Boys Track Readies For Region Meet With Qualifier Meet Friday

Apr 16, 2008 - 15:50:46 CDT.

DOWN, BUT NOT OUT -- Josh Weirich (lane three at right) tripped on the final barrier of the varsity boys 300 meter hurdle event at Wednesday’s District 27-AAAA track meet. He received some encouragement from teammate Craig Petty (lane five) who finished second. Dylan Cannon of Kerrville Tivy won the event and FHS runner Trevor Ahrlett (far left) was fourth. Cannon and Petty advance to region and Ahrlett is the alternate. Depth like that evidenced in this race helped the FHS boys varsity and JV teams to wins in their division and a dozen FHS boys will advance to the Region IV meet April 25-26 in San Antonio. - Standard-Radio Post Photo by Cathy Collier

With a dozen boys qualified for the Region IV-AAAA Track and Field Meet, several in multiple events, the Fredericksburg High School varsity boys will be trying to keep their skills sharp as they compete at the Seventh Annual Fredericksburg Regional Qualifiers Meet Friday at FHS Stadium.

Coach Mike Stevens knows that defending last year’s regional championship April 25-26 in San Antonio will be tougher this year.

“I think the region is stronger than last year and we will have to have contributions by all our qualifiers to repeat as champions,” he said this week. “We will again rely heavily on field event points.”

Those are the points produced by seniors Clay Smith in the discus, Nick Alejandro in the shot put, Josh Weirich in the long jump and James Perez in the triple jump -- all of whom won their events at district.

Plus, there were second places from Alejandro in the shot, Weirich in the high jump, senior Travis Maner in the shot, sophomore Ansel Berber-Thayer in the long jump and junior Kevin Weirich in the pole vault.

“We will also need to score some on the track and in a relay or two,” Stevens said.

Hopes for producing those points come from junior Brendon West who won the 400 and was last year’s silver medalist at state; junior Caleb McCrea who took first in the 800; Josh Weirich, second in the 110 meter hurdles; sophomore Taylor Eden, second in the 100, senior Craig Petty, second in the 300 meter hurdles, and the first-place 4x400 meter relay with Porfie Diaz, Petty, McCrea and West.

Many of the qualifiers are veterans of last year’s championship team. Smith was first in region, fourth at state; Alejandro was second at region, sixth at state; McCrea was fifth at region in the 800; Josh Weirich was a qualifier in the pole vault, high jump and 110 hurdles; Perez was fifth in the triple jump, Petty was a qualifier in the 300 hurdles and Maner was a qualifier in the shot.

This year the field will be even tougher.

“I think Schertz Steele, Del Valle and Leander Vista Ridge are the favorites,” Stevens said, “but we will definitely be in the mix.”

Meanwhile, the qualifiers will be tuning up and “having some fun against great competition,” at Friday’s qualifiers’ meet, Stevens said.

Field events start at 12 noon and running events will get underway with the 3200 at 2:30 p.m. with the rest of the running events to follow at 3:30 p.m.

The growing field of participating schools includes San Angelo Lakeview, Junction, Smithville, Bandera, Big Springs, Blanco, Boerne Home School, Brady, Burnet, Port Lavaca Calhoun, Center Point, Comfort, Harper, Ingram, Jourdanton, Leakey, Liberty Hill, Mason, Medina Valley, Mercedes, Nueces Canyon, Pearsall, Reagan County, Rockport Fulton, San Saba, South San Antonio, Kerrville Tivy, Uvalde, Vista Ridge and Warren Westlake.

Also planning to attend are athletes from San Antonio Clark, Cornerstone, Edison, John Jay, Marshall, O’Connor, South San, Southside, Southwest and Taft.

‘A Great Meet’

“I thought we had a great meet against quality competition,” Stevens said of the 27-AAAA meet April 7 and 9 in Kerrville.

“I thought the overall contest was going to be closer,” he added, “but Lorin Wilson (Boerne’s great distance runner) was out with a stress fracture in his leg and our kids had a great meet.”

Field events “set the tone” as the boys led with 112 points to Boerne’s 70 after the field events and the running of the 3200.

By the time the competition was complete Wednesday after the running of the 4x400 meter relay, FHS won with 235 points to 175 for Boerne.

“As we continued to roll on Wednesday, we showed overall depth by scoring in every event,” Stevens said. In six events, the varsity boys placed all three of their contestants (100 meter dash, 300 meter hurdles, discus, shot put, long jump and pole vault).

He complimented the “big contribution” of junior Trevor Ahrlett in the hurdles (where he was fourth in the 110s and third in the 300s) and Taylor Eden, who was second in the 100 and third in the 200.

“Our seniors turned in great performances and provided valuable leadership,” Stevens added.

Craig Petty had a personal record in the 300 meter hurdles, where he was second in 39.60.

Junior Brendon West “ran a great 400 (48.87),” Stevens said.

Senior Josh Weirich placed in five events, in spite of falling in the 300 meter hurdles just shy of the finish line. He will advance to region in three of those events and he is the alternate in one.

“Our 4x400 relay ran well,” Stevens continued, turning in a 3:23.27 with Diaz, Petty, McCrea and West.

With FHS moving out of AAAA and into AAA next year, Stevens said, “it will be strange not to be worrying about Boerne, Tivy and Alamo Heights next year. The district is loaded with great athletes and coaches who compete hard and display great sportsmanship in the sport of track and field.”

DISTRICT 27-AAAA TRACK MEET

Antler Stadium - Kerrville

April 7 & 9

VARSITY BOYS DIVISION

1. FHS 235

2. Boerne 175

3. Kerrville Tivy 99

4. Alamo Heights 86

5. Kennedy 15

6. Memorial 10

*First place winners and all from FHS who placed are listed.

April 9

4x400 meter relay: 1-Tivy 43.88, 3-FHS (Brendon West, Sean Atkins, Porfie Diaz, Corey Munoz) 44.01.

800 meter run: 1-Caleb McCrea/FHS 2:00.65.

110 meter hurdles: 1-Elliott Wyall/Boerne 15.09, 2-Josh Weirich/

FHS 15.32, 4-Trevor Ahrlett/FHS 15.80.

100 meter dash: 1-Quincy Kibbett/Tivy 11.38, 2-Taylor Eden 11.43, 3-James Perez/FHS 11.6, 6-Corey Munoz/FHS 11.83.

4x200 relay: 1-Boerne 1:31.77, 3-FHS (Taylor Eden, Sean Atkins, Ansel Berber-Thayer, Corey Munoz) 1:33.96.

400 meter dash: 1-Brendon West 48.87.

300 meter hurdles: 1-Dylan Cannon/Tivy 39.46, 2-Craig Petty 39.6, 3-Trevor Ahrlett 41.27, 4-Josh Weirich 41.32.

200 meter dash: 1-Brad Savage/

Boerne 22.65, 3-Taylor Eden/FHS 23.37, 6-Porfie Diaz/FHS 23.64.

1600 meter run: 1-Ethan Doherty/Boerne 4:33.19, 3-Rolando Limon/FHS 4:38.53, 6-Dylan Pyka/FHS 4:50.17.

4x400 meter relay: 1-FHS (Porfie Diaz, Craig Petty, Caleb McCrea, Brendon West) 3:23.27.

April 7

3200 meter run: 1-Colby McCune/

Boerne 9:57.24, 3-Rolando Limon/FHS 10:18.5, 4-Dylan Pyka/FHS 10:21.67.

High jump: 1-Colin Thomas/Boerne 6’6”, 2-Josh Weirich/FHS 6’4”.

Pole vault: 1-Austin Freeman/Boerne 15’1”, 2-Kevin Weirich/FHS 14’6”, 4-Josh Weirich/FHS 14’, 5-Sam Henke/FHS 13’6”.

Long jump: 1-Josh Weirich/FHS 21’7½”, 2-Ansel Berber-Thayer/FHS 21’6½”, 3-Landon Rode/FHS 21’6¼”.

Triple jump: 1-James Perez/FHS 42’11”.

Shot put: 1-Nick Alejandro/FHS 57’6”, 2-Travis Maner 51’5”, 3-Bradley Dittmar 48’9”.

Discus: 1-Clay Smith 161’4”, 2-Nick Alejandro/FHS 150’1”, 4-Bradley Dittmar/FHS 143’11”.

‘Great Times’ For JV Boys

Junior varsity boys “had a great meet and ran some great times,” Stevens said on their way to capturing their division at the district meet.

He singled out hurdlers Campbell McCrea and Dale Mazurek. McCrea was first in the 110s and second in the 300s. Mazurek was second in the 110s and fell in the 300s.

“Our distance crew was solid again,” Stevens added, with three runners placing in the 3200 and two in the 1600.

“This group’s field events have improved as the year has gone on and we should be strong on varsity again next year,” he said.

Sophomore J.C. Hickman “had great long and triple jumps,” Stevens noted. Hickman was first in both events.

Junior Lincoln Welch won both throws.

Freshman Brady Ottmers had a personal record in the 200 where he placed first in 24.08, and sophomore Will Cooper had a personal record in the 400, turning in a 54.03.

Nathaniel Settles ran “a good 400” to finish sixth, Stevens said, “and filled in for an injured Paco Ramirez on the 4x400 meter relay team that had its best time of the year -- a 3:40.98.”

“The freshmen and JV groups have us excited for the future,” Stevens added, “and many of them will have to contribute on varsity next year when we graduate a big group of seniors.”

JUNIOR VARSITY BOYS DIVISION

1. FHS 221

2. Boerne 162

3. Alamo Heights 111.5

4. Kerrville Tivy 94.5

5. Kennedy 22

6. Memorial 5

April 9

4x100 meter relay: 1-Boerne 45.96, 2-FHS (J. C. Hickman, Carlos Ruiz, Brady Ottmers, Corbin Grobe) 46.38.

800 meter run: 1-Triston Isom/Tivy 2:06. 5-Cress Netherland 2:15.19.

110 meter hurdles: 1-Campbell McCrea/FHS 16.36, 2-Dale Mazurek/FHS 16.73.

100 meter dash: 1-Josh Ozuna/Tivy 11.97, 3-J.C. Hickman/FHS 12.18.

4x200 meter relay: 1-Tivy 1:36.41, 2-FHS (J.C. Hickman, Corbin Grobe, Brady Ottmers, Carlos Ruiz) 1:36.86.

400 meter dash: 1-Will Cooper/FHS 54.03, 6-Nathaniel Settles/FHS 55.82.

300 meter hurdles: 1-Dean Luttrell/Boerne 42.2, 2-Campbell McCrea/FHS 42.28.

200 meter dash: 1-Brady Ottmers/FHS 24.08, 6-Carlos Ruiz/FHS 25.1.

1600 meter run: 1-Travis Barclay/Boerne 4:42.31, 2-Abi Arias/FHS 4:57.68, 5-Dickson Seals/FHS 5:05.94.

4x400 meter relay: 1-FHS (Corbin Grobe, Campbell McCrea, Will Cooper, Nathaniel Settles) 3:40.98.

April 7

3200 meter run: 1-Abi Arias/FHS 10:51.23, 3-Diego Rivas/FHS 11:14.78, 6-Dickson Seals/FHS 11:32.6.

High jump: 1-Philip Massari/Alamo Heights 5’6”, 2-Tyler Gaudin/FHS 5’4”.

Pole vault: 1-Taylor Reyes/FHS 13’, 3-Darren Weirich/FHS 11’6”, 4-Campbell McCrea/FHS 11’.

Long jump: 1-J.C. Hickman/FHS 20’5¼”, 4-Corbin Grobe/FHS 19’2½”.

Triple jump: 1-J.C. Hickman/FHS 40’3”, 6-Andrew Giese/FHS 36’8”.

Shot put:1-Lincoln Welch/FHS 43’, 4-Neil Fisher/FHS 38’6”.

Discus: 1-Lincoln Welch/FHS 121’6”, 2-Tony Joseph/FHS 107’.