Of all the ways to describe Blake Stock’s performance on the golf course Thursday — steady, peerless, resilient — he prefers his own summary.

“I’ll take a 73 by scrambling,” Stock said.

Stock fired a 1-over in the first round of the boys’ 14-15 division at Cottonwood Creek on the first day of the Games of Texas. His 73 not only gives him an eight-stroke lead into today’s final round, but it was also eight strokes better than any round by any golfer in any division.

Trejean Morales, of the Metroplex (left), and Chris Perry, of Austin, compete in the Games of Texas boxing event at A.J. Moore Academy.
Jerry Larson / Waco Tribune-Herald

The hard-hitting Midway sophomore has won this event the only two times he’s entered, in 2005 and again last year. It’s not a stretch to consider the 15-year-old an overwhelming favorite to add a third trophy with just 18 holes to go.

While the rest of the field fell back on another sweltering day in withering triple-digit heat, Stock was 1-over at the turn and then birdied three holes on the back nine to even out bogeys.

“Mindset coming into the tournament was just to go out and have fun, play my best and hopefully win again,” Stock said.

He said he was scrambling to even out scores for most of the afternoon, but he was still on a different plane from the rest of the field. He bogeyed 10 to fall to 2-over, but he erased it with a birdie on 13. Following the same pattern, he bogeyed 14 and birdied 15. He finished strong, birdying 18 after ripping his tee shot into the trees.

“You have to get over your bogeys,” Stock said. “If you make a bogey, you have to make a birdie right back.”

Stock isn’t the only local golfer topping his age bracket. Waco native Daniel Seibert shot an 82 and leads the boys’ 12-13 group by a stroke, and West’s Garrett Leek’s 42 gives him a two-stroke lead over Bruceville-Eddy’s Corbin Conradt in the boys’ 10-11 division.

Midway’s Jacob Heppell, the lone area offering in the boys’ 16-18 group, shot a 97 Thursday.

No stranger to success

Meanwhile, winning state championships is becoming second nature to Annie Rhodes.

The Midway pole vaulter followed her Class 4A state UIL crown in May by winning the event in the 16-and-under division at the Games of Texas on Thursday at the Hart-Patterson Track & Field Complex.

Rhodes’ height of 11 feet, 6 inches was a foot shy of her leap at the UIL state meet, but it was still the best of any girl at the meet by 6 inches. She was a foot better than the next best competitor in her division, Erin Orozco, who cleared 10-6, as did the Hico Flyers’ Reagan Maybery, the third-place finisher.

Rhodes finished just 2 inches shy of the meet record, set in 2008 by Wren Bonner of Whitney.

The only other area winner at the track and field venue was Temple Flyer Bekah Alcozer, who took the 14-and-under discus by almost 4 feet with a toss of 113-8. Dalisha Lawrence of Dallas was second with a distance of 109-1.

Crawford Athletics had two second-place finishers in Emily Winkler, who topped out at 10-6 in the girls’ 18-and-under pole vault. It was the same height as the winner, Taylor Long of Club Altius, but Winkler came up short by a tiebreaker.

In the girls’ 3,200-meter run, Crawford’s Ann-Marie Dunlap came in second in 12 minutes, 39.9 seconds to finish behind Gabriela Ortegon of Alamo, who finished in 12:20.89.

Nicholas Meadors of Gatesville was second in the boys’ 16-and-under pole vault with a clearance of 13-6. That trailed only Jacob Zalesky, a 14-9 leaper.

Area third-place finishers included John Speer, Waco, 2:51.72 in the boys’ 8-and-under 800; and William Wason, Temple Flyer, 38-11.5 in the boys’ 14-and-under triple jump.

Results for the boys’ 18-and-under pole vault were not available at press time.

Headed to the pool

The Games of Texas swimming events started Thursday with the 11-12 and 13-14 year-old girls’ divisions competing at the Waco Water Park.

Temple’s Carleigh Sullivan had the highest finish for a local swimmer. The 14-year-old finished eighth in the 50-yard butterfly. The boys will get underway today with 9-10 and 15-17 year-old divisions in the morning session. The same girl divisions swim in the afternoon session.

The Lake Jackson Swim team combined for three individual medals and both relay medals in the older division.

Hubbard’s Kayla Sanders finished in a tie for 19th and Temple’s Jessica Herzog finished 21st in the 50-yard breaststroke. Hubbard’s 200-yard freestyle team finished 12th for the highest local finish in the 11-12 division.

Temple’s Breanne McDowell competed in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events, finishing 27th and 21st.

Boxing also kickstarted its four-day run through the Games of Texas, running through 47 bouts in 13 divisions Thursday on two rings situated in the A.J. Moore Academy gym. Waco’s Antonio Castillo won by decision over San Antonio native Ronnie Cantu in the Open 132 division, and in the Open 152 division, Manuel Flores lost by decision to Ryan Karl.

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