HEWITT—Just two years removed from a state championship in track, Rockdale will be represented by a lone athlete at the 2018 UIL state track meet.
Tyler Lehmkuhl easily captured the discus with a heave of 171-feet, 4 inches—his longest effort of the season by far—at the Class 3A Region III track meet at Midway High School Saturday.
The UIL state track meet is scheduled for May 11-12 at Myers Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas.
Lehmkuhl will throw at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, May 11.
The 6-foot-3 senior had reeled off throws of 148-11 to win district and a 156 toss at area.
Jeremy Hesiler of Grandview was a distant second at 153-8 at regional.
Lehmkuhl’s regional toss is formidable, considering Schulenburg’s Josh Brown won the gold medal at last year’s state meet at 176-6.
“The regional meet was just another stage for Tyler to be Tyler,” said Rock-dale track coach Lewis Edmondson. “He had fun with each throw getting better.”
Lehmkuhl joins a long list of Tiger athletes performing at state in the discus, beginning with Rock-dale great T. A. Weems in 1938.
The last Tiger to make it to state in the discus was Le’Raven Clark in 2011 when he placed fifth.
The school record in the event is 186-3 set by Freddie Cates in 1997. Cates was a gold medalist at state that year.
Gavin Young failed to reach the state tournament for a second consecutive year after placing fifth in the pole vault with a leap of 13-feet.
Young has a career-best of 14-0 and had gone 13-6 in 2018.
Richard Higgins of Cold-spring—who was fourth at the 2017 state meet—soared 14-3 to win.
In 2017, Young was the first Rockdale pole vaulter to compete at the state meet in 34 years.
Sprinter Will Storey turned in a clocking of 11.09 and was 7/100 out of third place in the highly competitive 100-meter dash.
With no Jaqualyn Crawford in the mix, Davion Bynaum of Cameron sprinted to a 10.64 for the victory.
The Rockdale 1,600-meter relay team of Young, Storey, Dylan David and Nathan Newlin was ninth with a timing of 1:32.30
McGregor won with a 1:27.33.
On the girls side, Brandi Caffey went 9-6 in the pole vault for fifth place, Armoni Mack was 11th in the 400-meter dash at 1:03.81 and Payton Miller was 14th in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.34.
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