High school track teams to compete in Cisco
By Sam Waller
The Albany track and field teams were left with nowhere to run Thursday, March 2 with the cancellation of the Bangs meet.
Albany athletes return to action Thursday, March 9 (today) at Cisco.
Boys coach Rod Britting said the loss of a meet was something the Lions would have to overcome in the weeks before the district meet on Thursday, April 6.
“You feel like you’re behind a little bit, but with as many kids as we have doing different things we already felt that way,” Britting said. “We were going to be about half-staffed even if we’d had the meet. We’ve just got to be willing to come out and hit the grindstone.”
Girls coach Ryder Peacock said the biggest loss was the chance to improve field event technique and relay handoffs under meet conditions.
“You really can’t practice that at meet speed,” he said. “We were able to get a workout in Thursday before the rain hit and were able to get a little accomplished. We’ve got a young group in terms of experience, and that’s where it hurt us the most, not being able to get in the blocks and the whole meet experience.”
Britting said there is a possibility of adding a meet to the schedule, but UIL rules will determine if it’s feasible.
“You can’t go to two in a calendar week, but you can go to a Thursday and a Friday if the Friday starts after school,” he said. “Paul Johnston is working a meet at Munday this Friday, so some kids could go there. We’re allowed eight meets and we’ll have five, so we could pick up three if we wanted to.”
Junior High
Albany junior high teams opened their season Tuesday, Feb. 28 at Breckenridge.
The Cubs and Lady Cubs will compete Friday, March 10 at Cisco.
At Breckenridge, the eighth grade boys placed in all three relays as well as four field events.
The 400 relay of Christian Hernandez, Wesley Gleitz, Britton Farmer, and Jack Nail placed fourth. In the 800 relay, Hernandez, Gleitz, Sam Vickers, and Nail added another fourth place finish. The 1600 relay of Hernandez, Gleitz, Farmer, and Nail finished third.
In the field events, Gleitz was fourth in the high jump and Hernandez was fourth in the pole vault. Nail was sixth in the high jump, and Farmer was sixth in the triple jump.
In the seventh grade boys division, Clay Chapman and Jakobi Roberson went 1-2 in both the long jump and high jump. Grant Ceder was second in the discus, Bennett Neece was second in the 100, and Aiden Vickers was fourth in the pole vault.
Vickers, Chapman, Neece, and Roberson were fourth in the 800 relay. Vickers, Chapman, Rush Kidd, and Roberson placed fifth in the 1600 relay.
“For their first meet out, the guys did well,” Peacock said. “This was a large meet filled with teams from larger classifications, so the competition was tough. Our relays competed well for their first time out; we saw some kids run some individual races that we are excited about, and our field event kids went out and brought home some top-three finishes. Overall, I like where we are as we are progressing.”
The eighth grade girls won the 400 and 800 relays. The 400 relay of Charlee Hefner, Ashlyn Miller, Brooke Richards, Zayne Lefevre won in 53.3 seconds. The 800 quartet of Hefner, Miller, Tatum Grady, and Lefevre won in 1:56.
The Lady Cubs also placed well in individual events. In the 100, Richards won Heat 3, and Grady was second in Heat 1. In the 200, Hefner won Heat 3, Richards was third in Heat 2, and Grady was fourth in Heat 1. In the 400, Miller won Heat 2, and Lefevre was second in Heat 1.
Hefner also placed second in the long jump, while Leah Glick was sixth in the discus.
The seventh grade girls 400 relay of Tara Cauble, Cayla Green, Madeline Stapp, and Finlee Brown finished seventh with the 800 relay of Cauble, Green, Aubrey White, and Stapp placing eighth.
Brown was second in her heat of the 200 and Stapp was fourth in her heat of the 100.
