Consol track team to host Tiger Relays

A&M Consolidated girls track coach Rodney Wellmann doesn't recall how long the Tiger Relays have been around.

"I think it's since the complex opened in the spring of '89," Wellmann said. "Texas A&M had a high school division in their meet, but they stopped that."

There will be eight teams in the competition Friday on both the boys and girls side.

While Wellmann's girls have won every meet they've entered since the basketball players joined the track team, they may be hard-pressed to take first this week.

"Our field events are strong as always, and we got a move-in from Fort Worth Boswell," Wellmann said. "[Taylor Williams] has triple jumped over 36 [feet] and long jumped 17-11. She has been our high-point scorer with over 80 points this year. She's also in the 100-meter hurdles and has been in the top three in all three events."

But Williams won't be available Friday. Her club volleyball team is competing in a tournament in California.

Consol high jumper Kaileigh Vincent also will miss the meet Friday. The actress and 5-foot high jumper is part of Consol's one-act play troupe that will be competing for district honors in Temple on Friday after qualifying at zone Tuesday.

And Jackie Foxworth, who also competes for Consol in the high jump, will set the bar high Friday and Saturday at the Texas French Symposium, a multifaceted competition hosted by the Fort Bend school district.

"We will have a tough time winning, losing those girls," Wellmann said. "That's 30 or 40 points, but we should be in the top three, no question. The team has had such good balance with its field events, distance races and sprinter. I don't know if I would say that we have anyone who is phenomenal, although we has some that are really good. We're just well-rounded."

The meet will be a regular UIL-style competition with no special relays. Running preliminaries will begin at noon Friday with field events set for 2:30 p.m. The running finals will start at 6 p.m.

Relays have been a strength for Consol. The Lady Tigers have finished in the top three in every event in the 400 and 800 relays.

Klein, Klein Oak, Kingwood, Katy, Cinco Ranch and Houston Stratford will send boys and girls teams. The Memorial girls and The Woodlands boys will also be in the running.

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Snook's girls won the Koppers Relays in Somerville, scoring 191 points. Shakera Barnes, the defending state champion in the 400, won the event in 60 seconds flat. Her state championship time was 58.64. She also ran a leg on the first-place 400 relay and the 800 relay teams.

Along with winning the 400, Barnes finished third at state in the 200 last year.

Xavier Bethany won the 400 (53.83), 200 (22.20) and triple jump (43-4 1/2) and was second in the high jump (5-2) to lead Burton to the boys championship in Somerville.

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Two Rudder athletes took gold medals at the recent Willis Wildkat Relays. Alvin Moore cleared 6-4 to win the high jump, and Colton Jackson won the pole vault at 13-8.

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Cameron won the boys meet at Lexington, with Rockdale finishing second in part because a good chunk of Rockdale's point potential was in Lubbock that day.

Le'Raven Clark and Daniel Brooks combined for 60 points in the Tigers' previous meet in Giddings, but both were on recruiting visits to Texas Tech. They did not take the weekend off the track, though. Both competed at the Lubbock Cooper Relays.

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Brenham picked off most of the medals at the Cubs' Bluebonnet Relays. Will Antkowiak ran 4:22.30 to win the 1,600. Ryan Ruiz (154-2) and John Poehlmann (149-1) took the top two spots in the discus. Roderick Payne won the shot at 55-9. The Cubs scored 90 of their impressive 272 team points in field events and 68 more in distance races.

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Franklin will host the Lions Relays, a meet with numerous Brazos Valley athletes in competition. Teams from Anderson-Shiro, Brazos Christian, Buffalo, Hearne, Leon and Normangee will compete.

Caldwell is also hosting its own meet Thursday. Navasota, Cameron, Rockdale, St. Joseph and Somerville will also take part in the Hornet Relays.

Bryan, Rudder and Brenham track teams will run at Montgomery on Friday.

Centerville, which hosted it sown meet last week, gets a preview of the district meet less than two weeks away when the Tigers are at Crockett, which will also host the District 23-2A meet.

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Brazos Valley Class A schools will begin their district track meets next week. They start a week earlier than other classifications because the area track meet is held prior to the regional meet.

That area round has also been proposed for 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A but has not been added thus far.

Here is next week's schedules for Class A district track meets:

21-A

Monday, Thursday at Moody

Monday: Running prelims (9:30 a.m.), field events

Thursday: Running finals (6 p.m.)

Schools: Bartlett, Bosqueville, Bremond, Chilton, Georgetown Gateway, Granger, Holland, Mart, Moody, Riesel, Valley Mills, and Waco Methodist Home.

23-A

Monday, Thursday at Lovelady

Monday: Field events, running prelims

Thursday: Running finals

Schools: Cayuga, Cross Roads, Dawson, Grapeland, Hubbard, Kerens, Latexo, Lovelady, Normangee, Rice, Slocum, and Wortham.

27-A

Wednesday at Somerville

Running prelims, field events, running finals

Schools: Burton, Flatonia, Ganado, Houston Harmony School of Excellence, Iola, Louise, Milano, Mumford, Shiner, Snook, Somerville and Thrall.

28-A

Wednesday at A&M Consolidated

Running prelims (9 a.m.), field events, running finals

Schools: Buckholts, Calvert, College Station Harmony Science, Dime Box, Evant, Fayetteville, Lometa, Oglesby, Richards, Round Top-Carmine, Star and Texas School for the Blind.

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Coaches with track notes are encouraged to email David Campbell with information. Coaches are also asked to send their complete schedules, with times for running prelims, field events, 3,200 and running finals for upcoming district meets, either by email or faxed to 979-776-8923.