The Woodlands holds on for 6A boys title
Lamar girls take second as Young, Heymach claim gold medals
AUSTIN — The Woodlands did everything it could.
The Highlanders completed their final event two hours before the UIL state track and field championships ended Saturday. They were in six events, earned points in all six and won four. They capped their two-day performance with an 800-meter relay time that broke the Class 6A record and would have set the national mark had Port Arthur Memorial not already broken it Friday.
As satisfied as the Highlanders were, finding out if their 60 points were enough for a team title had to wait through five more events. They watched as points added up for George Ranch and Converse Judson. Sixty proved enough. The Woodlands held off the boys field to finish six points ahead of George Ranch, which ended the night winning the 1,600 relay.
“We talked about it — coming in and competing,” said Kesean Carter, who anchored the winning 800 relay. “Not coming in and settling for anything.”
Unlike many team champions or top finishers, the Highlanders didn’t have multiple relays, which double the points from the 10-8-6-4-2-1 scoring system. Two relays wins almost guarantee a top-three team finish as it nets 40 points.
“We’ve known – it’s been our opinion – that we have the best track team in the state of Texas across all 17 events,” The Woodlands coach Juris Green said. “We’re all over the place, (but) maybe this was one of the years where the best overall track team in the state of Texas has won a state title.”
The Woodlands only had the 800 relay, which they won in 1:23.81 to set a 6A record. That came on the heels of Carter winning the 100 (10.32 seconds).
The Highlanders earned points they expected, getting a second place Saturday in discus from Adrian Piperi in addition to the first he claimed Friday in shot put. William Hunsdale earned a first as well in the 3,200.
They also got a bonus when Cecil Gregg jumped 24-1 on his final attempt in the long jump to take first place, earning 10 points. Gregg entered with the fifth-best mark coming off the regional meets.
“Being an underdog takes some pressure off but excites you a little bit,” said Gregg, who broke his femur going into his sophomore year and dealt with a pulled hamstring this year.
His mark was a personal best and beat both North Shore’s Thomas Davis (24-0¼) and Oak Ridge’s Zachary Johnson (23-10¼).
On the girls side in 6A, Cypress Springs was close again, and Lamar finished second with just two athletes.
Cy Springs finished third, marking the fourth consecutive season in which it has placed second or third in the final team standings.
DeSoto won its second consecutive title and fifth since 2011. The Eagles scored 65 points and were nine ahead of Lamar, which was led by seniors Milan Young and Julia Heymach.
“It was funny — at the awards stand, they were waiting for the rest of the team to come, but we told them, ‘No, this is it,’ ” Lamar coach Robert Collett said.
Young set a record in the 300 hurdles, finishing in 40.97 to break the 19-year-old record by 0.04 seconds. She added a silver in the 100 hurdles.
Heymach added two golds and nearly a third, finishing second in the 1,600.
“I really enjoyed challenging myself this season and I knew from pretty early on that I wanted to go for it and see what I was capable of,” said Heymach, who won the 3,200 on Friday and 800 on Saturday.
Area athletes rack up wins
Kynnedy Flannel didn’t think she broke the 6A long jump record.
“I didn’t feel like it was a good jump,” said the Alvin junior, who also added gold medals in the 100 and 200.
Flannel’s third jump cleared 21 feet, 2¾ inches, earning her the gold medal and breaking the 12-yearold mark by nearly six inches.
Langham Creek’s Eric Edwards won the 110 hurdles (13.39). George Ranch won three: 1,600 relay, 400 (Champion Allison, 45.87) and 300 hurdles (Jayson Baldridge, 36.25)
First-place 6A winners in the field events were Tompkins’ Mason Corbin in high jump (6-11), Channelview’s Dejah Carr in discus (131-8) and Hightower’s Gabriel Oladipo (204-5).
Anderson makes his mark in 3A
The last highly decorated sprinter from East Bernard is now going into his senior year at TCU.
Ty Slanina led the football team to a 2012 state title and did the same on the track that following spring.
“Ty is basically the Superman of East Bernard,” said Brahmas senior Will Anderson, who added his name to the school’s history of sprinters by winning the 400 in Class 3A. “Every kid looked up to him whenever they were young and I remember watching him wishing I could be like him.”
Anderson finished sixth a year ago but pulled away from the field Saturday to win by nearly a second (48.00).
He later anchored East Bernard’s second-place 1,600 relay.
“This is a pretty big honor,” he said. “I don’t know (if I’m at Slanina’s level). I’m close maybe. I have a gold.”