The Woodlands is trying to add a state track title to its cross country crown — again.
Highlanders aspire to add state track to cross country win
THE WOODLANDS — There aren’t many places The Woodlands could be underestimated.
Perhaps the track during the relay races is one of them. KeSean Carter notices it. He remembers this year’s Texas Relays serving as one of many proving grounds to dismiss notions while answering pertinent questions for a program that was only missing one gear when it came to rediscovering state title glory. Why can’t Highlanders relay teams be the best in the country?
“Because we have two white boys,” said Carter, the school’s 4x100- and 4x200-meter relay anchor leg said. “That’s the first thing they notice. ‘They’re not going to win. They have two white boys. We just shock them when we beat everybody.”
And beat everybody they have for the last two years. Now more history is at stake for last year’s Class 6A boys team title winner at the UIL Track and Field Championships on Saturday in Austin.
The Woodlands has a chance to sweep the fall’s cross country and spring’s track and field team titles for the second consecutive school year. If it’s been done at the highest classification, the list is short.
It’s a rare accomplishment, considering it takes different mentalities to win both titles. State cross country has a pack mentality. State track and field can be a math game. It’s about getting as many bodies to state as possible in track and field.
“You have to have the people there,” said The Woodlands assistant Chris Bails, who works closely with the cross country and relay teams. “Everybody here does a great job of just taking care of their areas, and if everybody’s area does what they’re supposed to do, (it) makes you tough to beat.”
That the Highlanders are on the brink of doing this makes sense, but it also provides a revelation. This is The Woodlands, after all — arguably Houston’s most well-rounded high school athletics program with plenty of elite swimmers, golfers, football, volleyball players and more. Track and field can be included in that bunch, too.
The Highlanders’ last team title before last year came in 1999. But along the way, the sprinters became the missing bodies needed to get back to that perch. The school’s relay teams helped change that the last two years, and it’s an eclectic mix that hasn’t changed much.
Carter will play football at Texas Tech. Ethan Bonner will do the same at Stanford. Jake Lanier will run track at Texas A&M. Move-in DeAngelo Alexander has provided the boost this year from Port Arthur Memorial. Hurricane Harvey forced him to move north.
“It was really easy to fit in,” Alexander said. “It’s kind of like the same. It’s just good to be here. Kids are fast. It’s good to be here.”
Alexander’s Port Arthur connection is interesting considering it’s Memorial’s 4x100 and 4x200 times from state last year that has these Highlanders’ attention. The Titans ran a time of 39:80 seconds in the 4x100, which was the secondfastest time in U.S. high school outdoor track history and .04 seconds behind Fort Worth Wyatt’s 1998 national record.
Port Arthur Memorial’s 4x200 time of 1:23.52 beat Hightower’s national record. Not that this Woodlands team, which returned three-fourths of both relays, left empty-handed last year. It ran 1:23.81 in the 4x200 at state, which is a Class 6A state record.
Heading into Austin this weekend, the Highlanders have a mark of 40.4 in the 4x100, which is fourth in the nation. They enter with a season-best 1:24.4 in the 4x200. Bonner said the first time this group ran together, the runners knew it was special.’
Lanier enjoys letting the results speak for themselves.
“I think we just know what we’re capable of,” Lanier said. “Just showing other people what we can do.”
Everything else is in place for the Highlanders to win again, too. They’ve been mainstays in some of the events, and others have provided the boost that’s been missing to accumulate points at the state meet. Gavin Hoffpauir is a state qualifier in the 3,200 and 1,600 meters. Sean Stavinoha is set for the discus throw, as is Patrick Piperi, who is also in the shot put. Sophomore Adam Clark is in the high jump. Carter is in the 100-meter dash.
The Woodlands has four entries on the girls’ side, too, with Caroline Morris in the 400-meter dash, Nya Harmon in the discus and shot put, and Katie Schlather in the pole vault.
Bails said what made last year’s boys’ triumph so special was how well-rounded it was. Points came from every state event, not just the relays.
There is a chance for this year to feel similar.