AUSTIN – It will be a day that will never be forgotten in the community of Panhandle.
The Ettes re-wrote the record books and made every single point count and thanks to that recipe, Panhandle was able to sneak past Refugio winning the outright UIL Class 2A team state championship Saturday afternoon at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
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This is the third straight UIL state title for the Ettes only this one is a little sweeter than the past two. In 2023, Panhandle had a three-way split with Stamford and Refugio. Last season, the Ettes split the state title with Refugio once more.
“It’s nice to have a state championship without sharing it,” Panhandle track coach Corby Maurer said. “The way this team won this state championship was incredible. We were behind the curve with how Refugio starting Friday, but we came on Saturday with three state records and a school record. Everything had to happen, and this team stepped up.”
Nelly Thiessen landed Panhandle its first six points getting a bronze medal in the shot put event with a toss of 41-4.
The meet was moved to Saturday due to incliment weather which didn’t effect Panhandle one bit. The Ettes sprint relay team of Ell Robinson, Carly Land, Lexi Durst and Leah Land smoked the field setting a new Class 2A record with a time of 47.32.
That was just the start of things to come. Even with a silver medal in the 800-meter relay, where Leah Land pushed Panhandle from fourth to second on the final straightaway, the Ettes set a school-record time of 1:42.65.
Heading into 300-meter hurdles, Panhandle needed points trailing Refugio. Sophomore Carly Land delivered and then some running a thrilling race to edge Drew Stewart of Normangee with a new Class 2A meet record time of 42.76.
“It was a great race,” said Carly, who won silver in the same event last year. “I knew getting those points would help us get a state championship and I was proud of myself for how I was able to run.”
Refugio took an 18-point up 70-52 after Carlie McClain won the 200-meter sprint with a time of 25.04.
With that lead, the Ettes knew they had to win the mile relay and then hope Refugio wouldn’t place in the top six to win the state title.
As it came down to the final race, Makennah Austin was entered in as an alternate for Robinson as the opening leg. Austin came through holding steady as she handed the stick off to Carly Land. From there, it was all Panhandle as Carly Land built a big lead, and her sister Leah Land slammed the door on the meet record running a 54 split to give Panhandle its third record of the day clocking a 3:54.35. On top of winning gold in the mile relay things played out perfectly with Refugio getting seventh giving Panhandle the state championship with 72 points.
“It was a great day,” said Leah, who ends her career with 10 medals at the state meet. “I’m super proud of every single one of us on this team. We worked so hard all year for this and I’m so excited we got it done. This was my last race, and I was going all out to leave it on the track. It was so awesome and I’m so happy for this team.”
Maurer echoed Leah’s comments.
“To perform how they did and run those times it was phenomenal” Maurer said. “It was so great to watch. They all run like they know they’re suppose to win. Words just can’t describe how proud I am.
All three Land sisters from Panhandle all now hold a state record in Austin. The oldest sister, Mackie, holds the 200-meter set in 2022 with a 23.75. Carly now holds the 2A 300-meter record with 42.76 and Carly with Leah hold both the sprint relay record (47.32) and the mile relay mark (3:54.35).
For a full look at the UIL state track and field results, please visit https://uil.tfresult.com/