5A Girls
Three out of four team titles were decided with a few events remaining but the 5A girls title went down to the final event. Last year's champion, Smithson Valley, trailed McAllen by five points heading into the 4x400m relay which meant they needed to finish two places in front to win the title while a second-place finish would secure the team title for McAllen. McAllen took the lead heading into the third leg thanks to a great run by Katelyn Vaden and SV found themselves in fourth place, but Mia Perez pulled them into second place and Jazmyn Singh handled the rest to lead the Rangers to victory in 3:51.46. McAllen crossed in 3:52.69 and took home the team title, 77-76.
The meet opened on Friday with Boerne Champion's Elizabeth Leachman setting the tone by destroying the meet record in the 3200m with a time of 10:00.88. It was her first of two individual titles as she also won the 1600m in a meet and San Antonio city record time of 4:37.17. She also qualified for the State meet in the 800m with a strong runner-up finish in a time of 2:09.90. Laredo Nixon sophomore Sophia Sandoval was the second qualifier in the 3200m as she ran a huge personal best time of 10:59.18 as she nipped PSJA Southwest's Yazmin Guerra by less than a tenth of a second.
After the 3200m, it was on to the field events on Friday. The discus, high jump, and long jump were the first events off. In the discus, PSJA Southwest's Marcela Trevino entered as the favorite and led the entire way and won gold with a best throw of 142-7. Four others entered the meet with season bests over 130-feet, but no one else could reach the mark and it was Medina Valley's Annabelle Jehl who nabbed second place with her second throw mark of 128-7 which stood up to a strong challenge from McAllen's Lauryn Menchaca who finished third with a throw of 127-11.
The high jump was like the discus in that eight girls had cleared at least 5-2 throughout the season, but only two managed the feat on Friday. Pieper's Caroline Peterson has a near flawless resume with a 4A State title as a freshman and a runner-up finish in 5A last year. She cleared a personal best 5-9 last week and won the Regional title with a clearance of 5-5. Only Sharyland's Callie Keith joined her in clearing more than the opening height of 5-0. Keith ended up clearing 5-4 but could not manage 5-5.
In the long jump, Nyima Williamson of San Antonio Veteran's Memorial entered as the clear favorite but found herself in third place heading into her final attempt. She came through with a leap of 18-4.5 to move past Seguin's Daisha Shular and Buda Hays' Endia Stigall. Shular took the silver medal with a mark of 18-2.75 while Stigall jumped 18-2.5.
The second set of field events included the triple jump, shot put and pole vault. The triple jump turned out to be highly competitive with five girls jumping over 37-feet. Rouse's Tyla Street went 38-6.25 on her first jump and the mark stood up. Stigall suffered heart break again as she was in second place until the final round of jumps when Kiana Lanton of Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial passed her up with a leap of 38-2.
The shot put was another event that changed hands in the final round. Kaitlyn Kilgore of Gregory-Portland trailed Edcouch-Elsa's Kaely Trantham by a quarter inch when she uncorked the winning throw of 40-4.5 to beat Trantham's top mark of 39-7.
The pole vault was another outstanding event and the final field event of the day. Smithson Valley's Ella Pickron matched Gregory-Portland's Madison Snody jump for jump as the two cleared 12-0, 12-0 and 12-6. At 13-0, Snody went over on her first attempt while Pickron cleared on her second attempt for a new personal best. That ended up being the difference between gold and silver and the two could easily record the same finish at the State meet. SV and GP dominated the event taking five of the six scoring positions.
On Saturday morning, District 26-5A made a strong showing in the 4x100m relay. Smithson Valley won with a time of 47.27 while Pieper was second and Wagner was third to give them a clean sweep. The members of the winning team were Karis Leyendecker, Avianna Miller, Maycee Moody and Jazmyn Singh. McAllen picked up four points in the event.
The 800m was a fantastic race the saw Leachman, Perez and Cedar Park's Isabel Conde de Frankenberg really push the pace. Leachman led for most of the race, but Conde de Frankenberg's closing speed proved to be too much as she won in 2:09.32. Leachman ran 2:09.90 and Perez was right behind in 2:12.65 and will wait to see if it is good enough to make it as the extra qualifier. It was a nice return to form for Conde de Frankenberg who sustained an injury last year that prevented her from running at Regionals. She is the current record holder in the event with her 2022 time of 2:06.53.
Darina Luna gave McAllen big points in the 100mH. She came from behind to nip Lockhart's Jade Selmon at the finish. Luna posted a winning time of 14.77 and Selmon finished in 14.80.
In the 100m, Daisha Shular defended her title. She won in 11.83 while Lockhart's Rakaia Walker took second in 11.99 and McAllen's Sophia Flores grabbed third with a time of 12.05. Walker would later win the 200m in 24.49 to easily win over Edinburg Vela's Zia Casas who finished in second.
Pieper entered the meet with only the fourth-fastest time among 4x200m teams in the meet. In the prelims they clocked a 1:41.17 and then they dropped more time in the finals with a winning time of 1:40.87. Peterson led off for the Warriors for her second gold medal of the meet and was followed by Gentry Boykin, Mishaila Briggs and Taniyah Adams. McAllen was the sixth-seeded team entering the meet and peaked at the right time to grab the silver medal in 1:41.29.
Jazmyn Singh got back in the winner's circle for Smithson Valley in the 400m. She dominated the event breaking the meet record in both the prelims and finals which she won in 54.75. It was her third Regional title in the event and will be her fourth appearance in the State meet. Gregory-Portland's Sakara Wade ran a big personal best of 56.64 to take runner-up honors.
The 300mH featured a bit of a surprise when sophomores Addison Simon of Cedar Park and Maia Aldrich of Canyon went 1-2 ahead of the top three seeds. Simon won in 44.23 while Aldrich closed strong to finish in 44.78. It was nearly a second and a half improvement for Aldrich.
In the 1600m, Leachman got a little revenge on Conde de Frankenberg. She ran a controlled race clocking 70-second laps through 1200m and then closed in 67-seconds to win in 4:37.17. Conde de Frankenberg ran a quality time of 4:56.83 for runner-up honors. Dana Rojas Vazquez gave McAllen a critical six points with her third-place finish to set the stage for the 4x400m relay.