Mansfield Summit junior runs his fastest, reaches state meet
Asa Rice heard footsteps, so he ran faster than he’d ever run in his life. As a result, he escaped with his first berth at the state track meet in two weeks.
Rice, a junior from Mansfield Summit, qualified by finishing second in the boys 3,200-meter run at Friday’s Class 5A Region II meet at UT Arlington’s Maverick Stadium. His time was 9 minutes, 31.36 seconds, barely ahead of the 9:31.37 clocked by sophomore Sergio Armendariz of Dallas Adamson.
“I didn’t even know he was there until there were about 10 meters left,” said Rice. “Then, at the end he stuck out his chest, and for a second I thought he might have passed me.”
Actually, due to some technical difficulties, it was more like 20-25 minutes before Rice found out officially that he had qualified.
“There was more stress on me waiting than than during the race,” he said. “My heart was beating so fast.”
Summit distance coach Jason Covarrubias said Rice is the first distance runner from the school to qualify for state. He said he couldn’t wait to give him the good news — but, he had to, of course.
“He crossed the finish line, fell to the ground, and asked, ‘Did I get second?’’ Covarrubias said with a smile. “I wasn’t going to tell him no, but truth is I didn’t know.”
Oddly, Rice’s top event has been the 1,600 meters, which he will run Saturday. That is, it has been his specialty, Covarrubias said.
Rice’s time was a personal best by 17 seconds, and it was far ahead of his time of 10:03.29 at area. The latter was almost 21 seconds behind Armendariz in that race.
“I’m not so sure now,” Covarrubias said. “The way he ran today, this may be his main event.”
Lake Ridge jumps up
Though it has only been around four years, the Mansfield Lake Ridge track team has already built a tradition with its jumpers.
Friday, two more jumpers qualified for state. Freshman Jasmine Moore earned a spot by finishing second in the long jump at 19 feet, 7 inches. Senior Iyanu Adeyeye joined her in the high jump, clearing 6-10.
That gives the program five state qualifying jumpers in the school’s short history. The Eagles have a chance to add to that total Saturday with Moore and Jimmy Enobabor competing in the triple jump.
Enobabor placed third in the state in the triple jump last season, and his 2016 distance of 48-7 is the third best in 5A this season. Moore’s distance of 41-0.25 is fourth in the nation and best in the state.
She’s also tops in the state in the long jump at 20-0.
“It’s been a great tradition,” Summit jump coach James Whisenhunt said. “We have five jumpers competing for state this weekend, so our practices can get pretty competitive.”
Enobabor said the tradition began when former Lake Ridge jumper Jaylyn Hernandez won a bronze medal at state in the triple jump in 2014.
“He kind of set the bar, and it just keeps getting higher,” Enobabor said. “I take a lot of pride in it. That’s our identity. I love it when people see us and say, ‘There goes Lake Ridge. Those are the jumpers.’ ”
Waiting game
A couple of area seniors will have to wait to see if their third-place finishes will be good enough to get them a wild-card entry at state as the top third-place finisher across four regions.
Tonea Marshall of Arlington Seguin placed third in the girls long jump at 18-5 and Myles Adams of Mansfield Summit was third in the boys discus with a throw of 155-5.
Marshall advanced to state in the long jump last year, finishing second with a leap of 18-10. She is also the defending state champion in the 100-meter hurdles, in which she will run in the finals Saturday after posting a top preliminaries time of 13.10 seconds. Her time of 13.04 is tied for the fastest in the nation.
Adams is also competing Saturday in the shot put.
This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 10:30 PM with the headline "Mansfield Summit junior runs his fastest, reaches state meet."