Decatur pole vaulters steal the show on opening day of regional finals
By Robert Morgan | Published Sunday, May 24, 2009
The swine flu scare delayed UIL competition and forced Decatur, Bridgeport and Northwest high school athletes to wait a month between the district and regional track and field meets.
The delay created havoc on practices and the attention span of some, but it proved to be a worthwhile wait for all three pole vaulters from Decatur. The trio was the highlight for Wise County on Friday as all three broke personal records at the Class 3A, Region I championships at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
Although none of Wise County's 49 regional qualifiers earned a trip to state on the first day of competition, the meet was far from over at press time late Friday. Most of the area's athletes with the best shot of getting to Austin were scheduled to compete in the running finals Saturday afternoon.
The first and second finishers in each event will advance to the UIL state championships June 5-6 at the University of Texas in Austin.
If the beginning of the regional meet is any sign of things to come for Decatur, then it should be a successful weekend regardless of how many advance.
The Eagles did not sweep the top three spots in pole vault as they didn't the district finals, and they did not get a state qualifier. But coach Heath Tullous could not be happier with what he saw Friday morning.
"The guys were ready to get after it," said Tullous. "We went to a warm-up meet in Bowie last week, and we did not do very good. I'm glad we went and got that out or else that could have been today. These guys are young but are getting better all the time. We will have two more next year, so we will have a lot of good pole vaulters in the next few years."
Sophomore Nick Crohan had the best day for DHS as he cleared a personal record 13 feet on his first attempt to beat his old mark by six inches. Sophomore Chris Tate also had his best showing ever as he cleared 12-0.
Freshman Jacob Walker broke his own record twice within 15 minutes. After clearing 12-0 to beat his previous record of 11-6 that he set at the district meet, Walker came through with a 12-6 to mark the end of a successful freshman season.
Also, in field events on the first day, Bridgeport's Stewart Price had trouble with his footing and did not qualify for state in the shotput. The senior made it to the final round with a heave of 47-5 but fouled on his final three heaves.
Freshman Brooke Fincher, who beat her own discus personal record in a regional qualifier meet last week in Bowie at 113, was unable to pick up where she left off. She recorded a 100-8 in Lubbock and missed moving into the top eight.
Northwest long jumper Christina Osondu also missed the cut for the elite eight. Her best jump was a 14-8, which was shorter than her mark of 16-3.5 at district.
The running preliminaries got off to a good start for Northwest as Chris Bain came up big in the sprints. The junior posted the fastest time in the 200 meters at 21.83 seconds and was second overall in the 100 at 10.71 to qualify for the finals on Saturday.
Northwest's Jasmine Boutte just missed the finals in the 400 after she was 10th in the qualifying round with a time of 59.84, which was a second faster than her time at the district finals. Also, Brian Cooper was 19th overall in the 800 prelims at 2:04.
Athletes from Decatur and Bridgeport were scheduled to run in prelims beginning at 6 p.m. Friday. Two Decatur athletes who were listed as alternates were to run Friday night after athletes from Iowa Park and Hirschi scratched from the competition. Katie Brown was added to the 200 race, and Natalie Neighbors jumped into the 400 action.
Results were not available at press time, but other athletes that were to compete included:
Decatur boys
100 - Colby Moore; 200 - Brad Gamm; 400 - Matt Huddleston; 800 - Chance Gasperson; 1,600 - Eric Pedroza; 3,200 - Eric Pedroza, 400 relay - Matt Huddleston, Colby Moore, Brad Gamm, Chad Harrison; 800 relay - Colby Moore, Brad Gamm, Chad Harrison, Eliuth Sanchez; 1,600 relay - Matt Huddleston, Tim Metts, Eliuth Sanchez, Garrett Muehlstein
