AUSTIN – When White Deer senior Caynden Mynear was passed on the back stretch putting him in fifth place with about 225 meters from the finish line of Saturday’s Class 1A running of the 800-meter at the UIL State Track and Field Meet, his memory jolted him into high gear.
Saturday was Mynear’s third and final appearance at the state meet at Mike A Myers Stadium. As a freshman he had placed 9th in the 800, then last year he ran 5th, a mere .54 hundreths of a second from reaching the medal stand.
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“Whenever he passed me,” Mynear said, “I was like I’m not going let them take this away from me. I’m going to go get that medal.”
And sure enough he did.
Mynear reached the final 100 meters still needing to pass two runners to secure a coveted state medal. He did that and then some with a burst of speed all the way to the finish line earning second place with a time of 2:01.34, .34 hundredths of a second ahead of Borden County’s Ty Stipe.
Jayton’s stud runner Sean Stanaland was well ahead in first place at 1:57.58, pulling off back-to-back gold medal performances in 2025 and 2026.
White Deer track coach Ruben Guerrero said Mynear ran a smart race never trying to burst to the lead until the final 100 meters.
“Just kind of hang in there that first lap was our strategy,” Guerrero said. “We knew Sean is going to go get it. But what we talked about was building it all the time throughout the race. That’s what I was yelling, ‘Build it. Build it.’ ”
Mynear celebrated his silver medal performance throwing both hands in the air while a contingent of fans in the stands could be heard shouting appreciation with “that a way White Deer!”
“All four years I’ve been running in high school I wanted to come here and just get one of those medals,” Mynear said as he was wearing the 800 silver around his neck. “That has been a goal of mine.”
Coach Guerrero said Mynear is so deserving of the medal because of one simple word – work.
“I’m so proud of him,” Guerrero said after Mynear’s 800-meter medal ceremony. “He works hard. He works hard every day. When we tell him what to do he goes out and does it. Coming back after being passed and not giving up, that’s what he’s about.”
Also what Mynear is about is honoring his late best friend Deitrich Keller and his late uncle Brandon Bolding. Mynear wears a small necklace around his neck representing Keller and Bolding with one side having the word Dietrich.
“I ran like I did (today) for these guys,” said Mynear, who finished 6th in the 1600 run and anchored White Deer’s sixth place effort in the 1600 Relay. “This (holding up his necklace) represents my best friend and my uncle who passed away just more than a year ago due to suicide. I’ve been running for them. That’s what my celebration after the race was for.”
And what a celebration it was when Mynear fulfilled a dream longtime in the make – a UIL state track and field medal.
White Deer’s Chaney PR’s by 27 seconds for a bronze
White Deer senior Makayla Chaney wasn’t about to have a repeat of last year’s experience at the state meet.
Chaney finished 8th last year in the Class 1A 3200 meter race running a 12:38 and admitted when she got tired kind of cruised in late in the race.
Saturday morning at the UIL 2026 State Track and Field Meet Chaney was all business during the final 3200 run of her career improving her time by an impressive 65 seconds making a strong move on the backstretch of the final lap passing Jayton’s Jace Chisum to make the medal stand and earn a bronze medal finishing in 11:33.33.
Chaney’s effort produced a personal best time by 27 seconds.
“I really wanted to get a medal,” said Chaney, who moved into third with 200 meters to go in the race. “I thought I was going to be behind her (Chisum) and I thought I was going to go ahead and finish fourth. It was my last race so I just wanted to finish good. I didn’t want to give up. Last year I fell out and I didn’t want to do that again. I’m just really happy to medal.”
Chaney later ran the 1600 meter finishing 8th in 5:38.40.
CHECK OUT THE RESULTS
For the complete results from the UIL state track and field meet, please visit https://www.milesplit.live/meets/746342/schedule