“If there had been 30 or 40 meters more to that race, she’d be a state champion,” declared Aledo Ladycats coach Mike Pinkerton after junior Molly Garrison ran the race of her career.
Garrison had just won a bronze medal by placing third in the 1600-meter run at the Class 5A State Track and Field Meet at Mike A. Myers on the University of Texas campus in Austin on Saturday, May 3. She clocked a time of 4 minutes, 51.93 seconds, besting her state qualifying time of 4:59.20 by almost eight seconds.
“Like a freight train, she was coming on strong,” Pinkerton said. “I am so proud of the race she ran. It was absolutely amazing.”
Reese Pena of Lubbock won the gold medal, clocking a time of 4:51.25, edging runner-up Dana Rojas Vazquez of McAllen with a 4:51.26.
Pinkerton said Garrison’s state qualifying time, which had her coming into state as the No. 8 seed, was deceptive because it was clocked in West Texas, where the winds are always strong.
“There’s something to be said about West Texas. The wind always blows out there,” he said. “It’s hard to compete out there, but that experience helped her down here.”
It also helped that the race was postponed from Friday to Saturday because of inclement weather in Austin. On Friday, she placed sixth in the 3200 with a time of 10:54.53, an improvement of almost 14 seconds over state qualifying time of 11:08.52 that had her seeded seventh.
“It definitely helped that she got another night’s rest,” Pinkerton said. “Those races were spread out on Friday, but she would have been running them both the same day.”
With one more year of running both cross country — in which she’s also competed at state — and track, Pinkerton is optimistic the best is yet to come for Garrison.
“I see her standing in the middle of that podium (gold medal),” he said.
The Bearcats’ 4x400-meter relay of seniors Trey Warner, Jace Lay, and Adam Averett, along with junior Lincoln Tubbs, had their best race of the season at state Saturday, May 3. The quartet clocked a time of 3:15.01 to place fourth.
It was more than two seconds faster than their state qualifying time of 3:17.09 which had them coming in as the No. 5 seed.
“Ran our best time of the year. Can’t ask for more than that at the state meet, [we] beat some teams we weren’t supposed to beat. They exceeded expectations,” Bearcats coach Andrew Clark said. “Broke the previous school record that they set at regionals. I’m confident that that record will be on the board for a long time.”
Alvin Iowa Colony won gold with a time of 3:11.62.
Averett also placed ninth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 38.72. He came in as the seventh seed and a wild-card entry as the top third-place finisher across all four regions with a time of 37.87.
Freshman pole vaulter Emma Ralph was fifth with a vault of 11 feet, 6 inches. She actually tied for third on height, but lost a tiebreaker.
Ralph came into state with a top vault of 12-0, which would have placed her in a tie for second behind state champion Peyton Berry of Argyle at 12-3.
In the final vault of his career as a Bearcat, senior Braylon Brown finished sixth, clearing 15-6, which is the height at which he came in seeded in a tie for third. He tied for fourth height-wise, but also lost a tiebreaker.
Brown won a bronze medal as a junior and had a career-best vault of 16-6 earlier this season.
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