The Mason High School track and field program competed at the Angelo State Spring Break Relays March 20 where the Punchers either tied or broke a couple of program records.
They were in the 400- and 800-meter relays.
The Punchers won the 400-meter relay by clocking 42.72 seconds to break the school record. The featured runners are Hunter Bradley, Caleb Koenig, Carlton Schmidt and Sutten Silerio.
Not to be outdone, Mason tied the school record in the 800-meter relay at 1:28:39 where the Punchers finished second in the race. The runners are Bradley, Kingston Garza, Schmidt and Silerio.
The meet featured around 15 high school programs.
The Punchers have been solid in the relays for some time, which shows in the number of medals the teams earn at district, area, regional and state meets.
'I set up the structure of a track team and just how I've learned it throughout the years from some of the old bulls that I've been fortunate enough to coach under,' athletic director and coach Michael McLeod said. '(Former head coach Coby) Owen was a great track mind, and we started as a team. I worked down to the relays and then I worked down into a topdown structure that I put together, that I've learned to put together. Obviously we want to do well as a team.”
Couple that commitment with talented athletes, and it’s easy to see why the Punchers rewrite so much history, he said.
“We're always a strengthin- numbers kind of place,” the coach said. “We have a lot of great talented kids but when we play together, when we're together as a team — working together as a team — we are absolutely fantastic. And that goes for any sport. So for track, it's a top-down structure: team, relays, individual events.”
The other important element to the success is the athletes’ desire to work together and experience success, Mc-Leod said.
“I think it generates its own excitement,” he said. “When you have the talent that we have on the track and the leadership that we have on the track, it just gives us a lot of excitement. It just makes for a great setup for it all.”
McLeod made it clear the program is oozing with talent, which is good because it gives coaches options on who to put in which events, including the relays. Athletes are limited to a total of five events per track meet. Careful analysis helps determine the best spots for each athlete to help him succeed to his fullest. In turn that helps the team’s overall point total.
“I have a lot of depth,” he said. “There's a lot of different combinations that we can work with and feel confident about. And one of the common misconceptions about a relay team is thinking that it's the individual people that advance on a relay, and it's not. It's the team. So if I have four guys running it in a district meet, it's the Mason sprint relay team that advances, not those four individuals. And so I can run a whole different four if I wanted to or alternate (at the next meet). It’s a team that comes out. As long as you're on the eligibility roster, they're able to do that. I have a lot of guys that handle that responsibility of qualifying to get the team out.”
The Cowgirls also performed well in the relays, clocking their fastest times of the season.
The 400-meter relay team of Brianne Lewis, Camille Schmidt, Taryn McCrea and Emma McCrea finished in 51.49 seconds for ninth in the race.
The 1,600-meter relay team of Schmidt, Kaitlin Paiva, Shaylee Edmiston and Emma McCrea were six seconds faster to the finish line. The Cowgirls clocked 4:12.90 to finish seventh in the race.
Elizabeth McFarland dropped 10 seconds off her 3,200-meter run, finishing in 12:53.11 for eighth place in the race.
' There were tons of teams, most of them being much larger schools, but it provided some great competition for our Mason Cowgirls,' head coach Kyndel McLeod said. 'We had a few top 10 finishers in individual events and relays, but almost all of our athletes and relay teams improved their times and marks.'
Mason will compete at the Goldthwaite Eagle Relays Thursday, March 27. Field events will begin at 3:30 p.m., the 3,200 meters at 4:00 p.m., and the rest of the running events will start around 6:30 p.m.
RESULTS
Angelo State Spring Break Relays March 20 BOYS
100 – 25, Kolton Wenzel, 11.86, 29, Jaxon Valverde, 11.90, 47, Fisher Bradley, 12.16; 200 – 13, Kingston Garza, 23.24, 15, Caleb Koenig, 23.28, 29, Jaxson Reichenau, 24.06; 400 – 8, Caleb Koenig, 52.25, 50, Garrett Lindsay, 1:00.05; 800 – 8, Caden Klingelhefer, 2:05.70, 25, Angel Quintero, 2:16.70, 55, Irving Tavera, 2:45.51; 1,600 – 8, Cooper Ratliff, 4:46.63, 19, Caden Klingelhefer, 4:58.40, 39, Angel Quintero, 5:27.09; 3,200 – 7, Cooper Ratliff, 10:23.25, 16, Garrett Lindsay, 11:06.53, 29, Irving Tavera, 12:00.80; 110 hurdles – 9, Jayden Smith, 16.81, 11, Trevor Loeffler, 16.99, 14, Asher Bonnett, 17.37; 300 hurdles – 10, Kolton Wenzel, 43.04, 12, Trevor Loeffler, 43.31, 15, Jaxon Valverde, 43.77; 4x100 – 1, Mason (Hunter Bradley, Caleb Koenig, Carlton Schmidt, Sutten Silerio), 42.72; 4x200 – 2, Mason (Hunter Bradley, Kingston Garza, Carlton Schmidt, Sutten Silerio), 1:28.39; 4x400 – 2, Mason (Sutten Silerio, Hunter Bradley, Jaxson Reichenau, Carlton Schmidt), 3:24.25; high jump – 3, Mitchell Underwood, 6-0, 11, Trevor Loeffler, 5-6; long jump – 10, Hunter Bradley, 19-0, 17, Hudson Burns, 18-2.75; discus – 16, Fisher Bradley, 127-6, 19, Cannon Rabon, 115-4; shot put – 7, Reegan Evans, 46-5 GIRLS Varsity
100 – 17, Brianne Lewis, 13.68, 24, Rylee Bradley, 13.82, 37, Camille Schmidt, 14.12, 52 Shaylee Edminston, 14.51; 200 – 18, Camille Schmidt, 27.93, 26, Rylee Bradley, 28.20, 27, Taryn McCrea, 28.22, 44, Ava McCrea, 29.17; 400 – 16, Rylee Bradley, 1:05.69, 23, Ava McCrea, 1:07.09, 38, Ryleigh Peel, 1:09.19; 800 – 22, Adalie Thomas, 2:40.28, 27, Ryleigh Peel, 2:43.01; 1,600 – 15, Elizabeth Mc-Farland, 5:59.78, 42, Hannah McFarland, 6:53.84; 3,200 – 8, Elizabeth McFarland, 12:53.11; 300 hurdles – 21, Kaitlin Paiva, 52.83, 37, Adalie Thomas, 57.88; 4x100 – 9, Mason (Brianne Lewis, Camille Schmidt, Taryn McCrea, Emma McCrea), 51.49; 4x200 – 13, Mason, 1:50.82; 4x400 – 7, Mason (Camille Schmidt, Kaitlin Paiva, Shaylee Edmiston, Emma McCrea), 4:12.90; high jump – 2, Anna Whitworh, 5-0, 7, Av
a McCrea, 4-8; long jump – 21, Emma McCrea, 14-1.5; triple jump – 16, Kaitlin Paiva, 31-2; discus – 18, Kylie Sparks, 82-3
Junior High Results:
7th grade
4x100m Relay - 6th - 58.86 - Ty Crocker, Jager Eckert, Blake Row, Sterling Asbill
800m Run - Francisco Suarez - 4th - 2:40.92
110m Hurdles - Tanner Reichenau - 2nd -22.75
4x200m Relay - 1st - 1:53.01 - Stone Wenzel, Caycen Potter, Isaac Mora, Holt Grote
300m Hurdles - Isaac Mora - 2nd - 49.87
200m Dash - Blake Row - 6th - 30.07
1600m Run - Francisco Suarez - 4th - 6:24.96
4x400m Relay - 1st - Tanner Reichenau, Stone Wenzel, Caycen Potter Long Jump - Isaac Mora - 2nd - 15'11.5' Discus - Caycen Potter - 4th - 86' .5' Triple Jump - Holt Grote - 1st - 29' 6.75'; Michael Paiva - 29'4'; Jager Eckert - 3rd - 28' .5' High Jump - Isaac Mora - 4th - 4'8' Team Totals Florence - 127 San Saba - 113 MASON - 107 Blanco - 91 Llano Black - 75 Ingram - 51 Comfort - 36 Llano Orange - 4 Cherokee - 1
8th grade
4x100m Relay - 6th - 52.88 - Tanner Bradley, T. Martin Parrish, Lisandro Segura, Sergio Quintero
800m Run - Jaxon Price - 4th - 2:30.63
110m Hurdles - Gavin Patterson - 5th - 22.58; Rockson Morquecho - 6th - 22.96
4x200m Relay - 4th - 1:50.29 - T.Martin Parrish, Micah King, Ayo Jegede, Corbyn Neece
400m Dash - Sergio Quintero - 6th - 63.1
300m Hurdles - Gavin Patterson - 4th - 52.23
200m Dash - Ayo Jegede - 3rd - 27.35
1600m Run - Jaxon Price - 1st - 5:45.17 Shot Put - Luan Swart - 3rd - 37'5'; Koen Soto - 35'4' Discus - Ryno Verwey - 4th - 103' 6.5' HIgh Jump - Corbyn Neece - 4th - 4'10' Pole Vault - Brody Kroll - 1st - 8'; Tanner Bradley -
2nd - 7'6' Team Totals Comfort - 143 Llano Black - 139.5 Ingram - 107.5 MASON - 71 Blanco - 50 Florence - 28 San Saba - 16 Cherokee - 0 Llano Orange - 0
