Region Bound
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lions and Lady Lions track and field teams advanced 21 of 24 entries to regional competition Thursday, April 14 at the area meet at Graham’s Newton Field.
The top four finishers in each event at the area meet, which pitted athletes from District 9-2A against Albany’s District 10-2A, qualified for the Region II-2A meet. The regional meet is scheduled for Friday-Saturday, April 29-30, at Porcupine Stadium in Springtown.
Albany athletes posted nine personal bests and two season bests at the area meet, claiming five gold medals. All four relay teams ran their best times of the season to move on.
“It gives you a little confidence when you PR like that,” boys coach Rod Britting said. “Some of these teams we’re running against are some of the best in the region if not the best.”
Girls coach Ryder Peacock said the efforts showed the Albany athletes weren’t content with just advancing.
“Sometimes, you’ll see kids relax when they know they’ve made the top four,” he said. “Ours didn’t; they kept working. That’s something we can build on as we move forward.”
Ten of 11 boys competing and six of seven girls extended their seasons.
“We had a pretty good day,” Britting said. “I was pleased with all the results and times.”
The Lions finished second to Hawley in the boys team standings with 126 points, advancing all three relays. The girls placed fifth with 57 points.
“We qualified in every event we had someone in,” Peacock said. “The bigger thing is that we’re dropping times and improving marks. It’s good to see that training is starting to kick in.”
The boys 800 relay of Cason Fairchild, Luke Ivy, Coy Lefevre, and Tye Edgar won after finishing second at district.
Cole Chapman won the boys high jump with a PR of 6 feet, 5 inches and was second in both the long jump and triple jump. Sarah Cotter also had a PR of 5-6 in winning the girls high jump.
Ivy topped the triple jump with his best effort of the season and ran on all three relays in addition to competing in the long jump. Adam Hill PR’ed in both hurdles races, winning the 110 and finishing second in the 300.
Pole vaulters Luke Marshall, Jayden Lucas, and Edgar in the boys and Briley Tabor in the girls all advanced. Facing a quartering headwind, Edgar survived a jumpoff for fourth place.
Four of the five girls advanced in two events. Kiana Roberson finished second in both the shot put, in which she recorded a personal best, and discus. Ella Webb qualified in both girls hurdles races, running a personal best in the 100 and season best in the 300, and she joined Kam Browning, Robin Lucas, and Cotter to advance in the 800 relay.
“I think we have some girls who have a chance at the regional meet to get to the next level,” Peacock said.
Also advancing for the boys were Lefevre in the 100 and Samuel Rosas in the 800. Both ran personal-best times with Rosas improving by nearly four seconds.
The boys 400 relay of Fairchild, Lefevre, Ivy, and Jayce Tinkle and the 1600 quartet of Ivy, Rosas, Fairchild, and Hill also earned regional berths.
Avery Everitt was sixth in the girls 100 hurdles, and Lanxton Viertel was seventh in boys discus.
Both coaches said there were no plans to attend a regional qualifiers meet this week.
“Between baseball, golf, tennis, and everything else, we’re having a hard time just getting everybody’s workouts in,” Britting said. “We’ll spend the week training and try to get everybody ready to go for regional.”
AREA MEET
BOYS
Team totals – 1. Hawley, 150; 2. Albany, 126; 3. Cisco, 89; 4. Stamford, 80; 5. Quanah, 65; 6. Petrolia, 35; 7. Windthorst, 27; 8. Olney, 17; 9. Seymour, 14; 10. Archer City, 8; 11. Anson, 5; 12. Haskell, 4.
Discus – 7. Lanxton Viertel, 102-3½.
Long jump – 2. Cole Chapman, 21-5½; 8. Luke Ivy, 18-5½.
Triple jump – 1. Luke Ivy, 43-1½; 2. Cole Chapman, 42-6¼.
High jump – 1. Cole Chapman, 6-5.
Pole vault – 2. Luke Marshall, 12-6; 3. Jayden Lucas, 12-0; 4. Tye Edgar, 12-0.
400 relay – 4. Albany (Cason Fairchild, Coy Lefevre, Luke Ivy, Jayce Tinkle), 44.49.
800 – 3. Samuel Rosas, 2:10.31.
110 hurdles – 1. Adam Hill, 15.27.
100 – 2. Coy Lefevre, 11.28.
800 relay – 1. Albany (Cason Fairchild, Luke Ivy, Coy Lefevre, Tye Edgar), 1:32.49.
300 hurdles – 2. Adam Hill, 40.48.
1600 relay – 3. Albany (Luke Ivy, Samuel Rosas, Cason Fairchild, Adam Hill), 3:32.05.
GIRLS
Team totals – 1. Haskell, 124; 2. Windthorst, 104; 3. Stamford, 98; 4. Cisco, 88; 5. Albany, 57; 6. Anson, 41; 7. Quanah, 25; 8. Archer City, 24; 9. Hamlin, 18; 10. Olney, 16; 11. Petrolia, 15; 12. Hawley, 7; 13. Seymour, 2.
Shot put – 2. Kiana Roberson, 36-9¾.
Discus – 2. Kiana Roberson, 110-2.
High jump – 1. Sarah Cotter, 5-6.
Pole vault – 2. Briley Tabor, 8-6.
100 hurdles – 2. Ella Webb, 17.21; 6. Avery Everitt, 18.11.
800 relay – 4. Albany (Ella Webb, Kam Browning, Robin Lucas, Sarah Cotter), 1:54.80.
300 hurdles – 3. Ella Webb, 50.91.
