Small schools are sending five athletes to state championships
By Robert Morgan | Published Thursday, May 1, 2008
Alvord's Paige Klein is a soft-spoken junior who does not brag about her talent in track. She leaves all the talking to her feet, and they spoke loud last weekend in Stephenville.
In one of the most impressive regional performances ever by a Wise County female, Klein won the three fastest races of the Class 2A, Region II meet in Stephenville. She also competed in two field events and came one spot short of going to state in another event.
"Paige is such a tremendous athlete. She works hard every time, not just some of the time or most of the time. When it's time to run at practice, she is there and ready to run even when most would rather not," said AHS coach Curtis Enis.
The state championships are May 9-10 in Austin and the Alvord standout will have a busy day. She will join classmate Travis Montgomery, Chico's Hayden Eubanks, Boyd's Katy Mark and Paradise's James Hodges as the top two finishers in each event at regionals advance to Austin.
Klein owned the track at regionals where she won the 100 in 12.10 seconds, the 200 at 25.38 and the 400 at 57.63. She also took third in the long jump where she cleared 16 feet, 11.75 inches as well as competing in the triple jump.
Montgomery will be going to Austin with Klein as he was one of the area's biggest surprises this year. He took second in the 200 with a time of 22.49 seconds, just a fraction behind winner Darrin Marshall at 22.23.
Hodges is going back to state one more time in both of the distance events that he won. The senior won the 3,200 race by eight seconds with a time of 9:28.95 and was tops in the 1,600 at 4:24.79.
Hayden Eubanks won the regional discus championship and is state bound for the second straight year. He won the crown with a heave of 167-8 which was 15 feet ahead of the second-place finisher.
Boyd's Katy Mark advanced to regionals in two events and secured her first state appearance. She took second place in the 800 where she clocked a 2:21.10, just ahead of Paradise's Haley Mitchell in fifth at 2:28.12.
Mark's teammate, Desirea Nelson, finished tied for second in pole vault but lost the tiebreaker.
A listing of Wise County's top finishers in the finals as well as the state qualifiers in each event are listed below.
Boys
100 - 1. Jeremy Brown, Whitewright, 10.97; 2. Larry Ellis, Pottsboro, 11.30
