AUSTIN -
When the gun sounded to start the
girls 100 meters Saturday at the Texas Relays, few in the capacity
crowd had their eyes on Mineral Wells' Sandy Wooten, a 5-foot-2
junior who had the slowest qualifying time and the unfavorable
assignment of Lane 1.They
noticed her at the end of the race, however, when Wooten finished
second in a personal-best 11.63 seconds -- nearly half a second
faster than her time from Friday's prelims. Wooten ran a 12.04
Friday and was the only runner to qualify for the final who did not
break 12 seconds.
"This is probably the best race
I've ever run," Wooten said. "I still want to get down to 11.5, but
I'm real excited."
Jessica Gregory of Foster won
Saturday in 11.58 seconds.
In the boys 1,600, Boswell's Jared
McNeil hung on for third place in 4 minutes, 20.32 seconds, less
than two seconds behind winner Scott MacPherson of Plano. Crowley
sprinter Dominique Stafford took fourth in a close 100-meter race.
At the discus circle, Arlington
Bowie's Brad Sellers produced one of the meet's most dominating
performances. The senior was one of only five throwers to surpass
the minimum mark of 160 feet -- but he went much farther, flirting
with the meet record. He settled for a 194-6 toss -- less than six
feet shy of the meet record -- in difficult wind conditions.
"If we would have had a better
wind, it could have been bigger," said Sellers, who finished sixth
in the shot put Saturday.
Two area triple jumpers earned
silver medals Saturday. Trinity's Reco Hammick, in the boys event,
and Summit's Ashley Johnson, in girls, leapt 47 feet, 6 1/4 inches
and 40-0 1/2, respectively.
In the distance medley relay,
Saturday's opening event, the Carroll girls defended their title.
Three legs of the relay -- Brooke Upshaw, Brittany Albertto and
Miranda Walker -- were part of the foursome that set a stadium and
meet record a year ago. With Briana Johnson joining the team,
Carroll pulled away and finished the 4,000-meter relay in 12:13.20.
