Smyer High School hosted the Bobcat Relays, and even with 40mph winds and frigid temperatures, both Smyer and Morton showed up and fought hard. Starting with the boys, in the 100-meter dash, Brayden Villarreal from Morton finished in first place with a time of 12.06. From Smyer, Max Benevedes placed second, running a 12.17, and Colton Burriss finished third, running a 12.26.
Moving to distance, Austin Martinez from Smyer placed twice. In the 800-meter run, he finished second in 2:11.36, and in the 1600-meter run, he finished first in 5:02.82. For the 3200-meter run, Edder Vasquez from Morton ran a 13:16.24, placing third.
For the hurdling events, Alex Mattox placed first for Smyer in the 110-meter hurdles, running a 19.82. James Rampy of Smyer placed second with a time of 20.71. Alex Mattox and James Rampy both placed again in the 300-meter hurdles. Mattox ran a 50.92, placing first, and Rampy got 2nd, running a 52.22.
The Relays concluded with the Smyer boys placing in all three events. Smyer placed second in the 4x100m relay with a time of 47.85, second in the 4x200m relay with a time of 1:42.12, and third in the 4x400m relay with a time of 4:14.80.
Field events finished with five placements between Smyer and Morton. For Long Jump, Brayden Villarreal from Morton placed first with a distance of 20-1.50. From Smyer, Colton Burriss placed second, jumping 196.00, and Daniel Paredes finished third, jumping 1710.50.
For Triple jump, Smyers Colton Burriss placed first, jumping 39-1.00, and Skyler Pond from Smyer placed second with a jump distance of 36-0.00.
Moving to girls’ events, the 100-meter dash concluded with Smyers Khloe Kimbell-Morgan placing second, running a 13.65, and Kira Posadas from Smyer finishing in third, running a 13.78.
J’Lynn Marquez from Morton ran a 1:18.59 and placed third in the 400-meter dash. For the 800-meter run, Jada Hernandez from Smyer placed first with a time of 2:47.37, and Skylar Wiseman from Smyer placed first in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 6:42.49.
In the hurdle events, Smyer’s Makenzie Zapata finished first, running a 17.76 in the 100-meter hurdles. For the 300-meter hurdles, Ellie Nelson from Smyer placed first with a time of 54.81, and Makenzie Zapata from Smyer finished in first place running a 57.14.
The girls relay events concluded with first-place finishes across the board for Smyer. Smyer ran a 52.57 in the 4x100m relay, a 1:54.82 in the 4x200m relay and a time of 4:45.20 in the 4x400m relay.
Moving to field events, Smyer had seven placements. For High Jump, Ellie Nelson placed first with a jump height of 4-8.00, and Jada Hernandez placed second with a jump height of 4-8.00 Long Jump concluded with Ashtyn Burriss placing first, jumping 16-4.50, and Khloe Kimbell-Morgan finishing in second place, jumping 15-9.50. Smyers’ Ashtyn Burriss placed first in triple jump, with a jump distance of 35-5.00, and qualified for the Texas Relays in Austin.
Throwing events finished with Lynzie Benevedes placing third in Discus, with a throw of 71-8.00, and Benevedes placing again in Shot Put, finishing in third place with a throw distance of 27-9.50.
Coaches from Smyer and Morton are very proud of their athletes competing in tough weather conditions. Coach Corey Hatter, the boys’ track coach from Smyer, explains the efforts put in.
“These kids will always surprise you with how well they can overcome tough situations,” Hatter said. “They carry some very high expectations.”
Coach Jeremy Binion, Smyers girls’ track coach, believes the team’s resilience, shown in tough weather, is key to winning.
“The expectations have been set; they knew their only option was to compete with all they had. They did just that,” Binion said. “Keep your eyes on us, we are about to start doing some special things.”
Coach Trevor Bulmer of Morton reveals the team’s success, even in harsh weather, “...Despite the terrible weather, we had a ton of PRs,” Bulmer said.
Smyers and Morton’s next track meet will be on Thursday at Plains High School.