It’s 4 straight for Cypress Springs girls
George Ranch caps debut with jump over Langham Creek for boys title
The correction didn’t take but a second.
After the public-address announcer said the Cypress Springs girls track team was the three-time reigning Class 6A Region III champions, the Panthers quickly put up four fingers as they accepted their trophy.
Correction, the announcer said Saturday at Columbia Challenger Stadium. Make that the fourtime reigning champions.
Cy Springs not only won, totaling 81 points to runner-up Lamar’s 54, but the Panthers set themselves for a run at a state title — the lone accomplishment missing. They won all three relays (at 400, 800 and 1,600 meters) but will have to wait to find out if one of their three third-place finishers will advance.
The top two finishers from each of the four regions advance to the UIL state meet May 11-13 in Austin, along with the highestfinishing third place. The Panthers have third-place finishers in the 100-meter dash, 800 and 300 hurdles. They’ve finished second twice and third at state the last three years.
“I like what happened and I like their resiliency because a couple of things happened today that weren’t necessarily perfect but they rolled through it like it was light work,” Cy Springs coach Ruqayya Gibson said. “That shows the mental toughness.”
On the boys side, George Ranch’s debut in the state’s largest classification includes a regional title. The Longhorns used a firstplace 1,600 relay to jump over Langham Creek in the final standings, tallying 74 points to the Lobos’ 62.
George Ranch also won the 400 relay, while Champion Allison and Jayson Baldridge won the 400 (46.3) and 300 hurdles (36.07), respectively.
“What they just did was a feat in itself,” Longhorns coach Todd Dutch said. “We weren’t really winning a lot of meets, but we were slowly but surely just putting everything together.”
Lamar pair pile up the wins
It almost is like a game of H-O-R-S-E between Lamar seniors Julia Heymach and Milan Young.
Heymach went into Saturday with one first place and state berth already in tow, winning the 3,200-meter race Friday. She added another gold in the 800 before giving way to Young.
“She won hers, so that’s what I’m going for,” said Young, who swept the hurdles, winning both the 110- and 300-meter races.
The two combined to win five events and lead Lamar to a runner-up team finish by themselves. Heymach, a Stanford signee, added a third gold in the 1,600.
“I always see how hard she’s working,” Heymach said of Young, who’s headed to LSU. “So if I ever have an off day or I’m not feeling my greatest, just seeing how she races and is always training her hardest pushes me.”
Young’s fourth place in the 100 was the lone blemish in the duo’s showcase, though few could blame her for not completing the trifecta as she ran the sprint immediately after winning the 100 hurdles. She still qualified in two events and will get one more shot to compete with Heymach.
“We try that,” Young said of the friendly competition. “We keep pushing so when we get to the meets and it’s the first race and then second race, we still have energy.”
Doak soaks in state berth
A clerical error cost Joseph Doak a trip to the state meet a year ago in three events.
He competed in the wheelchair shot put, but the junior at C.E. King had to wait a year to try again in the 100- and 400-meter races.
So after he finished his 400, Doak listened in as his coach Robert Jones and meet officials went over multiple times the procedure to certify the times.
The UIL added the wheelchair division in 2014, with Doak the first area athlete to qualify when he reached state last year.
“Work’s paying off,” Doak said. “I just wanted to improve overall from the last couple weeks. And besides shot put — my form was off and that’s on me — I know I can do better.”