Consol girls win 12-5A track title

COPPERAS COVE -- A lot of people had their hands on A&M Consolidated's District 12-5A track and field championship trophy.

Taylor Williams liked the idea so much that she found a new event to run.

The Lady Tigers displayed their strength in numerous events at Bulldawg Stadium on Wednesday. It added up to 142.5 points and the district crown and ended a three-year drought of championships for the Consol girls, who won it the previous eight years.

"It seems like when the competition started yesterday, a lot of things went our way," Consol girls track coach Rodney Wellmann said. "It was kids performing well and coaches coaching them up. I really can't think of one area where we didn't do as well as I thought. Out of 17 events, we had a lot of fantastic performances."

Williams got the day off to a good start, bettering her personal record in the triple jump by one inch. She had jumped 37 feet, 5 inches at the Texas Relays last week but had a smooth run to win the event Wednesday at 37-6.

"That gave me so much confidence, because I went into the Texas Relays thinking I was not going to do very well," Williams said. "I did really well, and it built me up. That helped a lot."

Williams, who transferred to Consol from Fort Worth Boswell, had to reach to hit the spot on her first attempt but was in rhythm on her winning jump.

"We had some run-throughs, and I wasn't hitting my mark," Williams said. "We switched my feet and it didn't work, so I took it upon myself to go back to the original mark and just to do it the way I had been in practice. And it worked."

Williams, who was third in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.91 seconds, was a fill-in and ran the opening leg on Consol's third-place 400 relay team. That group advanced without freshman leadoff Mikayla Williams, who missed the meet with pink eye. Consol couldn't use a JV call-up because the JV had run Tuesday, making those runners ineligible Wednesday. So Williams filled in and became a superb emergency runner.

"She ran a heck of a leg, and we had a good handoff that we threw together about 30 minutes before the race," Wellmann said. "We looked at a JV runner, but she wasn't on my UIL eligibility form and we couldn't do it, so we didn't go that route. We went with Taylor, which worked out pretty darn good."

Consol's girls had numerous key moments, but Chaiss Matthews had the highlight event for the Lady Tigers. In the 800, she moved into third behind Harker Heights' Kassandra Booker and Copperas Cove's Alicia Pitrucha and still trailed Booker with 100 meters remaining. In the final 30 meters, she kicked forward, shot to the lead and won with a time of 2:21.02. Booker ran 2:21.77.

"I just tucked in behind them because the backstretch is real windy," Matthews said. "On that last 200, I just gave it everything I had. I really thought [Booker] was going to win when I started the last 100, and then she just slowed down. I knew I had it, so I passed her. God gave me strength to finish and I did."

Matthews' victory was exactly the kind of thing Consol needed to reclaim the title.

"To win championships, you need surprise performances, and I think the last few years, we've had bad luck," Wellmann said. "This year, it seems like we had suprises, like Chaiss Matthews running the 800 and finishing like she did."

Consol's Karis Jochen moved into the lead on the second lap of the 1,600 and won it with a time of 5:28.35, giving her the distance double. She won the 3,200 Tuesday. Teammate Matthews (5:30.02) was second.

Consol's Kaleigh Vincent got cleanly over the bar at 5-1 to earn her spot into the Region II meet in a jump-off.

Consol's boys also had a good day. Henry Taylor's anchor leg pulled Consol from a closely challenged third place into second in the boys 400 relay, overtaking Belton. Consol finished in second at 42.21 behind Copperas Cove's 41.8.

Taylor duplicated the effort in the 800 relay to give the Tigers a silver medal with a time of 1:28.55. In the 200, he battled shoulder to shoulder on the turn with Copperas Cove's Will Randoph, but Randolph eked in to lead when the runners took the straightaway. A late surge by Taylor at the finish fell short. He ran 21.66 to Randolph's 21.64.

Consol's boys got a 1,600 regional qualifier from Travis Bohne, who had to hold off Ellison's Silvester Harrison in a full sprint at the finish, passing several runners. Harrison couldn't overtake Bohne, who ran 4:27.46.

Consol's Michael McClendon, who finished fourth in the discus Tuesday, earned a regional berth in the shot put with a throw of 54-10 3/4, which claimed second place behind Killeen Ellison's Darien Brown (56-2 3/4). Consol's Jimmie Gilbert was fourth.

Bykece Campbell was the only Bryan athlete to qualify for regionals, taking third in the 110 hurdles in 15.29. Campbell's chances improved when the top qualifier, Copperas Cove's Orlando Thomas hit the first hurdle, somersaulted and stepped off the track.

Consol shot putter Michael McClendon placed second with a throw of 54-10 3/4. Collin Beckman was third in the boys pole vault at 13-6.

In Tuesday's pole vault, Consol's Kaylee McCabe also qualified for the regional meet. McCabe, whose best vault last year on the JV was 7-6, cleared 9-6 to finish third this year.

Kyle Thompson, Harker Heights' defending state champion in the 800, won that race at 1:52.64 and doubled in the 400, winning with a time of 48.04.

Copperas Cove won the boys' team race with 184 points. Consol finished third with 104 and Bryan was eighth with 14.

District 12-5A

Wednesday at Copperas Cove

GIRLS

Field events

Triple jump: 1. Taylor Williams, Consol, 37-6; 2. Loryn Goodwin, Temple, 36-11; 3. Alithea Collins, Harker Heights, 36-4 3/4; 4. Alyssa Jones, Temple, 35-8 1/2; 5. Andrea Hurt, Copperas Cove, 35-4; 6. Star Bodie, Harker Heights, 34-11.

Discus: 1. Cion Hicks, Killeen Shoemaker, 137-6; 2. Jaricka Thomas, Killeen Ellison, 39-11 1/2; 3. Ashlie Francis, Belton, 120-7; 4. Kacey Cermin, Consol, 103-1; 5. Jasmine Gregg, Temple, 102-3; 6. Jasmine Johnson, Temple, 101-6.

High jump: 1. Grace Weaver, Belton, 5-4; 2. Ambrya Mack, Harker Heights, 5-0; 3. (tie) Kaleigh Vincent, Consol; Jackie Foxworth, Consol; Codeshia Curtis, Temple; Terran Lisenbee, Belton, 5-0. Note: Vincent is the regional qualifier.

Running events

400 relay: 1. Harker Heights, 48.29; 2. Killeen Shoemaker, 48.77; 3. Consol, 49.22; 4. Copperas Cove, 49.29; 5. Bryan, 50.09; 6. Killeen Ellison, 50.64.

800: 1. Chaiss, Matthews, Consol, 2:21.02; 2. Kassandra Booker, Harker Heights, 2:21.77; 3. Alicia Pitrucha, Copperas Cove, 2:23.52; 4. Elsa Lillibridge, Harker Heights, 2:29.09; 5. Toi Taylor, Killeen Ellison, 2:29.13; 6. Jordan Mitchell, Belton, 2:31.25.

100 hurdles: 1. Stephanie White, Killeen Ellison, 15.06; 2. Tearra Roberson, Killeen Shoemaker, 15.78; 3. Taylor Williams, Consol, 15.91; 4. Loryn Goodwin, Temple, 16.88; 5. Ashley Russell, Belton, 16.9; 6. Kaniea McCants, Temple, 17.03.

100: 1.Kadeja Walker, Killeen Shoemaker, 12.26; 2. Valencia Lock, Harker Heights, 12.47; 3. Kira McCoy, Harker Heights, 12.62; 4. Unique King, Consol, 12.67; 5. Brittany Adkins, Harker Heights, 12.69; 6. Ariel Tulsie, Killeen Ellison, 12.87.

800 relay: 1. Copperas Cove, 1:42.41; 2. Consol, 1:44.66; 3. Temple, 1:45.43; 4. Killeen Shoemaker, 1:47.05; 5. Killeen Ellison, 1:47.43; 6. Belton, 1:49.65.

400: 1. Allayah McDonald, Harker Heights, 56.64;

300 hurdles: 1. Stephanie White, Belton, 45.44; 2. Tearra Roberson, Killeen Shoemaker, 56.79; 3. Loryn Goodwin, Temple, 46.22; 4. Lilly Kim, Temple, 48.18; 5. Brittany Harris, Belton, 49.09; 6. Avery Scherr, Consol, 49.31.

200: 1. LeKesha Jelks, Killeen Shoemaker, 25.44; 2. Aliayah McDonald, Harker Heights, 25.87; 3. Tiaira West, Copperas Cove, 26.12; 4. Jazz Harris, Consol, 26.22; 5. Kenya Williams, Copperas Cove, 26.27; 6. Ronzasha Taylor, Bryan, 26.275.

1,600: 1. Karis Jochen, Consol, 5:28.35; 2. Chaiss Matthews, Consol, 5:30.02; 3. Katelin Huckabee, Belton, 5:32.5; 4. Marissa Austin, Harker Heights, 5:36.79; 5. Alicia Pitrucha, Copperas Cove, 5:37.56; 6. Amy Bingaman, Consol, 5:39.36.

1,600 relay: 1. Harker Heights, 3:58.78; 2. Temple, 4:02.86; 3. Copperas Cove, 4:03.33; 4. Killeen Shoemaker, 4:11.19; 5. Killeen Ellison, 4:12.22; 6. Belton, 4:12.54.

Team totals: 1. Consol, 142 1/2; 2. Harker Heights, 108; 3. Shoemaker, 102; 4. Temple, 84 1/4; 5. Copperas Cove, 77; 6. Belton, 54 1/4; 7. Ellison, 47; 8. Bryan, 5.

BOYS

Field events

Long jump: 1. Orlando Thomas, Copperas Cove, 24-2 1/2; 2. John Horton, Copperas Cov, 23-6 3/4; 3. Jason Hope, 22-10 1/2; 4. Shaquile White, Temple, 22-4; 5. Derrick Smiht, Bryan, 22-3 3/4; 6. Chris Nutall, Consol, 22-3 1/2.

Pole vault: 1. Regan Gilbert, Harker Heidghts, 15-0; 2. Kyle Rhoads, Belton, 14-6; 3. Collin Beckman, Consol, 13-6; 4. Wolf Mahler, Belton, 13-6; 5. Brandon Schmidt, Temple, 12-6; 6. Patick Cunnah, Consol, 12-0.

Shot put: 1. Darien Brown, Killeen Ellison, 56-2 3/4; 2. Michael McClendon, Consol, 54-10 3/4; 3. Neito Hill, Killeen Ellison, 53-0 1/2; 4. Jimmie Gilbert, Consol, 49-8 1/2; 5. 5. Timothy Hines, Bryan, 48-5 1/2; 6. Louis Samuel, Harker Heights, 46-1.

Running events

400 relay: 1. Copperas Cove, 41.8; 2. Consol, 42.21; 3. Belton, 42.28; 4. Killeen Ellison, 42.65; 5. Killeen Shoemaker, 42.8; 6. Temple, 43.1.

800: 1. Kyle Thompson, Harker Heights, 1:52.64; 2. Hector Hernandez, Killeen Ellison, 1:54.97; 3. Deon Hardy, Temple, 2:01.81; 4. Adarius Stanford, Harker Heights, 2:04.52; 5. Patrick Alexshonis, Consol, 2:05.18; 6. David Kraan, Temple, 2:08.27.

110 hurdles: 1. Mark Branch, Copperas Cove, 14.62; 2. Lynn Grady, Killeen Ellison, 14.74; 3. Bykece Campbell, Bryan, 15.29; 4. Jeremy Garcia, Temple, 15.92; 5. Tyler Sanders, Temple, 15.97; 6. Alex Arreola-Garcia, Consol, 16.24.

100: 1. Johnny Jefferson, Killeen Shoemaker, 10.82; 2. Darrius White, Belton, 10.92; 3. Tyrese Crawford, Killeen Shoemaker, 11.1; 4. Gaylon Sanders, Temple, 11.12; 5. Jaylen Gilbert, Copperas Cove, Copperas Cove, 11.14; 6. Ziquarius Webber, Bryan, 11.17.

800 relay: 1. Copperas Cove, 12:26.48; 2. Consol, 1:28.55; 3. Killeen Ellison, 1:28.98; 4. Belton, 1:29.18; 5. Temple, 1:29.72; 6. Bryan, 1:30.59.

400: 1. Kyle Thompson, Harker Heights, 48.04; 2. Chris Hall, Killeen Ellison, 49.16; 3. Sean McBryde, Killeen Ellison, 49.74; 4. Kyle Battle, Belton, 51.01; 5. Javon Stanford, Harker Heights, 51.13; 6. DeAnthony Graham, Copperas Cove, 51.23.

300 hurdles: 1. Mark Branch, Copperas Cove, 38.27; 2. Lynn Grady, Killeen Ellison, 39.62; 3. Shaquile White, Temple, 40.43; 4. Jacob Shuck, Copperas Cove, 41.55; 5. Jeremy Garcia, Temple, 42.2; 6. Alex Arreola-Garcia, Consol, 43.1.

200: 1. Will Randolph, Copperas Cove, 21.64; 2. Henry Tayloor, Consol, 21.66; 3. Johnny Jefferson, Killeen Shoemaker, 22.17; 4. Adonis Porter, Temple, 22.19; 5. Jaylen Gilbert,Copperas Cove, 22.76; 6. Marcell Mickens, Consol, 22.88.

1,600: 1. Derwin Graham, Copperas Cove, 4:24.69; 2. Hector Hernandez, Killeen Ellions, 4:26.49; 3. Travis Bohne, Consol, 4:27.46; 4. Silvester Harrison, Killeen Ellison, 4:27.63; 5. Cameron Woodberry, 4:35.88; 6. Joseph Robledo, 4:36.0.

1,600 relay: 1. Killeen Ellison, 3:19.7; 2. Temple, 3:22.1; 3. Harker Heights, 3:22.7; 4. Copperas Cove, 3:25.47; 5. Belton, 3:26.15; 6. Consol, 3:28.54.

Team totals: 1. Copperas Cove, 184; 2. Killeen Ellison, 124; 3. Consol, 124; 4. Temple, 63; 5. Belton, 56; 6. Harker Heights, 49; 7. Killeen Shoemaker, 26; 8. Bryan 14.