San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Three’s company for Rattlers
Reagan girls win third straight regional title; Boerne Champion boys claim Class 5A crown
The last thing Reagan senior sprinter Jasmine Montgomery needed was help of the wind.
Nevertheless, it was blowing strong Saturday afternoon at Heroes Stadium and carried the Oregon-bound Montgomery to some blazing times at the Region IV-6A/5A championships.
Montgomery won the Class 6A 100-meter dash (11.21 seconds) and 200 dash (personal best 23.27) in what would have been meet records, but the wind gauge measured each race above the threshold (2.0 meters per second) for records.
“Unless, it’s major wind, I can’t feel it or hear anything,” Montgomery said. “The only thing I can hear is my breath and footsteps.”
Montgomery made a lot of noise, anchoring of a meet record that did count — a 45.60 in the 4x100 relay — that set the tone for a dominating performance from the Rattlers, who won the girls 6A team division with 105 points for their third straight regional crown. Austin Vandegrift was second (68).
“We’re just blessed,” Montgomery said. “We’re amazing. Phenomenal.”
The Rattlers were one of two area team champions. Boerne Champion won the 5A boys team division with 93 points. Georgetown East View was a distant second with 43.
The Rattlers’ girls 4x100 relay, which also consists of Madeline McElroy, Taylen Wise and Alyssa Quinones-Mixon, owns the nation’s top time (45.42) in the event.
“We really tried to clean up our handoffs today,” Montgomery said. “We knew we’d be able to do it. It was a little windy today, but I knew we would pull it out.”
The Rattlers avoided a disaster in Friday’s preliminaries when the second exchange between Wise and Quinones-Mixon nearly occurred outside the exchange zone. Quinones-Mixon got the baton to Montgomery, who crossed the finish line first.
“I was thinking of finishing the race either way,” Montgomery said. “I was just focusing on doing my part so we could bring the team in so we could win.”
Reagan also won the 4x200 relay, and Wise leaned in to win the 300 hurdles with a time of 43.59, edging Austin Vandegrift’s Maci Simmons (43.60) to score big points.
Boerne Champion junior Anastacia Gonzales won the 5A girls 800-meter run, setting a San Antonio-area record (2:09.45). She broke Smithson Valley’s Amalie Mills’ previous mark (2:09.61) set at the District 27/28-6A area meet.
“Today, I just wanted on focus on myself, so I got off strong,” Gonzales said. “I tried to focus on my splits, especially for the first 200, and once I came around to the second lap, my goal was to pick it up each 100 and finish off strong.”
Gonzales also won the 1,600 with a time of 4:57.41, a win by more than four seconds.
In the 800, Gonzales set a strong pace and outlasted Cedar Park freshman Isabel Conde De Frankenberg (2:10.06).
“I knew (De Frankenberg) was going to have a good kick, so I just tried to maintain my pace and hold on the last 100 meters,” Gonzales said. “I felt really strong today and confident.”
Health Careers senior Denzel Hinds swept the boys 6A hurdles, winning the 110 in 14.18 and 300 hurdles in 37.49.
Hinds, who owns the state’s best time in the 300 hurdles (36.91), has been prepared for bigtime competition after losing a season to the pandemic.
“Coming into here, I’ve been focusing on what I’ve been doing in practice,” Hinds said. “Since COVID happened my junior year, I didn’t really have a chance to show off what I could do. Since then, it’s been about focus, persistence, dedication and improving myself.”
Harlingen won the 6A boys team division with 70 points with Judson (53) and Johnson (53) behind the Cardinals. Cedar Park won the 5A girls team division with 102 points. Champion was second (97) and Georgetown third (55).