Texan tracksters head to area meet

Wimberley High School track participated in their district track meet at Geronimo Navarro High School on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 4 and 5, last week.

The varsity girls finished second overall with the varsity boys bringing home a district championship. The Texans send a number of athletes to compete at the upcoming area track meet.

All three relay teams for the boys — 4x100m (Ryan Shaw, Cody Heckel, Marcus Hernandez and Zach Patek, bronze), 4x200m (Lane Towns, Nolan Waida, Gabriel Wray and Nate Brooks, gold) and 4x400m (Lucas Brookshier, Brooks, Towns and Waida, gold) — are headed to area. The three girls relay teams tabulated the same results. The girls 4x100m (Lauren Foster, Baylee Gold, Laney Hennessee and Emily Thames, bronze), 4x200m (Foster, Addison Laney, Hennessee and Thames, gold) and 4x400m (Laney, Allison Dodds, Thames and Hennessee, gold) each qualified for area.

The Texan boys sent participants to the area competition in individual running events. Brooks added the open 200m dash to his busy schedule of relays; Brookshier, the 400m. AJ Hanle scored a place in the 800m run, and the Texans enjoyed representation in both hurdle events — Troy Heugly in the 100m and Reid Leinewebber with bronze in the 300m. Gold will represent the Lady Texans as the lone individual running event contestant, taking silver in the girls 100m hurdles.

Field events were where both girls and guys made their marks. Juniper Daniel finished second in the girls high jump, and Waida took fourth for the guys. Both Thames (first) and Hennessee (fourth) moved on in the girls long jump as did Wray (gold - new school record of 23-3.50) and Waida (fourth) in boys long jump. Boys pole vault saw two Texans medal as Cash Toomey got the silver and Logan Wilkinson tied for bronze. Jackson LaBouiliere ended up in fourth place in boys shot put to advance. The triple jump saw three Texans move to area as Wray set yet another personal and school record for gold at 47-5.75 — clearing his closest competitor by 5-4.25. Gold took silver, and Thames got the bronze in girls triple. Wray outpaces his competition in both jumping events by considerable amounts yet has not allowed complacency to set in.

“I’m just trying to PR every single meet, trying to beat myself,” he said. “ I’ve got to stay healthy then jump my best and keep on jumping. Right now, I think the best triple is in the 50s, but I think I can get that if I keep on doing what I’m doing.”

“The relays are looking real good. I think the 4x200 is set to go far this year along with the 4x400. I think we have a chance to get all three into state this year,” mused Brooks, another of the talented seniors adding experience to the team. “We’ve been running together, started getting really close, and the district meet was the first time Coach DeMarco put the four of us together on the 4x400. As a senior, I’m trying to spark that competition and tell them we can get to Austin at the end of the year. I think it’s gonna be good for the next few weeks.”

The 4x200 and 4x400 teams fight each week to get and maintain the lead in each leg. The sentiment is that they want to stay out in front so it does not fall on the shoulders of any one participant to work harder to bring the team back from behind.

“Get out front and stay out front. To have guys like Nate (Brooks) and Lucas (Brookshier) who can really pull off the start makes a difference for a guy like me,” said Waida, a sophomore competing in two relays and two field events. “In the jumps, I’m finding I need to focus on going out and competing, not letting the nerves get to me. Both Coaches Lambert (Lacey and Wes) are helping me settle down and work on doing my best on meet day.”

Meet day for the area contest is Wednesday, April 19 at Canyon High School in New Braunfels. Qualifiers for the regional meet head to Texas A&M — Kingsville on Friday and Saturday, April 28 –29, in a bid to earn the right to compete at the state meet in Austin.