Beverly Humphrey has retired, but the Lancaster Lady Tigers’ track tradition remains solidly intact under new head coach LaKeidra Hayes, who led the team a state championship Friday, May 3 at the University of Texas in Austin.
The championship, the 14th in team history – 13 with Humphrey at the helm – also signaled an end to Lancaster’s time in Class 5A. They will move up to 6A beginning in the fall, setting up quite the showdown against the Duncanville Pantherettes, who won the 6A Girls championship this season.
Lancaster easily outdistanced runner-up Lucas Lovejoy. Duncanville’s victory was a little closer over Alvin Shadow Creek, 68-59.
The Red Oak boys narrowly missed winning a state championship in Class 5A. The Hawks finished with 56 points, behind Fort Bend Marshall’s 58. Mansfield Timberview was third with 40.
In the 6A Boys division, Duncanville was also second with 61 points, trailing only Humble Atascocita with 70.
NATIONAL RECORD
The lone local gold medal among 6A Boys was won by the Duncanville 4×200, and it was a doozy of a highlight. The quartet of Brayden Williams, Caden Durham, Ayson Theus and Dakorien Moore clocked a national record time of 1 minute, 22.25 seconds.
That’s a full second off the previous national record of 1:23.25, which was run by Conroe The Woodlands at state in 2018.
A LOTTA GOLD
In all, area athletes won gold medals in 11 events over the three days of state May 2-4.
Individually, among 5A Girls, Angel Brefo of Midlothian Heritage topped the field in the 400-meter dash, clocking a time of 53.41 seconds. Also, Saniyah Miller of Lancaster won the 200 in a time of 23.52.
Lancaster won all three relays:
4×100 – Addison Stricklin, Kristian Nichols, Milan Lathan and Miller, 46.08.
4×200 – Aniyah Bennett, Lathan, Datavia Hunter, Stricklin, 1:36.86.
4×400 – Hunter, Lathan, Sarai James, Miller, 3:45.38.
In the 5A Boys category, Kameron Franklin of Red Oak won the high jump in a tie-break over Julian McCullough of Midlothian Heritage. Each cleared 6-10, but Franklin did so on his second attempt, while McCullough needed three tries.
In the 300 hurdles, Cameron Bates of Timberview clocked a 37.04 to win the gold medal.
The 6A Girls division saw Duncanville win three gold medals. De’Kayla Simpson won the 400 in 53.64.
The Pantherettes also won two relays. The 4×100, consisting of Ashley Lister, Simpson, Aaliyah Gipson and Sanyah Keeton posted a 44.70. The 4×200 of Gabrielle Goodgames, Lister, Gipson and Keeton finished in 1;35.67.
FAMILIAR FACE WINS AGAIN
The school was different, but the result was the same. Madeleine Fey won her fourth consecutive discus state championship in the 5A Girls division. Competing for Killeen Chaparral this season, she had a throw of 164 feet, 6 inches to take the title.
Fey won state championships in the event for Midlothian the previous two years. As a freshman she won the title for San Antonio Southwest.
Fey also finished as the state runner-up in the shot put for a third consecutive season.
ALSO FROM THE AREA
4A Girls
4×100 relay: 4. Waxahachie Life School (Ramyha Torres, Jasmine Pullins, Mac’Aylen Barnes, Jamie Brown), 1:41.68.
High Jump: 3. Pullins, 5-4.
4A Boys
4×200 relay: 9. Waxahachie Life (Zion Smith, Damien Demas, Kaleb Smith, James Hicks), 1:35.35.
100: 6. Hicks, 10.77.
5A Girls
Shot put: 4. Briana Davis, Red Oak, 45-1.25.
High Jump: 5. Kaiden Johnson-Gilmore, Mansfield Summit, 5-4.
Triple jump: 3. Dorie Davis, Summit, 39-2.5.
4×100 relay: 4. Mansfield Timberview (Brooke Middleton, Norah Nwonumah, Skye Fields, Jayla Bledsoe), 46.41.
100: 3. Angel Brefo, Midlothian Heritage, 11.65; 6. Jada Edwards, Red Oak, 11.82.
4×200 relay: 4. Timberview (Fields, Bledsoe, Reagan Williams, Nwonumah), 1:38.78; 5. Red Oak (Morgan Morris, Leanna Jackson, Edwards, Jada Donahue), 1:38.79.
300 hurdles: 8. Justice Armstrong, Lancaster, 45.75.
4×400 relay: 5. Red Oak (Donahue, Edwards, Maya Ward, Morris), 3:49.62.
5A Boys
Shot put: 3. Travis Buhake, Summit, 59-11; 4. Kyen Purser, Midlothian, 58-11.25.
Long jump: 3. Kameron Franklin, Red Oak, 22-6.5; 5. Michael Henderson, Timberview, 21-5.
Discus: 5. Purser, 178-11.
4×100 relay: 2. Red Oak (Charles Taplin, Dior Gammon, Franklin, Rodney Malone), 39.88; 5. Timberview (Nathan Timon, John Ware, Tyler Madison, Omari Mitchell), 41.21.
800: 3. Caleb Adkinson, Red Oak, 1:53.74; 6. Eduardo Estrada, Summit, 1:55.52.
110 hurdles: 3. Alex Moore, Timberview, 14.03.
100: 8. Madison, 10.78.
4×200 relay: 2. Red Oak (Taz Williams, Joshua Ford, Malone, Gammon), 1:25.60.
300 hurdles: 4. Moore, 37.93.
4×400 relay: 2. Timberview (Brandon Gilmore, Nye’gil Wright, Chance Collins, Cameron Bates), 3:15.95; 6. Red Oak (Taplin, Gammon, Ford, Adkinson), 3:20.90.
6A Girls
Long jump: 5. Ashley Lister, Duncanville, 19-5.25.
Discus: 4. Alana Butler, Duncanville, 147-9.
Triple jump: 5. Whitney Robinson, DeSoto, 39-9.25.
800: 9. Taryn Bailey, DeSoto, 2:11.91.
4×200 relay: 5. DeSoto (Kayla Effiong, Skylar Wilson, Taryn Kirk, Nasya Williams), 1:36.83.
300 hurdles: 6. Krystan Bright, Cedar Hill, 42.67.
200: Williams, 23.81.
4×400 relay: 3. Duncanville (Pilar Garcia, Lister, Chloe Mann, De’Kayla Simpson), 3:43.58.
6A Boys
High Jump: 2. Zion Robinson, Mansfield, 6-8 (lost tiebreaker).
Shot put: 7. Isaiah Pena, Mansfield Lake Ridge, 55-8.
Long jump: 5. Dakorien Moore, Duncanville, 23-7.5.
Triple jump: 6. Jason Johnson, Lake Ridge, 46-10.25.
4×100 relay: 2. Duncanville (Ayson Theus, Moore, Brayden Williams, Caden Durham), 39.47; 7. Mansfield (Jacobe Hayes, Folaramni Oyalami, Kah’vanti Bell-Phillips, Robinson), 40.81.
100: 3. Durham, 10.46; 6. Williams, 10.61.
4×400: 2. Duncanville (Keelon Russel, Jason Jeffries, Timothy Price, Moore), 3:11.51.
