Despite coming in third in the 800 meters at the Region I-4A meet at Lowrey Field, Stegemoller, who ran a 2:22.33, earned the wild card berth – the best third-place time from all four regions – as she beat out Lily Green of Celina in Region II (2:22.8), Hadley Phillips of China Spring in Region III (2:29.48), and Madison Anderson of Wimberley in Region IV (2:26.41) to move on to Austin.
Kynslee Walker was right behind Stegemoller in the 800 meters, finishing fourth in a time of 2:23.56, while Becca Church added a fourth-place effort in the 100-meter hurdles as she was clocked at 16.54.
Walker also came in seventh in the 400 meters in a personal-best time of 1:01.2, while Stegemoller was ninth in the 1600 meters (5:45).
Also Saturday, Michael Felts finished ninth in the boys 800 meters (2:05.51) and 15th in the 1600 meters (5:08.67), while Christian Kinzler placed 12th in the boys high jump with a best leap of 5-8, and Naysa Leach came in 16th in the girls 1600 meters (6:03.08).
On Friday, Lady Lion Kylie Morris finished second in the girls triple jump to secure her spot in the state field. Morris, who won the 5-4A/6-4A area championship, jumped 36-11.25 which trailed only Glen Rose’s Kylie Frush (37-0.5). Morris comfortably outdistanced third-place Tania Lee of Burkburnett (35-8-25) as the top two finishers in each event automatically advance to state.
The UIL Class 4A Track and Field State Championships will take place at the University of Texas’ Myers Stadium in Austin May 6-8.