The Midland boys’ track team may have been shorthanded but, the team came together to win the Greenwood Todd Martin Ranger Relays over the weekend with a score of 143. The Bulldogs beat out Midland Legacy, who was second with 118 points.
“It was a great team effort,” said Coach Stacey Martin. “We were without a couple of guys this week, but we really like how our guys are improving and competing. Our goal is still the same, we want to continue to get better each week and try to hit season best performances each week. We hope to peak at the right time around district, area and regional.”
It was a big day for Joey Almanza, who won the 1600 meters with a time of 4:36.47 and the 3200 meters with a tome of 10:09.38.
Joey Almanza won the gold in both the 1600 and 3200 meters.
| Midland High Boys Track and Field
“Joey did a great job in both the 3200m and 1600m,” said Martin. “Coach (Jaylen) Tryon has him working hard and we expect him to produce some good times moving forward.”
Jay Castillo picked up a gold medal with win in the 400 meters, finishing with a time of 49.71.
Michael Waters also had a gold in the triple jump with a personal record distance of 44 feet, 6.75 inches.
“Mike Waters PR'd in the triple jump, he hasn't jumped since Tall City so it was great to see him jump well,” Martin said.
The 4x200 meter relay team had as great day winning the preliminaries and then the gold in the finals, posting a time of 1:28.95. The team includes Waters, Tim Babino, Amon Mosley and Elijah McCoy. The 4x400 meter relay team also picked up a gold after bouncing back from third in the preliminaries. They had a time of 3:22.77 to beat out Midland Legacy for the gold medal. The JV 4x400 relay team also won with the time pending validation. They included Allen Wilson, Carter Anderson, Truman Blackburn and Tristan Love.
“Our relays competed well, we just need to continue to drop time and work on our execution,” Martin said. “The 4x400 Relay is ahead of where we thought it would be but we want those guys to continue to get faster each week.”
Mosley got a personal record in the 200 meters and won the silver with a time of 21.68.
“Amon Mosely is coming along great in the 200 meters,” Martin said. “We think he has a lot of room to still improve in the race.”
Blaine Hamilton took silver in the discus with a school record toss of 145 feet, six inches. Taj Harris won the bronze in the event with 138 feet, one inch, which was a personal record.
In the 100 meters, McCoy won the bronze with a time of 10.88. In the 400 meters, Kaleb Harper posted a personal record time of 50.70 to win the bronze. Ryder Sims ran a personal record time of 15.70 to win the bronze in the 110 meter hurdles.
Hamilton missed the podium with fourth place in the shot put, but his 45 feet, 2.25 inch toss set a school record.
“Blaine Hamilton threw well in both the discus and shot,” Martin said.
Athen Dominguez was fourth in triple jump, but had a personal best distance of 42 feet, four inches.
Next up are the West Texas Relays at Ratliff Stadium on March 8 starting at 10 a.m.