Home > Central Texas High School Football > Archives > 2008 > May > 09 > Entry
Who Will You Have Your Eye On?
In not that many hours from now, I’ll be leaving for Austin (again) for the state track meet. As usual, Central Texas is representin’ at state. Over the course of the next two days, there will be no shortage of storylines to emerge, as the area’s best and brightest make their gold rush.
No track meet was ever run on paper, but heading on the meet, here are “Eight Things to Watch” from a Central Texas perspective, one for each lane that will be filled during the races.
- Midway chasing Lancaster — Both the Midway boys’ and girls’ 4x400 relay teams are in good position to medal heading into Friday, as both teams posted the second-best regional time among the eight state qualifiers. And, yep, in both cases, it’s Lancaster who’s sitting in the pole position. It’ll be interesting to see if either Midway team can pull off the upset.
- Blaine Bassler’s sky-high hopes — Bassler, the defending 3A state champion in the pole vault from West, is the prohibitive favorite to repeat as state champ. But what I’m hoping to see is Bassler try to add to the Central Texas record and thus claim sole possession of it. The Rice signee currently shares the all-time mark of 17-0 with former Ellison star Rocky Danners. While surpassing that height is certainly within Bassler’s reach, the all-time 3A record (and state record for all classes) might be stretching it a bit. Orangefield’s Eric Eshbach cleared a ridiculous 18-2 1/4 back in 1999.
- Another Trojan horse — Troy’s Stephanie Rauch can add to the rich history of throwers at the school — remember Trey Jordan? — with a state title in the 2A girls’ discus. Rauch not only leads all 2A competitors going into state, but she also ranks eighth in the state in any class, according to TexasTrack.com.
- A championship for Chilton? — Expect the Pirates to be a factor in the 1A boys’ team race. Chilton’s Montraze Landrum — does that last name sound familiar? — will not only compete individually in the long jump and triple jump, but the Pirates also have relay entries in the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400.
- And how about those other Pirates? — Another boys’ team to watch out for is La Vega. After winning the District 17-3A title and the Region III-3A title, the Pirates would love to complete the trifecta and take state, too. With three highly-ranked relay teams and Reco Pardue competing in the 110 hurdles, it’s a definite possibility.
- No hurdle too tall — Not for Bosqueville’s Morgan Elkins anyway. Elkins has the potential to win the Class 1A state title in the 100 hurdles in a runaway. Elkins ran 15.18 at regionals; four of her foes at state clocked in at over 16 seconds.
- Two days, two golds? — Hamilton’s Amber Weems will be one of the few athletes in the state to actually compete on both days. Weems will run the 3,200 at 11 a.m. Friday, then come back and try to win the 1,600 at 2:45 Saturday afternoon when the rest of the 2A events are held. A perennial distance-running standout, Weems enters state as the top seed in both races, with regional times of 11:36.18 and 5:20.32, respectively.
- Pride of the Lions — Waco High’s pride will be on the line when the Lions take the starting blocks in the 4x200 relay Friday. No doubt upset about a missed opportunity to defend their state title in the 4x100, the Lions will look to rectify the situation by claiming gold in the 4x200. You can bet that with the likes of Charles Silmon and Jarred Salubi handling the stick, Waco High will be tough to beat. Only Beaumont Central had a better regional time.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Commenting is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F
Post a comment
Before you comment, please take a few moments to make sure that what you're saying is civil and respectful. We don't tolerate personal attacks, insults, name-calling, impersonations or generally hateful comments — they don't make for a pleasant (or productive) conversation. We want to raise the level of debate and encourage a wide diversity of viewpoints — and that means disagreeing without being disagreeable. If you wouldn't say it to your grandmother, you probably shouldn't say it here.
Your comment will be removed from WacoTrib.com if you run afoul of these guidelines or anything else in our site's visitor agreement.
*HTML not allowed in comments. Your e-mail address is required.
Comments