5 Albany athletes qualify for state meet
By Sam Waller
Albany won the boys team title, and local athletes claimed five spots at the state track meet with event wins at the Region II-2A meet.
The Class 2A state meet will be held Friday, May 12, at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin.
At the regional meet, held Friday-Saturday, April 28-29 at Springtown, Adam Hill and Kiana Roberson won two events each, and the Lions clinched the team title by winning the 1600 relay to finish with 70 points. The Lady Lions were 12th in the girls team standings with 20 points.
For boys coach Rod Britting, the relay win was a nice way to cap a meet that held plenty of disappointment.
“It was a bittersweet meet,” Britting said. “Some guys we thought had a chance to advance didn’t, then Adam won his races. They announced the scores before the mile relay, and we were right there in contention.”
Hill, last year’s state silver medalist in the 110 hurdles, won both the 110 and 300 hurdles. The junior ran a personal-best 14.63 in the 110 finals and 40.31 in the 300 finals after a personal-best 39.99 in the prelims.
“Adam hasn’t has anyone to run against basically all year in the 300 hurdles,” Britting said. “We know we’re in the mix at state.”
Roberson, who earned bronze at state last year in the girls shot put, set a personal best in winning the event at 40-6¼, finishing four feet, nine inches ahead of the field. She threw 129-1 in the discus, winning by nearly 11 feet.
“Kiana really stepped up,” girls coach Ryder Peacock said. “You could tell she was in the zone and was there to win. The experience she got last year really set her up for this spring. She’s been consistent the whole season.”
Peacock said cracking 40 feet gives Roberson momentum heading into state.
“Sometimes, you get over those barriers and just kind of take off,” he said. “It’s like all of a sudden, an athlete will make another big jump.”
In the boys competition, the Lions picked up five medals and scored in seven of their 10 events, but past qualifiers Cole Chapman and Tye Edgar fell short in their bids to return to state.
“A couple of the guys who had been to state before didn’t make it back, and I was really disappointed for them,” Britting said. “The way things ended kind of turned our attitudes around.”
Chapman finished third in the triple jump (43-3¼), fourth in the high jump (6-2), and 10th in the long jump (19-11½). Edgar, who competed in the last three meets with a broken bone in his left hand, tied teammate Jayden Lucas for fourth in the pole vault at 13-0, with Albany’s Luke Marshall taking third at 13-6.
Neither Chapman nor Marshall earned a wild-card bid.
“Luke was over 13-9 a couple of times but found a way to hit the bar,” Britting said. “Cole almost cleared 6-4, which would have put him in, and barely rubbed it off. The way the wind was blowing, if you rubbed the bar at all, it came off.”
Britting credited Chapman’s performance in the long jump to an administrative snafu.
“They put us in the first flight after we’d originally been told we were in the second flight,” Britting said. “Cole didn’t get a chance to warm up and wasn’t ready to go. He scratched the first two jumps because he didn’t have his legs warmed up.”
Things began looking up on the track with Hill’s first win followed by a fourth-place finish in the 800 relay. The foursome of Cason Fairchild, London Fuentes, Chapman, and Edgar ran 1:33.19, missing a medal by 0.4 seconds.
In the 1600 relay, Fairchild, Jayce Tinkle, Fuentes, and Hill ran a season-best 3:28.91, dropping more than three seconds from the prelims.
“In the mile relay,each of the guys did what they needed to do,” Britting said. “We put Jayce Tinkle in, and he ran a great second leg and kept us in position.”
Even then, the Lions were just a step away from disaster.
“We almost had a collision at the second exchange because everybody was right together,” Britting said. “Jayce fell, and we barely got the baton handed off. It could have been a catastrophe, but London was able to keep it close.”
Tinkle was 10th in the 400 prelims, missing a spot in the finals by 0.35 seconds. Freshman Huffman Heatly ran 5:09.05 to finish 14th in the 1600.
In the girls division, Briley Tabor was seventh in the pole vault at 9-0.
“Briley was right there,” Peacock said, noting that sixth, seventh,v and eighth places all cleared the same height. “She’s been a consistent 9-footer all year long.”
Ella Webb was ninth in the 100 hurdles qualifying, missing a spot in the finals by 0.06 seconds. Callan Edgar was 14th in the 1600.
“Callan and Ella both competed well,” Peacock said. “For Callan’s first time at the regional meet, that was some good experience. Ella was just one spot off making the finals running in some tough conditions where times were a little slower.”
REGION II-2A MEET
BOYS
Team totals – 1. Albany, 70; 2. Cisco, 67; 3. Stamford, 64; 4. Collinsville, 48; 5. Hawley, 45; 6. Tolar, 32½; 7. Wolfe City, 26; 8. (tie) Haskell, 22; Honey Grove, 22; 10. (tie) Lindsay, 20; Poolville, 20; 12. Windthorst, 18; 13. (tie) Tioga, 16; Santo, 16; 15. (tie) Hico, 14; Hamilton, 14; 17. Chico, 13; 18. Alba-Golden, 12; 19. Rio Vista, 10; 20. Muenster, 8½; 21. Era, 8; 22. Whitewright, 7; 23. (tie) Valley Mills, 6; Ivanhoe Sam Rayburn, 6; Seymour, 6; 26. (tie) Archer City, 5; Alvord, 5; 28. (tie) Cooper, 4; Simms James Bowie, 4; 30. (tie) Itasca, 2; Nocona, 2; Clarksville, 2; Petrolia, 2; 34. (tie) De Leon, 1; Harts Bluff, 1; Como-Pickton, 1.
Long jump – 10. Cole Chapman, 19-11½.
Triple jump – 3. Cole Chapman, 43-3¼.
High jump – 4. Cole Chapman, 6-2.
Pole vault – 3. Luke Marshall, 13-6; 4. (tie) Tye Edgar, 13-0; Jayden Lucas, 13-0.
110 hurdles – 1. Adam Hill,14.53.
800 relay – 4. Albany (Cason Fairchild, London Fuentes, Cole Chapman, Tye Edgar), 1:33.19.
400 – 10. Jayce Tinkle, 54.78.
300 hurdles – 1. Adam Hill, 40.31.
1600 – 14. Huffman Heatly, 5:09.05.
1600 relay – 1. Albany (Cason Fairchild, Jayce Tinkle, London Fuentes, Adam Hill),3:28.91.
GIRLS
Team totals – 1. (tie) Era, 56; Stamford, 56; Hamilton, 56; 4. (tie) Nocona, 46; Windthorst, 46; 6. Lindsay, 41; 7. (tie) Tioga, 38; Cisco, 38; 9. Haskell, 30; 10. Hico, 29; 11. Valley Mills, 28; 12. Albany, 20; 13. Alvord, 13; 14. Cooper, 12; 15. (tie) Honey Grove, 10; Whitewright, 10; 17. Olney, 9½; 18. (tie) Bogata Rivercrest, 8; Chico, 8; Petrolia, 8; Poolville, 8; 22. Simms James Bowie, 7; 23. (tie) Harts Bluff, 6; Italy, 6; 25. Muenster, 5; 26. (tie) Alba-Golden, 4; Collinsville, 4; Quinlan Boles, 4; Seymour, 4; 30. (tie) Itasca, 2; Como-Pickton, 2; 32. Santo, 1½; 33. (tie) De Leon, 1; Frost, 1; Cumby, 1; Hawley. 1.
Shot put – 1. Kiana Roberson, 40-6¼.
Discus – 1. Kiana Roberson, 129-1.
Pole vault – 7. Briley Tabor, 9-0.
100 hurdles – 9. Ella Webb, 17.64.
1600 – 14. Callan Edgar, 6:32.97.
