By Edgar Estrada
Speed and distance is the name of the game and the Lady Eagles track and field team has plenty of it. The team placed second at the UIL 3A Region III meet, April 29-30 at Midway ISD Panther Stadium.
The team captured first place in four different events.
In the high jump, Shadasia Brackens started the meet with a winning jump of 5’ 5” inches. She tied with Soha Vykukal of Wallis Brazos for the total height, but Brackens had the tie-breaker with fewer misses.
Fairfield struck gold again in the morning session as McKinna Brackens outhrew her competition in the discus event. Brackens’ winning throw of 127’ 1” was over two feet better than runner up Graycee Mosley’s throw of 124’ 10”.
The discus competitors threw in windy conditions and Brackens noticed an effect on her throws.
“Oh my gosh the wind is blowing,” Brackens said “It's going to mess me up, then I threw a 97 foot throw. That's not good for me anymore, I thought it was going to be a bad day.”
Brackens saw her competition complete a throw of 109 feet and from there Brackens knew it was game on.
“I knew I had to compete, that's what motivated me,” Brackens said.
Brackens’ easy going spirit between throws is part of her preparation. She was tossing the discus in her hands akin to a child tossing a ball to themself.
“I toss it, to make sure it's coming out of my hand right,” Brackens said.
And now she will be tossing at the state tournament in Austin.
Strawther Tops In Shot Put
Shaking off nerves is a recurring theme for the track team. This time those nerves were conquered inside the shot put ring.
Shamari Strawther tossed a personal best 37’5” throw besting her teammate Bree Dowell by four inches.
Strawther said she conquered her nerves by understanding that being nervous would get her nowhere. Besides, what is there to be nervous about? She has been practicing with the next best shot putter in the region all season long.
Between the area meet and the regional meet Strawther had been emphasizing on her glide and kicking her left foot during her throws.
The emphasizing paid off as she is now the regional champion.
4x400 Relay Team Blitzes Competition
It wasn’t even their best time of the season, were the words of the relay team as they came off the field after finishing first in the 4x400 relay with a time of 4:02.66.
The team consists of Madox Mitchael, Avery Thaler, Ava Grecu and Shadasia Brackens.
The race started with Mitchael and she was the first runner to pass her baton to her teammate Thaler.
Thaler built up a strong 10-15 meter lead between her and the second and third place runners and another seamless baton handoffs between her and Grecu. The smooth handoff allowed Grecu too maintain and extend the lead as Grecu had one thing on her mind, give Brackens a lead so that she can close off the race.
During Brackens’ leg of the race she lost a little bit of the lead going into the 200 meter mark and with 100 meters left Brackens turned on the jets and turned off any hope of being caught by any runner.
The relay team and the rest of the state qualifiers turn their attention to the UIL 3A state meet in Austin, May 12-14.
*= Fairfield state qualifier
Team Results
1.Cameron Yoe, 110
2. Fairfield, 93
3.West, 44
4.Lorena, 41
5.Newton, 40
High Jump
*1.Shadasia Brackens, Fairfield, 5’ 5”
2.Sopha Vykukal, Wallis Brazos, 5’5”
12.Ava Grecu, Fairfield, 5-0
16. Avery Thaler, Fairfield, 4-08
4x100 Relay, Prelims
1.Cameron Yoe, 48.95
2.Fairfield, 48.96
Finals
1.Cameron Yoe, 48.65
*2.Fairfield, A. Cox, S. Brackens, M. Brackens, N. Conner, 48.69
Discus
*1.McKinna Brackens, Fairfield, 127-01
2.Graycee Mosley, 124-10
Long Jump
1.Yierra Flemings, Cameron Yoe, 19-11
13. Avery Thaler, Fairfield, 16-00.5
200m, prelims
1.Tim Grice, Rockdale, 21.47
12.Kam Griffin, Fairfield, 23.52
100m, prelims
1.Jayla Franklin, Newton, 11.82
7.Addie Cox, Fairfield, 12.66
200m
1.Jayla Franklin, Newton, 24.60
6.Avery Thaler, Fairfield, 25.87
400m
1. Yierra Flemings, Cameron Yoe, 57.23
*2.Shadasia Brackens, Fairfield, 57.75
1600m
1.Esmeralda Garcia, Wallis Brazos, 5:36.90
15.Hailey Wall, Fairfield, 6:25.17
300m hurdles, prelims
8.Ava Grecu, Fairfield, 48.91
13.Jarahle Daniels, Fairfield, 52.27
Finals
1.Brooke Munoz, New Waverly, 45.57
5. Ava Grecu, Fairfield, 48.48
4x200 relay,prelims
1.Clifton, 1:46.10
9.Fairfield, Addie Cox, McKinna Brackens, Jimilyah Nash, Avery Thaler
4x400 relay
*1. Fairfield, Madox Mitchael, Avery Thaler, Ava Grecu, Shadasia Brackens, 4:02.66
2. Cameron Yoe, 4:04.48
Shotput
*1. Shamari Strawther, Fairfield, 37’5”
*2.Bree Dowell, Fairfield, 37’1”
Long Jump
1.Yierra Flemings, Cameron Yoe, 19’ 1”
13. Avery Thaler, Fairfield, 16’ 0.5”
Triple Jump
1. Yierra Flemings, Cameron Yoe, 39’ 1”
3. Bree Dowell, Fairfield, 37’ 10”
5. Shadasia Brackens, Fairfield, 35’ 9.25”