Dragons runner topples state record, Mustangs vaulter takes gold

Reed Brown has been one of the strongest distance runners in the state for the past couple of years, and what he did at the state meet proved it.

The Carroll High School junior broke a 29-year old state record in the 3,200 meter event to win a state championship and help the Carroll boys team to a ninth-place overall finish at the meet.

Coach Justin Leonard said that he was pleased with how his athletes performed at state and said that he could not have asked for much more from them.

“It was a great meet,” Leonard said. “I thought we ran really well. Reed took the state record that has been there for 29 years, which pretty much speaks for itself. He ran an excellent race, and then came back and ran a similar race. I know it’s wrong here, but it might be the third-, fourth- or fifth-fastest time ever at the state meet in the mile. So to have that type of weekend is pretty phenomenal.

“Then, Allison Esparza taking sixth place in the 3,200 with a great run. There is nothing better than finishing your high school career on a very good note, which she did.”

Brown won the 3,200 meters with a time of 8:50.43 and finished second in the 1,600 with a time of 4:04.82 to take silver.

Madysen Hunter (42.84) just missed the medal stand, finishing fourth in the girls 300 meter hurdles.

Leonard said that Brown’s performance did impress him at state, but was not unexpected.

“I knew he was starting to get into kind of a rare field,” Leonard said. “There was another distance runner from New Braunfels (Sam Worley) down there who is very good, and when you get the two of them together, you know it is going to be very fast. They push each other and the time really drops.”

The state meet in the 5A classification proved to be productive for Grapevine High School, as Peyton Weissmann brought home a gold medal in the boys pole vault event with a jump of 16-6.

Weissmann blew away his highest vault from region, a jump of 14-9, to claim a state championship.

Hayden Murphy finished ninth in the boys 3,200 meter event with a time of 10:02.89.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 6:49 PM with the headline "Dragons runner topples state record, Mustangs vaulter takes gold."