Walker, Yaws on target, Johnson shocks WO-S meet

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Walker, Yaws on target, Johnson shocks WO-S meet

ORANGEFIELD -- Neither rain, nor wind, nor more wind, nor much more wind could stop Nederlanders Brock Walker and Chelsea Yaws from accomplishing their normal tasks.

  Yet in the case of one Port Neches-Groves athlete, this Saturday turned into a far different experience at a high school track and field meet.

  But this was not your normal meet to begin with, because Orangefield's track facility served as interim host for West Orange-Stark's 16th annual Mustang Relays. It was the neighborly Orange County thing to do.

  Two dozen track teams had to wonder which of those school districts decided to be in charge of the ferocious southwestern wind which howled and swirled and performed all sorts of heavy swaggers near the hurdles. That's why Nederland senior hurdler Walker deserved a badge of courage of trying the 300-meter hurdles for the first time all season.

  Walker smacked a few early hurdles with the top of left knee and departed with a bruise but still claimed a pair of gold medals. His most impressive work was a 14.8 into the wind on the 110-meter high hurdles. That time does not provide anything close to an accurate barometer of how low Brock can go for several reasons.

  First, Walker sprinted right into the wind in a speed race. Second, he can't really say his starting blocks had been nailed down properly. Third, the elongated winter weather has limited the real conditioning process to evolve in a hotter weather climate. In layman's terms, it was freezing cold last week when Walker was timed at the Bulldog Relays in 15.19.

  "I think I could have run 14.5 or 14.4 today if the wind hadn't been like it was," Walker said. "When I was in the blocks, I had them set but they weren't set right. I didn't get a good push off."

  Walker had room to spare in winning his heat of the 300-meter hurdles but his performance suggested hard work remained in store to improve technique and stamina in the coming weeks.

  "I was proud of myself but I need to work at it a lot more," he said. "This is the first time I've run the 300s and I just need to get my steps down."

  The steps are just part of the challenge for veteran distance runner Yaws, who ran a winning 1,600 meters in 5:44.36 and cut her time from the Bulldog Relays but more than three seconds.

  While Walker and Yaws prospered with more predictable numbers, the WO-S meet may have served as a much more unexpected coming-out party for another Mid-County name.

  PN-G junior Matt Johnson started seriously inspecting his skills in the long jump about a week ago. He's good in other events but Johnson leaped 21-8 1/2 on his last attempt to edge West Brook's Joe Chaisson at 21-6 1/2 for the gold medal.

  Due to the weather conditions, jumpers were allowed only four attempts without separate prelims and finals. Johnson had to go 21-8 1/2 on the fourth and last try in order to win the meet.

  "The first time I even did the long jump was about three days ago," Johnson said. "But I got over 21 (feet) on Wednesday in practice."

  Remarkably enough, the versatile Indians athlete shocked his coach Kyle Segura by going 21-4, 21-5 and 21-8 1/2 during Saturday's competition.