San Angelo Lake View Chiefs collect gold medals at District 3-4A track meet

Lake View High School's Derrick Taylor won a second individual gold medal and helped the Chiefs win two relays at the District 3-4A Track and Field Meet on Thursday at San Angelo Stadium.

The Chiefs, behind Taylor's blazing second leg of the 4x200, broke a school record in that event with a time of 1 minute, 28.61 seconds. Taylor, a junior, was joined by senior Brandon Durio, senior Devyn Paz and junior Brandon Cruz on that relay.

Taylor also clocked 22.95 to win the 200 and for his final act, joined Paz, Durio and Cruz in knocking four seconds off their San Angelo Relays time in the 4x400 relay to win the event going away in a time of 3:21.78.

RELATED: Lake View wins two gold medals on first day of 3-4A meet

Added to his high jump win on Wednesday, Taylor's performance highlighted the Chiefs' second-place finish in the team standings, a big improvement from last year's fourth place finish. The Chiefs scored 138 points, compared to 90 last year.

The top four finishers in each event qualify to the 3/4-4A Area Meet April 21 at Lowry Field in Lubbock.

Taylor, who along with Cruz qualified to regional in both relays last year, said getting a chance to try to qualify for regional in two individual events was rewarding.

“It’s all been really good competition,” Taylor said. “I had a pretty good time bettering myself, making friends and pushing myself to get better.”

The top four finishers at next Thursday’s area meet earn spots at the Region I meet, which is April 29-30 back in Lubbock. From there, athletes advance to the final stage, the UIL State Track and Field Championships May 12 in Austin.

Taylor said that winning the two individual gold medals at the district level “feels good, like, I can do things by myself.”

Despite the heat of the day in the last event of the day, the Chiefs led from gun to finish line to win their second relay of the day.

“I’m just super proud of the boys and how hard they work and how serious they take everything and their focus,” Lake View boys head coach Derek Alambar said. “It’s not easy to have a long day of running and competing hard and finishing the final race like they did. I’m just super proud that they ran the way they did.

“As a team, we preach the mile relay. We don’t want anybody to be afraid of it and the kids step up to the challenge,” the coach said.

“Honestly, we just put that in the trust of God,” Taylor said. “We prayed before that and we just came out with a victory. We didn’t know we were gonna PR again and get first.”

Paz, who is a first-year track competitor in his final year of high school, opened the event handing off to Durio with the stick in first place. Durio gave the Chiefs a five-meter lead by the start of the final straightaway. Taylor and Cruz, who finished second in the 300 hurdles, held off Snyder’s charge to win by almost two full seconds.

“I know we were all surprised when he took to running,” said Alambar of Paz, who played basketball for the Chiefs but never ran track. “He’s a natural, but he works hard. It’s not because of luck or accident.”

Cruz, who also qualified to regional last year in the 300 hurdles, had to battle a leg injury to be able to advance in the event this year.

He stumbled and stutter-stepped to the first hurdle and Sweetwater’s Harrison Foster quickly made up the stagger but Cruz managed to close the gap and finish second in 40.05 behind Foster’s 39.81.

“Before this I was out two weeks so I just wanted to be able to come back and help my team,” Cruz said. “It felt amazing looking back and seeing how we broke the school record (in the 800 relay). Last year, we stumbled at regional and we got a bad time. But we want to go to state this time.”

Lake View's Durio earned an area-meet berth running on all three relays as he teamed with Adrian Flores, Gio Pablo and Bryce Medley to finish fourth in the 4x100.

Behind Cruz in the 300 hurdles, Lake View's Pablo Madero added a fourth-place finish in that event to go with a second-place finish in the earlier 110 hurdles. Lake View's Jaiden Fuentes added a third-place finish Thursday in the 800 to go with a fourth-place finish in the 3,200 on Day One.

Also qualifying to area on Day One were Jayden Mermella, who was third in the discus throw and second in the shot put. Teammate Juan Ortiz was fourth in the discus.

Paz was second to Taylor in the high jump while R.J. Bohannon was a second-place finisher in the pole vault.

Youth leads Maidens to fourth-place finish

Lake View finished in fourth place in the girls division with 81 points, which was an improvement over last year’s 67-point outing for fifth place.

Youth led the Maidens as sophomore Anastasia Brayer won her second gold medal of the two-day meet. She clocked 6:02.56 Thursday to win the 1,600 after taking gold in the 3,200 on Wednesday.

Freshman Skyylynn Carroll qualified to area in three events, finishing third in the long jump, second in the 100 and fourth as a leg on the Maidens’ 4x100 relay.

While junior Faith Miller returned to the area meet in two events – she was third in the 800 and third in the 400 – having youth to add to the mix is an exciting prospect for Maidens coach Elisha Kentner.

“We had numerous freshmen on the varsity and the talent coming up from Lincoln (Middle School) is awesome. I can’t wait until next year because our team will be so much stronger,” Kentner said.

Lake View qualified just Brayer, with two third-place finishes in the same races as this year, Miller and a relay to area last year.

Carroll is “just a light to bring to the team,” Kentner said. “She’s an awesome kid but very timid. Coming from eighth grade to varsity is a huge thing and then to start to be a standout is even more….The last two days she’s showed what she’s capable of, just PRing all the time in every event she does.”

Carroll was joined by Mischa Watts, Beatrice Vasquez and Amari Calhoun for the fourth-place finish in the 4x100 relay. Calhoun was on that regional qualifying relay last year. Ariya Morales qualified with a third-place finish in the 100 hurdles, overcoming a late stumble to cross the line with a place to spare.

District 3-4A Track and Field

Thursday’s final results from San Angelo Stadium

The top four finishers in each event advance to the 3/4-4A Area Meet April 21 at Lowry Field in Lubbock

GIRLS

Team totals: 1. Big Spring 165 points; 2. Lubbock Estacado, 128; 3. Levelland, 99; 4. San Angelo Lake View, 81; 5. Sweetwater, 70; 6. Snyder, 59.

Long jump: 1. Niomi Wines, Big Spring, 17 feet, 1 inch; 2. A?′Lireyia Mitchell, Estacado, 15-1/4; 3. Skyylynn, Carroll, Lake View, 15-2; 4. Tanaeasia Brackens, Levelland, 15-1; 5. Caitlin Carr, Sweetwater, 14-10 ?; 6. Eionna Jennings, Sweetwater, 14-8 ?.

4x100 relay: 1. Estacado, 50.52 seconds; 2. Sweetwater, 51.03; 3. Levelland, 52.73; 4. Lake View (Carroll, Mischa Watts, Beatrice Vasquez, Amari Calhoun), 52.99; 5. Snyder, 53.05; 6. Big Spring, 54.10.

800: 1. Elisabeth Jones, Big Spring, 2:31.60; 2. Lily Rodriguez, Snyder, 2:33.57; 3. Faith Miller, Lake View, 2:35.03; 4. Ariani Lopez, Levelland, 2:35.16; 5. Maria Diaz, Lake View, 2:42.95; 6. McKenna Ruiz, Levelland, 2:43.40.

100 hurdles: 1. Alexa Mehan, Big Spring, 16.52; 2. Olivia Sanchez, Big Spring, 19.16; 3. Ariya Morales, Lake View, 19.59; 4. Cooper Wallace, Levelland, 19.86; 5. Alanna Worley, Levelland, 20.73; 6. Johanna Loffler, Snyder, 32.97.

100: 1. Mitchell, Estacado, 12.56; 2. Carroll, Lake View, 12.66; 3. Aunisti Griffin, Sweetwater, 12.72; 4. Dasharii Hawthorne, Estacado, 12.93; 5. Tessa Johanneck, Sweetwater, 13.10; 6. Ukiah Upshaw, Estacado, 13.29.

4x200 relay: 1. Estacado, 1:47.28; 2. Big Spring, 1:48.52; 3. Levelland, 1:49.15; 4. Sweetwater, 1:50.17; 5. Snyder, 1:53.93; 6. Lake View (Carroll, Mischa Watts, Andrea Lopez, Amari Calhoun), 1:56.43.

400: 1. Dorcas Jones, Big Spring, 1:03.44; 2. Rodriguez, Snyder, 1:05.21; 3. Miller, Lake View, 1:06.21; 4. Zy’Keyria Johnson, Estacado, 1:06.41; 5. Kayla Holmes, Estacado, 1:06.66; 6. Laryssa Garcia, Sweetwater, 1:09.27.

300 hurdles: 1. Mehan, Big Spring, 51.20; 2. Jennings, Sweetwater, 51.83; 3. Sanchez, Big Spring, 56.54; 4. Mia Bustamante, Big Spring, 58.77; 5. Worley, Levelland, 59.61.

200: 1. Wines, Big Spring, 26.44; 2. Mathews, Big Spring, 27.10; 3. Ashandra Johnson, Estacado, 27.70; 4. Kyleena Hughes, Big Spring, 28.06; 5. Ciarra Sanchez, Levelland, 28.18; 6. Heaven Morin, Levelland, 28.87.

1,600: 1. Anastasia Brayer, Lake View, 6:02.56; 2. Lopez, Levelland, 6:06.53; 3. Evelyn Mendias, Levelland, 6:06.53; 4. Kinsey Kelley, Snyder, 6:08.20; 5. E. Jones, Big Spring, 6:15.01; 6. Julicia Contreras, Big Spring, 6:33.09.

4x400 relay: 1. Big Spring, 4:13.05; 2. Estacado, 4:22.14; 3. Snyder, 4:27.15; 4. Levelland, 4:30.57; 5. Lake View (Diaz, Lopez, Miller, Brayer), 4:32.85.

BOYS

Team totals: 1. Big Spring, 184; 2. Lake View, 138; 3. Snyder, 105; 4. Sweetwater, 71; 5. Levelland, 64; 6. Lubbock Estacado, 40; 7. Lake View JV, 1.

Triple jump: 1. I Holloway, Big Spring, 43-0; 2. Dyllan Angeley, Snyder, 41-10; 3. Tyce Kinney, Estacado, 40-6 ?; 4. Luis Gomez, Estacado, 40-0 ?; 5. Devoryea Boyd, Estacado, 39-11 ?; 6. Armando Torres, Sweetwater, 39-7 ?.

4x100 relay: 1. Big Spring, 43.08; 2. Snyder, 43.82; 3. Estacado, 44.36; 4. Lake View (Adrian Flores, Brandon Durio, Gio Pablo, Bryce Medley), 44.43; 5. Sweetwater, 44.78; 6. Levelland, 45.26.

800: 1. Adrian Solis, Big Spring, 2:00.50; 2. Jeremiah Rodriguez, Snyder, 2:01.89; 3. Jaiden Fuentes, Lake View, 2:08.00; 4. Alexis Mendez, Levelland, 2:08.87; 5. Gregory Paty, Sweetwater, 2:11.13; 6. Ben Childers, Levelland, 2:14.71.

110 hurdles: 1. Harrison Foster, Sweetwater, 15.03; 2. Pablo Madero, Lake View, 16.22; 3. Xander Baker, Levelland, 16.82; 4. Jeramiah Valenzuela, Snyder, 17.92.

100: 1. Abram Jackson, Big Spring, 11.04; 2. Ricky Luna, Snyder, 11.27; 3. Caleb Salazar, Levelland, 11.37; 4. Armando Torres, Sweetwater, 11.49; 5. Jaylin Anderson, Estacado, 11.50; 6. Pablo, Lake View, 11.71.

4x200 relay: 1. Lake View (Durio, Derrick Taylor, Devyn Paz, Brandon Cruz), 1:28.61; 2. Big Spring, 1:30.36; 3. Snyder, 1:33.07; 4. Levelland, 1:33.19; 5. Sweetwater, 1:33.35; 6. Estacado, 1:34.46.

300 hurdles: 1. Foster, Sweetwater, 39.81; 2. Cruz, Lake View, 40.05; 3. Jackson Dodd, Sweetwater, 43.60; 4. Madero, Lake View, 45.54; 5. Ja’Myzon Taylor, Estacado, 46.49; 6. Valenzuela, Snyder, 46.97.

200: 1. Taylor, Lake View, 22.95; 2. Jackson, Big Spring, 23.34; 3. Matthew Bautista, Levelland, 23.70; 4. Joe Angel Reyna, Sweetwater, 23.94; 5. Aiden McChristion, Estacado, 24.31; 6. Jayden Forbes, Sweetwater, 24.55.

1,600: 1. Roman Perez, Big Spring, 4:45.81; 2. Isaac Gonzales, Big Spring, 4:48.11; 3. Antonio Martinez, Snyder, 4:50.68; 4. Alexis Mendez, Levelland, 5:00.20; 5. Brandon Martinez, Sweetwater, 5:01.83; 6. Ryan Jennerette, Levelland, 5:02.09.

4x400 relay: 1. Lake View (Paz, Durio, Taylor, Cruz), 3:21.78; 2. Snyder, 3:23.61; 3. Big Spring, 3:27.61; 4. Sweetwater, 3:32.06; 5. Estacado, 3:34.44; 6. Levelland, 3:46.38.

Amy McDaniel is a multimedia sports journalist. Send news tips to [email protected]. Consider supporting West Texas journalism with a subscription to GoSanAngelo.com.

This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: San Angelo Lake View Chiefs collect gold at District 3-4A track meet