Allison, Baldridge carry flag abroad
George Ranch champions to represent US at Cuba meet
The southern border of the George Ranch attendance zone ends where Brazoria County begins, but this week two Longhorns are much farther south than that and in a place where not many Americans have been in the last six decades.
Track and field state champions Champion Allison and Jayson Baldridge are representing the United States at a track meet in Cuba Friday and Saturday. They are competing as part of the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation at Havana’s Estadio Panamericano.
The team is comprised of 28 of the country’s best high school athletes. They are racing against Cuba’s top youth athletes in the Caribbean Scholastic Invitational, which has been held in Puerto Rico since 2006.
It has moved to Cuba for the first time now that the United States and Cuba have restored diplomatic relations for the first time since the Cold War in 1961.
The competition serves a dual purpose. It exposes rising track stars to international competition and provides for an exchange of cultural goodwill between American athletes and Caribbean athletes.
“This is a once-in-alifetime opportunity,” George Ranch track coach Todd Dutch said. “For them to get international experience is huge for a high school athlete. It is a stepping stone for their success. By 2020 they may be poised to make Olympic team.”
Allison and Baldridge are coming off individual titles at the Class 5A state championship meet. Allison won in the 400-meter dash and Baldridge in the 300 hurdles. Allison is competing in the same event this week. Baldridge is competing in the 400 hurdles.
Both athletes burst onto the scene this season with neither one qualifying for state before this year. Allison, in fact, had never competed beyond the district meet. He turned heads in the winter when he ran 47.31 seconds in the 400 dash at an indoor meet. At the time it was the nation’s third fastest time.
He hoped to run 45.6 at the state meet but settled for 46.4, still good enough to win.
“I am going to get it before year ends,” Allison said. “Winning state was a big deal because I have wanted to do that ever since I was a freshman.”
Baldridge was not expected to win state either, but that had more to do with the fact he would be competing against reigning world youth champion Norman Grimes of Canyon. Grimes pulled his hamstring late in the regular season and did not compete in the postseason.
That left Baldridge as the one to beat. He cruised to district and regional titles before winning state by nearly seven-tenths of a second in a time of 36.32 seconds.
Like Allison, Baldridge also fell short of his desired time.
He will have plenty of chances to run sub-36 seconds this summer as he tries to qualify or the World Youth Championships. Next up, however, is his first trip outside of Texas. He does not plan for it to be his last.
“This whole school year has been great for me,” Baldridge said. “Winning the state title for football and track has been great.
“Capping it off with a trip to Cuba has made everything better.”