Track and Field Closes Regular Season, Athletes Qualify for Area
On Wednesday, April 3 and Thursday, April 4, both the JV and varsity track and field teams traveled to Leander High School to compete against the other eight schools in the 13-6A athletic conference in the annual district track meet. All of the varsity athletes and relay teams were given the opportunity to advance to the area competition by placing in the top four of their events.
The girls had a standout performance on the track, and were able to advance four of their athletes to the area competition. Jenny Todd ‘19 ran an impressive 2:17.32 in the 800-meter run, setting a new PR and grabbing first place as well, easily meeting the area qualifying standard. Todd qualified for a second event as well, this time the 4×400-meter relay where she led Meghan Booknis ‘20, Melani Helms ‘22, and Jacari Tate ‘19 to fourth place with a finishing time of 4:08.47. Tate was also able to qualify in the open 400-meter dash where she dropped a 59.10 to take the second spot on the podium.
“[Running districts] was a lot of pressure being a freshman, and everybody else that runs varsity is older. But I gained confidence and talked to my coaches and we actually did really good in that race,” Helms said. “Afterwards, I was so beyond excited because we’re going to area now and I’m just so glad I got the privilege to run with those girls because I love them so much. I’m looking forward to seeing what area is like because I’ve never been there before and I’m so excited to just try to get an even faster time on our relay.”
The varsity boys managed to advance only a single athlete to the next level of competition, this time in the field events category. Gary Tang ‘19 barely qualified in the pole vault, clearing 11 feet and 6 inches to edge out his competitors and advance to area.
The track and field team will continue postseason competition starting on Wednesday, April 17 at Midway High School. Athletes who perform well at the area meet will then advance to the regional meet, where they then have the chance to advance to the coveted state meet at Mike Myers Stadium at UT Austin.
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