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Bryan's Fono Vakalahi fell short of a trip to the UIL State Track Meet in the discus last year by three inches. Right now the senior is improving, 17 to 18 feet at a time.
He set a career best of 176 feet, 5 inches in the District 12-5A meet at A&M Consolidated. At the Brenham regional qualifiers meet, Vakalahi threw 193-3, the fourth-best mark in the state this year and No. 3 in a strong 5A discus group. Humble's Matt Kosecki, who has thrown 201-8, leads the 5A throwers. Rio Grande City's Stephen Saenz has a best toss of 197-11.
Kosecki and Saenz have been consistent with their long throws this season. It's Vakalahi who is charging at the right time.
Humble is in Region III and Rio Grande City in Region IV, so Vakalahi is the favorite now at the Region II meet in Waco.
The best throw in the state is 202-11 by Class 3A Whitesboro's Hayden Baillio, who won the discus and shot at the Texas Relays.
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Runners, take your mark. Get set. Test.
Because the regional track meet conflicts with the final day of TAKS testing, some unusual steps were approved by the Texas Education Agency this year.
Schools that applied for a waiver were allowed give the social studies TAKS test to sophomore and juniors on Monday. For all others it is set for Friday, the same day that regional track meets begin.
For schools that needed to leave for the regional meet on Thursday, there were even more tests -- and athletes -- involved. That was the day that exit-level tests for seniors were given, as well as 10th-grade science and ninth-grade math tests were given.
There was one other option with that waiver -- give the test at the track meet, although you must have qualified people to administer the test.
Students are often encouraged to get plenty of rest and eat a good breakfast before taking TAKS tests. Can you do that after running a 400-meter preliminary or the 3,200-meter run?
Even with the special TAKS accommodations, there is a bottleneck in spring sports. The University Interscholastic League extended the deadline for completing the bi-district softball round until next Tuesday, but only if your team is playing a single game, not best-of-3.
Franklin, for instance, has 11 girls scheduled to run track in Whitehouse Friday at the 2A Region III track meet. Five of them have a softball game scheduled in Franklin at the same time.
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The latest installment of the continuing 100-meter hurdles battle between Caldwell's Macey Osburn and Rockdale's Krysten Brooks went to Osburn, but by just .02 seconds. In the regional qualifiers meet at Brenham, Osburn won in 14.86.
The two are unlikely to face one another in the prelims of the 3A Region III meet, but both will be favored to make the finals. If they finish 1-2 at Humble's Turner Stadium on Saturday, they both go to the state meet.
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Caldwell junior Vantazia Jackson became the first Brazos Valley 400-meter runner to break the 1-minute mark this season, but she won't run the race again this year.
Jackson is the 24-3A champion in the 100 and 200, so she won't run the 400 at regionals. She ran on Caldwell's 1,600-meter relay team at state last year.
Jackson also bumped her triple jump best to 36 feet, 6 1/2 inches at the qualifiers meet in Brenham.
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With the closing of Cibolo Steele High School this week because some students developed swine flu, there was some concern that the Region IV-2A track meet might move from nearby Converse.
The regional Web site (www.regionivaa.org/track) posted this message: "At this point all officials involved at State, Region, and Local levels are moving ahead to conduct the Region IVAA Track & Field Meet at Judson Stadium in San Antonio as originally planned."
David Campbell's e-mail address is david.campbell@theeagle.com.
Brazos Valley regional track meets
All meets Friday-Saturday
* Class 5A Region II: Baylor's Hart-Patterson Track, Waco
* Class 4A Region III: Sam Houston State's Bowers Stadium, Huntsville
* Class 3A Region III: Turner Stadium, Humble
* Class 2A Region III: Whitehouse Stadium, Whitehouse
* Class 2A Region IV: Judson ISD Stadium, Converse
* Class A Region III: Stephen F. Austin's Homer Bryce Stadium, Nacogdoches
* Class A Region IV: Sam Houston State's Bowers Stadium, Huntsville
