Wolfe City's Thurman wins gold at state; others win medals
May 17—Led by Wolfe City 1600-meter runner Caden Thurman, Hunt County athletes won one gold, two silvers and two bronze medals at the University Interscholastic League State Track and Field Championships this weekend in Austin.
Thurman, who is a sophomore, won the Class 2A boys 1600-meter run in his first appearance at the state meet
Royse City 800-meter runner Chasetin Winston won a silver in his race, as did Royse City 400-meter runner Jonah Roberson.
Royse City sophomore Jacelyn Neighbors finished third in the girls 5A pole vault and Celeste senior Zakryn Jackson was third in the 2A boys 400-meter run.
Thurman entered the meet ranked second behind Caleb Lengefeld of Hamilton among the nine qualifiers in the 1600 with his region time of 4 minutes, 29.10 seconds. Lengefeld led at 4:27.82.
Lengefield led the first three laps as Thurman ran in third place, also behind Abraham Morales of Brackettvile Brackett.
Thurman overtook Lengfeld and Morales on the final lap to finish in a career-best time of 4:22.00, which is also a school record. Lengefeld was second at 4:23.32 and Morales finished third at 4:27.02.
Thurman faced those other two runners at the state cross country meet back in the fall, finishing second to Morales at 16:20.6. Lengefeld was sixth in that race.
Lengefeld (9:27.20) and Morales (9:44.91) finished first and second in the 3200-meter run earlier on Friday. Thurman did not run in that race. Lengefeld was also third in the 800 at state.
Winston, who placed seventh last year in the boys 5A 800-meter run, moved up to second place on Friday, clocking a time of 1:54.15, three seconds faster than last year. Winston, who trailed most of the field after the first lap of last year's race, went out faster this tme and led the first lap at 58.85 seconds. Kepler Huntress of Austin Liberal Arts and Science Academy won in the time of 1:53.88. Winston won district, area and regional races to qualify for state. He also placed 62nd at the state cross country meet.
Roberson, who is a junior, finished second in the 5A boys 400-meter dash in his first trip to state. He clocked a time of 48.01 to finish second to Cameron Chin of Baytown Sterling (47.05).
Roberson, also an all-district wide receiver in football, showed his potential in the 400 when he overtook four teams in the District 13-4A 4x100-meter relay with a sub-47 split to win the race for Royse City after the Bulldogs dropped the stick.
Neighbors, who finished fifth at state last year in the 5A girls pole vault, moved up to third place on Friday with a clearance of 12 feet, 6 inches. That was six inches higher than last year when she competed as a freshman. Aleandra Harber of McKinney North won at 13-0 and Claire Bybee from Sulphur Springs cleared 12-9 for second.
Neighbors got a scare early in the competition when she missed her first two attemps at 11-6. She cleared 11-6 on her third attempt and then 12-0, 12-3 and 12-6 on her first attempts before missing three times at 12-9.
Jackson, who was second at state last year in the boys 2A 400, finished third this time at 49.56. He finished behind Taylor Long of Hamilton (49.12) and Kasen Jeitz (49.14) of Centerville. Jackson ran a time of 49.10 last year.
Jackson ran the second leg on Celeste's 4x100 relay that was eighth in 43.47. That was faster than the 43.63 Celeste clocked last year to also place eighth. Joining Jackson on the relay were Riley Ziminskas, Anthony Powell and Tanner Meeks. Refugio won at 41.93 followed by Marlin (42.12) and Timpson (42.14).
Contreal Judkins of Fannindel was sixth in the Class A boys 100-meter dash at 11.27. LaTavion Mays of Burkeville won with a 10.94, followed by Jordan Daniel of Rotan (11.01) and Kaden Halk (11.07) of May.
