GRAHAM – The Brownwood Lady Lions put themselves in position to potentially secure another District 6-4A track and field championship, thanks to a 50-point effort through just five events Wednesday – the first of two days of league competition at Newton Field.
The Lady Lions own a 13-point advantage over second-place Stephenville (37 points) and a 23-point edge over third-place Brock (27 points) heading into Thursday’s final day of action – the heart of the meet.
The Brownwood Lions, meanwhile, garnered 8 points Wednesday and sit in fifth place, 62 points off the lead of Stephenville (70 points).
In JV action, the Lady Lions are also in first place with 59 points and almost doubled up second-place Brock (30) on Wednesday, while the Lions produced 7 points and are in sixth place, 61 points off the pace set by Stephenville (68).
The Lady Lions’ Wednesday effort was fueled by senior Hannah Deen, who set a new school record of 5-8 in the high jump, en route to capturing the district championship. Deen also set a new personal record of 37-1.75 in the triple jump en route to a silver medal.
Nylah Hall captured the gold medal in the triple jump as she cleared 37-3.5, while sister Icess Hall came in fourth with a best effort of 35-5.5 to secure an area berth, as the top four finishers in each event move on to the 5-4A/6-4A area meet in Abilene on Friday, April 17.
Not everything came up sunshine and rainbows for the Lady Lions, however, as later in the day Icess Hall – while running in the preliminaries of the 100 meters – suffered a left hamstring injury. Hall was unable to continue to race and was carried to the training facility on site. Hall later emerged limping heavily with her hamstring wrapped as the severity of the injury, and the length of time she will miss, was unclear Wednesday evening.
Along with missing out on advancing to the finals of the 100 meters, Icess Hall is also the first leg on both the defending state champion 4×100 relay, as well as the 4×200 relay, which both compete Thursday. Who will replace Hall, if needed Thursday, was up in the air Wednesday evening, according to head coach Chelsy Lipsey.
Other area qualifiers for the Lady Lions on Wednesday were Grace Sparks, who earned a silver medal in the pole vault with a best effort of 11-6; Jaidyn Hope, who captured a bronze medal in the high jump with her best leap of 5-4; and Trinity Roberts in the discus, who came in fourth place with a long distance of 97-10.
The Lady Lions will look to add to their seven area berths as field events continue at 10:30 a.m. Thursday with the shot put and long jump, while running finals start at 4 p.m.
For the Lions, Blayne Stegemoller became the first to punch a ticket to area with a fourth-place effort of 135-11 in the discus. Wyatt Wolf (12-6) came in fifth and Hutton Malone (12-0) placed sixth in the pole vault to produce points, and Christian Gray (130-5) also turned in a sixth-place performance in the discus.
The following varsity Lions and Lady Lions advanced to the Thursday running finals based on their Top 8 performances in Wednesday’s running preliminaries.
- Girls 100-meter hurdles: Jentry Coalson (2nd, 15.22) and Grace Sparks (3rd, 15.26)
- Boys 110-meter hurdles: Judson Coalson (4th, 15.38)
- Girls 100 meters: Eboni Baker (3rd, 12.87)
- Boys 100 meters: Caven Webster (2nd, 10.98), Trent Buffington (7th, 11.23)
- Girls 400 meters: Rebekkah Delgado (3rd, 59.57), Jaidyn Hope (7th, 1:04.88)
- Girls 300-meter hurdles: Grace Sparks (1st, 46.02), Jentry Coalson (2nd, 47.27), Hannah Deen (3rd, 47.51)
- Girls 200 meters: Kaya Phillips (1st, 24.95), Eboni Baker (5th, 27.67)
- Boys 200 meters: Trent Buffington (5th, 23.64), Hutton Malone (7th, 23.91).
A full recap of the District 6-4A meet will appear Thursday night at BrownwoodNews.com.
