Track teams face larger schools
By Donnie A. Lucas
Albany tracksters faced a large field of athletes, many from much larger districts, at the Hamlin Piper Relays last Saturday to bring home a few medals and valuable experience.
The high school track teams will compete at the Eastland meet today, with the field events starting at 3:30 p.m. and the running at 5:30 p.m.
Both squads were operating at less than full strength at Hamlin due to spring break, but the coaches said that advances were made.
“It was a meet with many large schools such as Snyder, Vernon, Childress, Breckenridge, and Sweetwater,” boys coach Rod Britting said. “The guys were able to get in some much-needed work, especially considering we are only two weeks away from district.”
Both the varsity and JV boys teams placed seventh at the meet, with the varsity earning 30 points among 20 teams. The JV scored 43 points among the field of 12 teams.
The Lady Lions placed 20th out of 23 teams, earning just six points.
“It was tough coming off spring break for us,” girls coach Lauren Peacock said. “We have got to get mentally tougher all around. We have tough competition this year in district with Haskell, Cross Plains, and Stamford. I’m looking forward to finally having all the girls complete for the first time this season at Eastland.”
Peacock said she was pleased with the way her sprint relay looked in the preliminaraies, but not in the finals.
“We had a couple of rough handoffs that definitely affected us in the sprint relay,” she said. “We ran smooth in the prelimins but not the finals.”
Senior Caroline Masters -tallied the only points for the team, placing third in the pole vault.
“Caroline was consistent with a jump of 9-6 again this week,” the coach said. “She is still looking strong.”
The coach also recognized improvements by Alli Hill and Ansleigh Garcia in their events.
Britting commended Blaine Kayga in the pole vault, his first jumps in two seasons due to injuries.
“Blaine, Colby (Hargett), and Ben (West) helped us in the relays,” he said. “Jaheim (Newton) and Luke (Ivy) both had a good day in the JV division, earning medals in several events.”
The coach said that the jumpers also performed well in Hamlin.
“We were strong in the high jump and long jump,” Britting said. “Colby has been consistent, and Robert Bailey has been right there with him. Cameron Dacus also high jumped for the first time and showed a lot of promise.”
The coach said Dacus had to lay out of later events due to a calf strain.
Varsity Girls Results
4x400 relay – 10. Albany, 4:37.70. Torie Fuentes, Ansleigh Garcia, Jaleigh Morales, Cydney Nelson.
100 m dash – 7. Torie Fuentes, 14.09.
100 m hurdles – 7. Alli Hill, 18.36.
300 m hurdles – 7. Ansleigh Garcia, 53.89.
High jump – 8. Alli Hill, 4-06.
Pole vault – 3. Caroline Masters, 9-06.
Long jump – 14. Ansleigh Garcia, 13-10.0. 20. Blanton Belcher, 13-05.50.
Triple jump – 22. Blanton Belcher, 26-09.0.
Varsity Boys Results
4x200 relay – 8. Albany, 1:37.13. Ben West, Colby Hargett, Blaine Kayga, Robert Bailey.
4x400 relay – 5. Albany, 3:47.53. Ben West, Colby Hargett, Blaine Kayga, Robert Bailey.
High jump – 3. Colby Hargett, 5-10. 4. Robert Bailey – 5-10. 5. Cameron Dacus, 5-10.
Pole vault – 7. Blaine Kayga, 10-06.
Long jump – 1. Cameron Dacus, 20-03.0. 9. Robert Bailey, 17-03.25.
Triple jump – 4. Cameron Dacus, 38-02. 9. Ben West, 34-04.50.
JV Boys Results
100 m dash – 7. Jaheim Newton, 12.97.
800 m run – 6. Luke Ivy, 2:24.45.
4x100 relay – 3. Albany, 48.55. Isaiah Dockins, BJ Morris, Luke Ivy, Jaheim Newton.
4x200 relay – 6. Albany, 1:47.40. Isaiah Dockins, BJ Morris, Luke Ivy, Jaheim Newton.
High jump – 1. Jaheim Newton, 5-04.
Long jump – 1. Jaheim Newton, 17-06.50.
Triple jump – 2. Luke Ivy, 37-04.50.
