Tom Track 1

[BrooksNDone]

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Tom Halliburton’s Track             

Volume 37, Number 1       _____                                                                                           Feb. 7, 2024

    Seems as if it’s been a long winter by Southeast Texas standards. So it may be awhile before our area high school track and field performers can return anywhere close to top form.

    Yet here’s the beauty of sports we’ve discovered through 56 years of sports writing – you never know. Not many brilliant minds expected a 5A state football champ two months ago from those purple Indians. Hats off to Jeff Joseph and his folks for doing just that.

   Why do I mention this football stuff in our first 2024 track report? Because when we report in three months at the state meets, our 409 needs some state champions for the schools to honor.

   On the subject of the state meet, the schedule places the trip to Austin about 10 days earlier in the calendar year than last year. Of course that also means earlier dates for the district, area and regional meets during April.

   And, you guessed it. The earlier post-season schedule has required a number of regular-season meets to either be canceled or moved much earlier in this year’s schedule.

  A small handful of schools, including Nederland, are scheduled to visit Huffman Hargrave high school for a meet this week. Most area teams will wait a week or two.

  No doubt a large field can be expected next week at Nederland for the Bulldog Relays. That should be a showcase for many of the season’s strongest performers. Quite a few will have to trade in their basketball legs for track and field legs as February and March progress.

   Who are the premier stars? It’s too early to tell but Morgan Campbell certainly has established herself as a superb distance runner. She was a 5A girls state top 20 finisher in last fall’s UIL cross country championships at Round Rock.

  We’re also hoping for a great senior year from Beaumont Kelly’s Paris Coleman. Then there’s Vidor senior Raegan Stephenson, who snagged the gold medal in Austin at the 5A girls high jump with a leap of 5-7. If Raegan is properly motivated, she is likely to clear a higher mark now.

   More than 30 schools have provided us with their season track schedules and we thank them for getting more of those on their school websites this time. Much of my area weekly leaders will depend on e-mails from area coaches and officials. Please send them to [email protected].

  My wife Donna is in her fourth year of having kidney dialysis at the Davita Port Arthur location. That greatly limits my active participation. You know I will attend meets and report for the Beaumont Enterprise when I can. Feel free to post and/or publish any track info as I send it to you. I’m just trying to recognize our area’s athletes. I don’t need any personal glory at all.

  Thanks for all your help and God bless. Have a great season, Tom

2024 Area Track & Field Schedule

 

Date               Event                                                                                                                                 Site

Feb. 8             Lake Houston Relays                                                                                            Huffman

Feb. 10          C.L. Hanna Gator Relays                                                                                  Dickinson

Feb. 15         Splendora Wildcat Relays                                                                                Splendora

Feb. 16          58^th annual Nederland Bulldog Relays                                                       Nederland

Feb. 17         Humble ISD Zoe Simpson Relays                                                                   Kingwood

Feb. 22          PN-G’s Joe Williamson Relays                                                                    Port Neches

Feb. 22          21st Joe Evans Panther Relays                                                                         Anahuac

Feb. 24          41st annual Sam Mosley Relays                                                                        Humble

Feb. 29          H-FISD Longhorn Relays                                                                                    Hamshire

Feb. 29          46^th annual BC Cardinal Relays                                                                   Orangefield

 

Mar. 1           5th annual Ed Taylor Relays                                                            Beaumont United

Mar. 1           73rd annual Trinity Valley Relays                                                                       Liberty

Mar. 1-2       Texas A&M Bluebonnet Relays                                                            College Station

Mar. 7           East Chambers Buc Relays                                                                                   Winnie

Mar. 7           Deweyville Pirate Relays                                                                               Deweyville

Mar. 7           Vidor Pirate Relays                                                                                                    Vidor

Mar. 7           Hargrave Falcon Relays                                                                                     Huffman

Mar. 7           Livingston Corky Cochran Relays                                                                  Livingston

Mar. 8           Barbers Hill Eagle Relays                                                                          Mont Belvieu

Mar. 8           Clear Creek ISD Ruben Jordan Relays                                                       Clear Creek

Mar. 14         Mike Gentry Bobcat Relays                                                                       Orangefield

Mar. 14         West Hardin Oiler Relays                                                                                Saratoga

Mar. 14         Kirbyville Wildcat Relays                                                                               Kirbyville

Mar. 15-16  Texas Southern Tiger Relays                                                                           Houston

Mar. 21         Artie Trahan Raider Relays                                                                         Lumberton

Mar. 21         81st annual Rockhold Relays                                                                  Baytown Lee

Mar. 21         38^th annual Gid Campbell Relays                                                                  Anahuac

Mar. 21         45^th Barbara Rainey Relays                                                                               Evadale

Mar. 21         Dayton Bronco Relays                                                                                         Dayton

Mar. 22         20^th PAISD Memorial Titan Relays                                                            Port Arthur

Mar. 22         28^th annual Battlin’ Bear Relays                                                            Little Cypress

Mar. 22        Shadow Creek Invitational                                                                                 Manvel

Mar. 28         60^th annual Silsbee Tiger Relays                                                                       Silsbee

Mar. 28         Hull-Daisetta Bobcat Relays                                                                            Daisetta

Mar. 29-30  96^th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays                                                        Austin

 

Mar. 25-27  District 22-3A championships                                                                      Anahuac

    (Anahuac, East Chambers, Kountze, Buna, Hardin, Warren, Kirbyville, Orangefield)

Apr. 2-3        District 21-6A championships                                                                       Humble

          (GPNS, Bmt BU and WB, CEKing, Humble, Atascocita, Kingwood, Summer Creek)

Apr. 2-4        District 19-4A championships                                                                         Silsbee

          (Silsbee, Jasper, Bridge City, LC-M, Lumberton, Vidor, West Orange-Stark)

Apr. 3-4        District 17-5A championships                                                               Baytown Lee

          (PAM, PN-G, Nederland, Barbers Hill, Baytown Lee, Sterling, GCM, Crosby)

Apr. 3-4        District 20-4A championships                                                                      Huffman

        (H-F, H-J, Liberty, Huffman, Splendora, Livingston, New Caney West Fork)

Apr. 4            District 25-2A championships                                                                      Saratoga

            (West Hardin, Evadale, Sabine Pass, Deweyville, Hull-Daisetta, Big Sandy)

     Top four places qualify for the area meet

 

Apr. 10          Area 2A championships                                                                            Deweyville

Apr. 10          Area 3A championships                                                                                Anahuac

Apr. 11          Area 4A championships                                                                        West Orange

Apr. 10          Area 5A championships                                                                               Angleton

Apr. 11          Area 6A championships                                                                              Deer Park

    Top four places qualify for the regional meet

 

Apr. 25-26   TAPPS regional championships (all classifications)                                Bastrop

 

Apr. 19-20   Region IV-2A championships                                                                    Kingsville

Apr. 19-20   Region III-3A championships                                                         Hewitt Midway

Apr. 19-20    Region III-4A championships                                                                        Bullard

Apr. 19-20    Region III-5A & 6A championships                                                            Humble

   Top two places plus the best 3^rd place region performance qualifies for state

 

May 2-4        114^th University Interscholastic League state championships            Austin

May 3-4        TAPPS private & parochial school state championships       Hewitt Midway

May 17-18   Meet of Champions                                                                             San Marcos

2023 FINAL AREA OUTDOOR HIGH SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD LEADERS

DISCUS — Girls: Whitney Cunningham, Bridge City, 110-3; Boys: Caydon Farrell, Hamshire-Fannett, 164-6.

SHOT PUT — Girls: Kyra Owens, West Brook, 37-4; Boys: Caydon Farrell, Hamshire-Fannett, 54-5.

HIGH JUMP — Girls: Raegan Stephenson, Vidor, 5-8; Boys: Keandre Jones, PA Memorial, 6-7.

LONG JUMP — Girls: Alexia Lewis, 18-3.25; Boys: Keandre Jones, PA Memorial, 22-9

TRIPLE JUMP — Girls: Karynton Dawson, H-J, 37-7.5; Boys: Keandre Jones, PA Memorial, 48-5.

POLE VAULT — Girls: Morgan Louvier, Bridge City, 11-6; Boys: Grayson Mueller, H-F, 14-6.

100 METERS — Girls: Amya Barefield, H-J, 11.93; Boys: Samaj Pierre, PA Memorial, 10.6.

200 METERS — Girls: Dinah Tippins, LC-M, 25.55; Boys: Johnny Banks, West Brook, 21.96.

400 METERS — Girls: Alissa Blue, West Brook, 58.2; Boys: Eli Cowart, Lumberton, 49.38.

800 METERS — Girls: Christine LeFleur, West Brook, 2:18.03; Boys: Lonnie Jessie, Silsbee, 1:57.

1,600 METERS — Girls: Morgan Campbell, PN-G, 5:15.52; Boys: Beau Waldrop, Lumberton,  4:42.5.

3,200 METERS — Girls: Morgan Campbell, PN-G, 11:04.34; Boys: Gage Gordey, Lumberton, 10:19.72.

100-METER HURDLES — Girls: Paris Coleman, Beaumont Kelly, 14.59.

110-METER HURDLES — Boys: John Sanderson, Hamshire-Fannett, 14.03.

300-METER HURDLES — Girls: Baile Randle, Bmt United, 48.12; Boys: John Sanderson, Hamshire-Fannett, 39.98.

400-METER RELAY — Girls: Beaumont West Brook 48.48; Boys: Lumberton 42.11.

800-METER RELAY — Girls: Beaumont West Brook 1:43.1; Boys: Bmt West Brook 1:27.23.

1,600-METER RELAY — Girls: Beaumont Kelly 4:02.74; Boys: Port Arthur Memorial 3:26.45.