, Tascosa Lady Rebs 10th, Caprock 26th and Palo Duro 28th.

Let’s start with the gold medalists earned by Tascosa’s Creery in the high jump, Quiles in the 400-meters, the AHS girls 1600 Relay running a dominating and unchallenged 3:51.08, and AHS sophomore Graeme Osteen in the shot put.

Creery had an interesting day at the high jump winning gold on fewer misses and advancing to state for the second consecutive year.

Creery entered Saturday’s competition when the bar was set at 6-foot 2-inches and easily cleared on his first jump. He repeated his smooth effort at 6-4 and 6-6. However, five others also cleared 6-6, but Creery had the fewest misses as the bar was moved to 6-8.

All six athletes missed each of their three attempts at 6-8, Creery narrowly hitting the bar on the way down on his second attempt. Since Creery had no misses entering the 6-8 height, he was declared the gold medal winner making back-to-back state appearances for the young man headed to Rice University to continue his jumping career.

“I came in the latest at 6-2 because I wanted the most jumps and I think that helped because I got 6-6 on my first jump,” said Creery. “I should have made 6-8. In that situation (jumping against the elite) you have to stay composed and use the energy it gives you to better yourself. Instead of letting it weigh you down that some people might be better than you, you have to push yourself. … I’m excited to be a part of state. Having gone last year will help. I was so scared last year I went out at 6-4.

“I want to thank Tascosa and my family for supporting me along with my coach, Coach (Tae) Tillman. And all glory to God.”

Coach Tillman said clearing 6-6 was critical for Creery to medal and praised the senior for being “an easy athlete to coach, he is dependable and works hard. He’s just the perfect athlete to coach. The experience at state last year will help. He overtrained for state last year and now knows what to do.”

Amarillo High’s Quiles has been on a season-long roll owning the areas fastest times in the 200 and 400. She didn’t disappoint Saturday winning her “new event” the 400 meters in a personal best  55.50 putting on a gritty effort the final 50 meters refusing to be passed.

Although a senior, this year is Quiles first running the 400 meters.

“It was definitely nerve racking warming up,” said Quiles, who went to state in two relays last year for AHS. “When I got on the track it was now or never. All gas. To get to state is definitely exciting. I wanted to pass the two staggers and get by myself at the 150 mark. And I was, but that last 100 was really, really long.”

Quiles said she doesn’t win without “the great team and great coaches I train with.” And, her lucky charm.

“My mom (Sylivia Chavarria) always sits on the 40-yard line,” Quiles said. “I can always hear her voice. She keeps me going.”

Speaking of keeping going, the AHS girls 1600 Relay team remained unbeaten on the season blitzing the field with a 3:49.60, a full five seconds over runner-up Burleson Centennial, and seven seconds over third place Tascosa (3:56.60).

AHS raced without panic and used an impressive third leg from inspired senior Willow Cornell to leave no doubt of the winner on this day.

Mya Vaquez opened the first leg running a solid 57.2 and then second leg Kinley Davis held form handing off to Cornell with AHS in third place, but not far from the leaders.

Cornell already was the owner of a quite a regional falling in the 300 meter hurdles during Friday’s prelims down the back stage when she held a 5-8 meter lead. Earlier in Saturday’s meet she found the medal stand with a third place effort in the 100 hurdles.

Cornell was on a mission when Davis handed her the baton. She not only caught up with the leaders, she never looked back and handed off to anchor Quiles with a 10-meter lead putting on quite a determined performance.

“I was happy with my run,” Cornell said. “What happened yesterday definitely motivated me. I just didn’t want that to be the last of my season. … I think our success just comes down to practice. We push each other really hard and each of us give 100 percent every day. I was really happy to hand off in first and knew Sofia would make it an even bigger gap.”

AHS girls track coach Jonathan Woodward had hopes of winning back-to-back regional team titles. But he was proud of the way his team handled the adversity and finished strong winning the 1600 Relay.

“We were very impressed by how well are girls competed today,” Woodward said.  “They responded with a lot of grit after a few misfortunes that happened earlier in the meet. They run hard for one another and for this team. They are West Texas Tough!”

Although not winning gold, qualifying for state with silver medal performances brought on huge smiles from PD’s Brown and Tascosa’s Chandler Graham.

Brown, a junior and tremendous pass rusher/wide receiver for the Dons football team, is headed back to state with a come from behind effort in the 110 hurdles.

Brown reached the midway mark of his 110-hurdle race in the middle of the pack and put the burners on over the final 40 meters finishing in second at 14.20, a mere one hundredths out of first behind Uriah Tucker of Wichita Falls Memorial (14.19). Later in the meet, Brown found the medal stand in the 300 hurdles earning a bronze with a 38.30 as once again he showed his grit emerging from the middle of the pack at the 100 meter mark.

“I saw in my peripheral I had a couple of guys ahead of me at the midway mark and I kicked it in,” Brown said. “My back speed of the race is pretty good. That felt good. It means a lot to me getting back to state. Obviously, the job is not finished. I have something to prove to myself, my fans and the people back at home. This is a blessing.”

Brown finished ninth at state last year as a sophomore in the 110s.

It’s hard to imagine any of the state qualifiers happier than the Lady Rebs Graham after her gutsy second place effort in the 300 hurdles. The Tascosa junior raced all year long with the memory from last year barely missing out on state in the wild card by one with the 10th best time from the four regionals.

In the crazy tight 300 hurdle race, Graham stayed strong to the finish line with all the chaos around her running a personal best by almost a second at 43.49, earning second place behind Mansfield Summitt’s Denise Turey (43.08) and ahead of third place Makenzie Piggee of Mansfield Timberview (43.97).

Graham was all smiles after receiving her silver medal.

“It was so hard,” Graham said. “I had the three fastest girls behind (out of the blocks). I knew I had to go and I could hear them the whole way. When the girl (Turey) with the fastest time passed me I never saw the next girl so I knew I was up there. It was a hard race. At the last couple of hurdles I was just thinking finish. Finish. I’d already done all the hard work.”

Graham was obviously ecstatic after crossing the finish line showing her joy.

“I was so emotional,” Graham said. “Last year I was 10th and was one away from the wild card as a sophomore. So this year I knew if I wanted it I was going to have to fight. There were good times I knew. I’m just so proud of myself I worked so hard. It’s just so emotional for me right now.

“It means the world to me getting to go state. A chance to go up against the best of the best. … it was big day. A big day.”

Also having a big day, was AHS sophomore Osteen in the discus as well as the AHS boys 800 relay team of Jude Dunavin, Creed Cavalier, Brandon Jiwa and anchor Landon Barker.

Osteen entered Saturday having thrown 188-7 in the discus and came through with the pressure of advancing to state with the winning throw of 174-3, one of only two 5A throwers surpassing the 170-foot mark. Although just a sophomore, Osteen is making a name for himself as he will be making his second straight trip to Austin as he finished 8th at state in the discus last year.

 The AHS 800 relay foursome foursome not only put up a personal best on the year they ran a confident and competitive race never too far off the lead and when all was said and done earned the trip to state with a silver medal at 1:26.36, well ahead of third place Abilene Wylie at 1:27.08. Denton High earned gold at 1:25.27.

“We were a little surprised making it to state, maybe more happy than surprised,” said Cavalier of him and his teammates who had smiles and nods of ‘we did it’ to each other meeting on the infield after knowing their effort insured a trip to Austin.

The 10 points earned by Osteen’s gold medal and the 18 points earned by the AHS 800 Relay team was the catalyst for the Sandies 50-point second place team performance. Also adding to that point total: Barker’s fourth-place effort in the 100-meter dash at 10:38, just off the medal stand by eight one hundredths of a second; and junior Hunter Spier’s fourth place throw in the shot put of 56-1 1/4 , 2 ¼ inches shy of going to state.

Regional notes

• Plainview senior Ava Rushing double dipped winning the shot put with a throw of 43-6 and was second in the discus at 145-4 meaning she will throw at state in two events.

• Lubbock Cooper’s Kinley Stevens had the winning effort in the high jump at 5-4.

• Lubbock Monterey’s Mysia Lewis earned a gold medal in the triple jump at 39-1 3/4.

• Randall senior Tahlie Brandt is returning to state in the wheel chair shot put, 100 meter and 400 meter races. She opened her Saturday competition with a regional record throw of 17-8 3/4. “I threw pretty good but I wanted 18 feet,” Brandt said. “I’ve been working on my throwing a bunch. So I’m happy with it.”

• Two of the tightest races of the day arrived in the Wheelchair 100-meter and 400-meter races. Lubbock High senior Isaac Montoya and Caprock junior Triston West put on the show with Montoya edging West in the 100-meter 17.66 to 17.69, then again in the 400-meter 1:11.38 to 1:12.18. West pulled of a person best in the 400 and both will be headed to Austin.

• Tascosa senior Aaron Pharis missed  out on state by 1 3/4 inches in the shot put as his throw of 56 1 3/4 inches was just shy of second place thrown by Mansfield Summitt’s Cameron Hall (56-3 1/2).

• Caprock senior pole vaulter Cailyn Lott was fourth at 11-6 just missing out on state at the winning height of 12-0.

• Caprock senior Alhosan Sheriff made the medal stand and scored team points for the Longhorns earning a bronze in the 110 hurdles with an impressive 14.25.

•  Tascosa sophomore Moises Sandoval III with his fourth place effort in the pole vault (13-6).

Next up

The UIL Class 5A state track and field meet is set for Friday, May 15 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-5A meet, please visit https://milesplit.live/meets/736849/schedule