Area Track Meet Scheduled for April 18

Districts 19-2A and 20-2A Competing to Advance to Regionals

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

EAST TEXAS – The competition is getting fierce as area athletes have their sights set on advancing to the State Track and Field Meet in Austin on May 12-14.

District track meets have now been completed and according to the UIL Track & Field Manual, “In all conferences, four contestants shall qualify from district to area; four from area to regional; two from regional to state, with a wild card 9th qualifier based on next best performance (all regions).”

This week in Class 2A, the local athletes who were lucky enough to advance out of District will gather together at Madisonville High School on Monday, April 18 for the District 19-2A and 20-2A Area Track and Field Meet

The schools who will face off against one another are: District 19-2A – Cayuga; Frankston; Kerens; LaPoynor; Cross Roads; and Martins Mill. From District 20-2A – Centerville; Grapeland; Groveton; Latexo; Leon; Lovelady; and Slocum.

The action will start at 10:30 am with the 3200m run. The field events will follow, beginning at 11:30 am. The events scheduled at that time include: boys’ high jump; girls’ pole vault; girls’ discus; boys’ shot put; boys’ long jump and girls’ triple jump.

The next round of field events will start at 12:30 pm and will consist of: girls’ high jump; boys’ pole vault; boys’ discus’ girls’ shot put; girls’ long jump; and boys’ triple jump.

There will be three throws or jumps in preliminaries and three throws or jumps in the finals.

The opening height for the girls’ high jump will be 4’-4” while the boys’ opening height will be 5’-6”. Athletes will be given three attempts at each height with two-inch incremental height increases, until four jumpers are left. After that, there will one-inch incremental height increases.

In the pole vault, the opening height for the girls’ will be 6’-6”, while the boys’ opening height will be 9’-0”. Athletes will be given three attempts at each height with six-inch incremental height increases, until four jumpers are left. After that, there will three-inch incremental height increases.  

Following the conclusion of the field events, there will be a break until 4 pm, when the running finals will begin.

The first event will be the 4x100m relay, with the girls going first. The boys will follow immediately afterward and the remainder of the track events will follow the girls/boys format.

The next event will be the 800m, run at 4:15pm.

The girls’ 100m hurdles follow at 4:35 pm with the boys’ 110m hurdles shortly afterwards.

The sprinters hit the track after the hurdles with the 100m dash set to bolt out of the starting blocks at 4:55pm.

The 4x200m relay follows the at 5:15 pm. The 400m dash starts at 5:35 pm with 300m hurdles following.

The day closes with the 200m dash at 6:15, followed by 1600m run at 6:35 pm and the 4x400m relay beginning at 6:55 pm.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].