Campbell shares national synchronized title at USA Diving
Texas sophomore diver Grayson Campbell earned a national title in men’s 3-meter synchronized diving alongside Greg Duncan of North Carolina at the USA Diving senior nationals Thursday in Dallas.
The duo earned 383.19 points to top Olympic silver medalists Sam Dorman and Michael Hixon by 8.4 points.
“When we’re competing against them, we’re not really thinking of them as Olympic silver medalists,” Campbell said in a USA Diving news release. “When you’re out there competing, whether it’s a local meet, a national championship or an international meet, it’s the same mindset.”
After scoring 79.8 points on a reverse 1½ somersault with 3½ twists, Campbell and Duncan completed a front 2½ somersault 2-twist pike in the final round. With a miss by Dorman and Hixon, the Longhorn All-American and the Tar Heel triumphed.
Men’s tennis: Like the women’s team, the men’s squad couldn’t advance past the round of 16 at the NCAA Championships on Friday in Chapel Hill, N.C.
No. 6 Mississippi State won the doubles point and three singles matches to top No. 11 Texas 4-1.
“Mississippi State deserves a lot of credit,” UT coach Michael Center said. “They’ve got a very good team. They sustained their level better than we did today. It looked like we had opportunities. We just didn’t execute well enough all day long.”
Rodrigo Banzer had the only win for Texas, beating Florian Broska 6-4, 6-1.
Trevor Foshey defeated Adrian Ortiz 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 seal the match.
Track and field: UT’s Sam Worley shared Big 12 freshman of the year honors with Vernon Turner of Oklahoma for the outdoor season.
Worley also won the fall season award as the top rookie.
The freshman set a facility record at the Big 12 Championships in Waco when he finished the 1,500 meters in 3:44.63. He’s the first Longhorn to win that title in the Big 12 since Leo Manzano in 2008.
Volleyball: Hawaii prospect Jhenna Gabriel will join UT’s volleyball program.
A 5-foot-8 setter and libero, Gabriel is the alltime leader in assists and digs at Honolulu’s Maryknoll School. She was a threetime all-state selection in high school. Gabriel also competed with the Rainbow Volleyball Club.
“I’m very excited to have Jhenna join our program,” Texas coach Jerritt Elliott said in a statement Friday. “She is a very dynamic player that can play defense and pass. She loves to train and compete and has an arsenal of skill sets.”
If Gabriel is to be used as a libero, she’ll have to compete for playing time with veterans Autumn Rounsaville and Claire Hahn and incoming freshman Sydney Petersen.
Gabriel joins Petersen and highly rated middle blocker Asjia O’Neal in UT’s 2018 recruiting class. Barnes captured both the 100 and 200 at the state meet, leading the school to the state team title. The nationally ranked sprinter went on to play football and run track at Blinn College and East Texas State (now Texas A&M-Commerce), but he fell short of his Olympic dream after getting injured preparing for the 1992 Olympic Trials. He also missed out on a chance to be Olympic teammates with childhood friend Mark Henry, a power lifter who represented the U.S. in the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain, and the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
Two decades later, Chris has become his son’s unofficial coach. Kalon could be Silsbee’s second Olympian, not bad for a Southeast Texas town of about 7,000. He is already in the same speed class as the area’s greatest sprinters, a list that includes Galveston’s Marlon Ramsey, Beaumont’s Ivory Williams, Port Arthur’s Jamaal Charles, Jasper’s Bryan Bronson, and his dad, of course. Olympic gold would move him up in the pecking order, to be sure.
When I asked Henry if he would take a high school senior Chris or present-day Kalon in a sprint showdown, he didn’t hesitate to answer.
“I have to give it up to Kalon,” said Henry, who threw the shot and discus for the 1988 state champs. “He has the advantage of having a dad who was there pushing him and telling him, ‘I don’t want you to be rotten.’ Kalon puts in the work.” The kid agrees. “I’m faster,” he said. “My dad didn’t run 10.12 until he got to college.”
And the possibility of competing in the Olympics?
“It’s something I think about, but I’m also focused on football,” he said. “I want to be great at both.”
His exploits in the 100 get the most notice, but his dad believes the 200 is his race. Sunday’s time was the second-fastest in the nation among high school sprinters under all conditions.
“He didn’t even run the curve” at state, Chris said. “He just ran the straightaway. He stopped running 10 meters before he got to the tape and still ran a 20.5.”
As for football, Kalon fell in love with Baylor when his dad took him to a Little Dribblers Tournament in Waco when he was 10. Chris Barnes said he always wanted his son to attend Texas, and with the Baylor sexual assault scandal that made national headlines, he asked Kalon during the season if he was still sure about his college choice.
“I’m sure,” Kalon said. “I want to go to Baylor and make a difference, on and off the field.”
The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Barnes caught 45 passes for 805 yards and eight touchdowns last season and chose Baylor over offers from Texas A&M, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa State, Kansas and Missouri, to name a few.
He has nice upside on a football field, but imagine what he might do with a full training regimen geared toward track.
Silsbee track coach Michael Allen grew up in California and says Barnes is scarier than one of the most electrifying athletes to come out that state, Reggie Bush.
“I’m not taking anything from Reggie, but Kalon is freakishly fast,” Allen said. “He didn’t even start running track this season until after spring break because he was playing basketball. It just tells you how talented he is.”
Oh, yeah, Barnes was also a power forward on Silsbee’s two-time Class 4A state basketball champs. What doesn’t the guy do? How about lose?