Track and Field: Aledo contingent prepping for state

The Aledo track program will be well represented when contestants compete in the Class 5A State Track and Field Meet May 2 in Mike A Myers Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas campus.

In all, five Bearcats and two Ladycats will be attempting to bring home a medal — preferably gold.

The Bearcats are represented by senior Braylon Brown in the pole vault, senior Adam Averett in the 300 hurdles, and Averett alongside seniors Trey Warner and Jace Lay with junior Lincoln Tubbs on the 4x400-meter relay.

For the Ladycats, junior Molly Garrison qualified in two events, the 3200 and 1600, with freshman Emma Ralph competing in the pole vault.

The two vaulters come in as the highest seeds among their respective events. Brown, a bronze medalist as a junior, is tied for the third seed after clearing 15 feet, 6 inches at the Region I Meet in Lubbock. Ralph is seeded third among the girls after matching her career best clearance of 12 feet.

Both were runners-up at regionals. Brown cleared 16-6 earlier this season.

“I believe they are peaking at the perfect time,” Aledo pole vault coach John Rhodes said. “We have had a great week of work with two good jump sessions and a lot of drill work.”

The top two regional vaults among the boys were 16-3 by Argyle’s Gator Young and 16-0 by Parker Brown of Leander-Rouse. The top girls vault is 12-6 by Tristen Grimes of Gregory Portland and 12-3 by Peyton Berry of Argyle.

Aledo has a tradition of pole vaulting success, including a pair of bronze medals from Brown and the now-graduated Taylor Hindman.

The Bearcats 4x400 comes in seeded fifth with a regional runner-up time of 3 minutes, 17.09 seconds. Iowa Colony is first with a 3:12.55, followed by McAllen second at 3:15.57, and Port Arthur Memorial third with a 3:16.55.

Averett, a wild-card entry as the top third-place finisher across four regions, comes in seeded seventh in the 300 hurdles with his time of 37.87. To reach the medal stand for bronze, he’s looking at 37.53 as the third-seeded time, with 37.36 second and 36.89 first.

Garrison comes into state seeded seventh in the 3200 with her time of 11:08.52. The third seed, which would get her on the medal stand, is 10:52.89. She is seeded eighth in the 1600, with the third seed coming in at 4:59.20.

“Molly and Emma did a fantastic job dealing with elevation and weather in Lubbock to advance to state,” Ladycats coach Mike Pinkerton said. “Hoping for better weather in Austin.”

Bearcats coach Andrew Clark commented, “In the 4x400, I know we could have easily run faster than that at the regional meet. Regional meet is a two-day meet with prelims and finals, meaning everybody has to run all their races twice. By the time you get to that 4x400 on Saturday there are a lot of tired legs on the track,” Bearcats coach Andrew Clark said. “Even considering that, I know our anchor leg can run a faster time than he did in the finals out in Lubbock. Talking with him after the race, he told me he just wanted to solidify getting second and qualifying for the state meet. He is a pretty track savvy kid and knew what he needed to do to get us to the next week. 

“It will also help that three fourths of the guys on the relay will only have one race that day. This will be the first time all season that we will be that fresh for the 4x400. 

“If we can get some good weather, and a little adrenaline from being at the state meet, I think we could see our time drop even more. If we could find a way to get into the 3:15 range, we could be flirting with getting on the medal stand.”