5A regional track and field: Arlington Lamar senior spins gold
The Arlington Lamar boys and Mansfield Timberview girls each appeared at or near the top of their respective team standings after the field events Saturday in the Class 5A Region I track and field meet at Texas Tech.
Lamar received 10 points Saturday morning courtesy of a 183-foot, 4-inch gold-medal effort in the discus by senior Erich Sullins. The throw moved the Lamar boys to a fifth-place finish in the team standings.
“I’m ecstatic about how I did,” Sullins said. “I knew there was a lot of pressure on me, but I think I pulled through pretty well. It’s seven inches behind my best, but I’m glad to move on. I’m glad I got a gold medal.”
After a third- and fourth-place finish by Bryanna Lawrence and Kelsey Johnson, respectively, in the girls triple jump, Timberview briefly led before the relay events. Timberview finished ninth in the girls standings.
Bowie, Martin are on
Arlington Bowie girls track coach Doris Grimes knew her 4x100 team was more than capable of competing against the best, and her faith was rewarded Saturday.
The Volunteers finished in 46.79 seconds to finish second for a trip to the state meet.
“We were definitely not penciled in to finish second,” Grimes said. “But I had confidence in my girls, I knew they could pull it out, and they did exactly what I expected them to do.”
Bowie’s girls finished third in the team standings. Lamar’s girls were sixth.
Arlington Martin sophomore Keshun Reed finished second in the boys 400-meter dash, also earning a trip to the state meet. Martin’s boys won the 4x400 relay and finished third overall in the team standings.
Reed said these achievements set a precedence for a new standard at Martin.
“It’s taking us to the next level,” he said. “Not very many people have went to state from Martin. Very limited. I’m glad that I made it this year, because last year I ended up coming up short and that made me want to grind harder to get to state this year.
“All the hard work just paid off at the end of the day.”
Briefly
This story was originally published April 26, 2014 at 10:01 PM.