Varsity portion of Bluebonnet Relays to take place Friday

March 4, 2021 at 10:38 am Derrick Stuckly

The varsity portion of the Bluebonnet Relays is slated to take place Friday at Gordon Wood Stadium with a format the features essentially two track and field meets in one.

The Class 1A-3A schools will begin competing with field events at 9 a.m. and running finals at noon, while the Class 4A-6A schools start their field events at 4 p.m. and running finals at 7 p.m.

Due to COVID guidelines established by the UIL, no more than eight teams can compete in a meet which has led to the staggered starts.

“We always want to make this as big as we can make it and had this overbooked when the restrictions came out so I had to go with the first eight that committed,” said Lions track and field head coach Andy Howard. “At 9 a.m. Friday we’re going to have our small school division and that’s Early Bangs, Cherokee, Roscoe, San Saba, Eastland, Whitney and Brady coming to that. Once we’ve cleared them from the stadium then we’ll bring in our big schools, which is going to consist of Brock, us, Graham, Harker Heights, Killeen High, Lampasas, and Stephenville and that will start at 4 p.m.”

The Lions and Lady Lions are both coming off third-place team finishes at the Brock Relays, their only meet thus far.

Event winners for the Lions included Hunter Day in the 400 meters (55.34), Jared Northcutt in the discus (124-5), and Christian Kinzler in the high jump (5-10).

Runner-up finishes belonged to Cameron Phipps in the 800 meters (2:17.28), Caleb Nelson in the 3200 meters (11:58.59), Zach Bond in the 110-meter hurdles (15.84), Brad Robinson in the shot put (40-8), and the 4×400 relay of Day, Jake Jetton, Elias Huerta and Taylor Bessent (3:40.43).

Finishing third were Bessent in the 200 meters (23.15), Nelson in the 1600 meters (5:26.47), and Toby Yeats in the 110-meter hurdles (17.37).

Fourth-place efforts were turned in by Jason Jackson in the long jump (19-2), Jimi Brown in the shot put (37-10.5), and the 4×100 relay of Yeats, Bessent, Jackson and Jetton (45.92)

Placing sixth were Yeats in the 300-meter hurdles (49.62), Jetton in the 400 meters (57.84), and the 4×200 relay of Nathan Wheelington, Blake Brasher, Huerta and Jackson Huff (1:42.43).

For the Lady Lions, Emma Stegemoller won both the 800 meters (2:30.4) and 1600 meters (5:50.59), and also finished second in the pole vault (8-6).

Becca Church came in second in the 100-meter hurdles (16.18), 300-meter hurdles (1:00.0), and triple jump (33-3).

Finishing third were Kynslee Walker in the 800 meters (2:34.11), Jaylen Savage in the high jump (5-2), Ava Brownlee in the 300-meter hurdles (1:01.0), and the 4×400 relay of Jadie Sudderth, Stegemoller, Walker and Jayme Cottle (4:27.4).

Naysa Leach placed fourth in the 3200 meters (14:16.09) while fifth-place finishes belonged to Addison Strickland in both the shot put (25-7) and discus (72-6.5), Kinley Reeves in the 100 meters (13.37), and the 4×200 relay of Sudderth, Savage, Reeves and Emily Carnes (1:57.46).

Coming in sixth were Brownlee in the 100-meter hurdles (19.22), Church in the long jump (15-3), Kassidy Wooten in the 200 meters (28.33), Ava Choate in the 400 meters (1:09.09), Alexa Arreola in the shot put (24-4), and the 4×100 relay of Alli Touhakis, Sudderth, Wooten and Cottle (53.98).

“You use these meets to fill out your teams and see who can be on the relays, see who can win some individuals and point for you, not only first place but all the way to sixth place, those points count as well,” Howard said. “We’re trying to max out the points and the way you do that and win district championships is with numbers.”

Brownwood will also be the host site for the District 6-4A meet March 31-April 1 and will venture to Lampasas on Thursday, March 11 for its next action.

Friday’s schedule of events is as follows:

Bluebonnet Relays – Friday, March 5 at Gordon Wood Stadium

CLASS 1A-3A

Bangs, Early, Brady, Cherokee, Eastland, Roscoe, San Saba, Whitney

9 a.m. – 3200 meters

9 a.m. – Field Events

Pit 1 – Girls Triple Jump, Girls Long Jump

Pit 2 – Boys Triple Jump, Boys Long Jump

South High Jump Pit – Boys, Girls

Shot Put Ring 1 – Boys, Girls

Discus Ring 1 – Girls, Boys

Pole Vault Pit 1 – Girls

Pole Vault Pit 2 – Boys

Noon – Running Finals (30 or minutes after completion of field events)

4×100 relay girls, boys

800 meters girls, boys

100-meter hurdles girls

110-meter hurdles boys

4×200 relay girls, boys

400 meters girls, boys

300-meter hurdles girls, boys

200 meters girls, boys

1600 meters girls, boys

4×400 relay girls boys

CLASS 4A-6A

Brownwood, Brock, Graham, Harker Heights, Killeen, Lampasas, Midland Greenwood, Stephenville

4 p.m. – 3200 meters

4 p.m. – Field Events