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Phantom Stang
05-09-2005, 10:49 AM
Sports

Mustang runners try for first boys state track crown
By RON HOWELL/Reporter Sports Editor

Nearly two months ago, the three boys relay teams at Sweetwater High School got a taste of what this weekend will be like. Over spring break they traveled to Atlanta, Texas -- located in far east Texas and close to the Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma borders -- to compete in a meet that fea-tured some of the fastest runners in the en-tire southwest region.

It was a long, tiring trip, but it also gave the Mustang runners a chance to find out how they stacked up against the best. Sweetwater did extremely well, winning the mile relay while placing third in the sprint relay and fourth in the 800 relay.

Now, after dominating the competition at the Region I-3A meet in Odessa this past weekend and bringing home a second team title in three years, the Mustangs go for the biggest prize of all this Friday -- a first-ever boys state title at the state meet in Austin.

Two of the five runners, seniors Jeremy Thompson and Michael Williams, are ma-king their third straight trip to state as part of a relay. They ran on mile relays that won third-place bronze medals in 2003 and in 2004, and were also on an 800-meter re-lay that set a school record (1:27.75) and won a second-place silver medal in 2003.

But the other three runners -- Joseph Banyard, Duone Cunnings and Skye Green -- are all just sophomores and this will be their first time to compete in a state meet, al-though they went as relay alternates last year.

But Thompson doesn't think the younger guys will be intim-idated. "The sophomores have really stepped up this year," he said. "They've stepped it up a whole lot."

That was certainly the case at Odessa, where Sweetwater won all three relay events while also getting a win from Green in the 100-meter dash. The four vic-tories accounted for 70 of the Mustangs' 76 points, 25 more than second-place Monahans.

Sweetwater held a slim five-point lead over Monahans en-tering the mile relay, the final event, but easily won in a time of 3:20.02 while Monahans did not place.

"I was nervous at regionals," Banyard said. "But some of the other teams were telling us (before the last race) not to beat them too bad, and that gave us more confidence.

"I want to thank the coaches and all of the fans for supporting us like they have."

The 3:20.02 is the fastest re-gional qualifying time of any of the eight mile relay teams going to state. It is more than two sec-onds faster than the next best time of 3:22.21 by Waco La Ve-ga, the only other school which is sending all three relay teams to Austin.

Green also has the fastest qualifying time (10.60) in the 100 dash. The 400 relay's qual-ifying time of 42.34 ranks sec-ond only to Kennedale's 42.26, and the 800 relay's qualifying time of 1:28.01 also ranks sec-ond only to Cuero's 1:27.70.

Only Waco La Vega (80) has more potential points entering the state meet than Sweetwater, which has a maximum of 70 if it wins all four events.

"Anything is possible when you get to state," said Williams, who is the anchor leg on all three relays.

"We proved that last year when we ran our best time in the mile relay (3:18.97)."

The 3:20.02 at regionals is the best time of the season for this year's relay. The 400 and 800 relays, however, have top times of 41.9 and 1:27.83, re-spectively, and Green has a best of 10.49 in the 100.

Breaking the school record of 3:15.2 set in 1998 may be a long shot for the mile relay runners, but the others certainly seem capable of setting new marks.

The 400 relay record is 41.6, also set in '98, while the record in the 100 dash record is 10.37, set in 1995 by Shaun Carr. And the 800 relay could easily break its own record as well.

One of the oldest records at Sweetwater is held by Williams' stepfather, Lowell, who threw the discus 187 feet, 7 inches in 1979. He also held the record in the shot put until it was broken two years ago by Josh Guzman. And both of Green's parents, Marvin and Brenda, were also track standouts at Sweetwater during their high school days.

But winning a state championship this weekend would be truly historic for the current Mustang runners. The girls won a state crown back in 1984, but no boys team at Sweetwa-ter has ever done it.

"I really want to win state," Thompson said. "We all want to win it."

According to head boys track coach Patrick Villa, everyone on the team has contributed great-ly to the overall success. "Our alternates have come out every day and they've done a great job," he said. "When Duone got hurt at the Roscoe meet, Alan (Copeland) stepped in and did a great job. They've sat in the shadows, but they are always ready to go.

"I just hope we go down and perform like we've been perfor-ming," he continued. "The icing on the cake would be a state championship. It would be a credit to these guys for the job they've done all year."



P.O. Box 750, Sweetwater, Texas 79556 Phone: 325-236-6677
Copyright © 2005 Sweetwater Reporter

TheDOCTORdre
05-09-2005, 10:51 AM
Bring it home boys, bring it home

Bubba-Joe
05-09-2005, 11:00 AM
Lane Assignments

400 m relay
1. Atlanta
2. Yoakum
3. LaVega
4. Kennedale
5. Monahans
6. Cuero
7. SWEETWATER
8. Jasper

100 meters
1. Hewitt - Gainesville
2. Tate - Hempstead
3. McNeil - D. Madison
4. Blanche - Mathis
5. Williams - Cuero
6. Green - SWEETWATER
7. Gray - Kennedale
8. Majors - Cameron Yoe

800 m Relay
1. SWEEETWATER
2. LaVega
3. Sweeny
4. Kennedale
5. Monahans
6. Tatum
7. Cuero
8. Jasper

1600m Relay
1. Waco Connally
2. Liberty-Eylau
3. Breckenridge
4. Wharton
5. La Vega
6. Atlanta
7. LaVernia
8. SWEETWATER

Phantom Stang
05-09-2005, 01:41 PM
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