Athletes from Rockdale, Milano and Thorndale High School’s had their fair share of accolades during the past 12 months including a Tiger freshman earning a silver medal at the state track meet, a Bulldog senior becoming a back-to-back state champion and the Eagle basketball team and Lady Dog softball team reaching the regional finals. More highlights from 2022 are featured below.
1. Freshman Grice earns silver at state meet For many student-athletes in their first year of high school, having success at the junior varsity level is a plus. In the case of Rockdale’s Timothy Grice, he wasn’t the typical ninth grader. He blazed through the spring track slate as 200-meter dash champion at district, area and region before closing out the season with a silver medal at the UIL state track meet. When in Austin, he only lost to Spearman’s Brennen Thompson, the defending state champion who now competes for the Texas Longhorns. Grice’s second-place finish beat his own personal record of 21.47 with a time of 21.26. The 21.47, which he ran at the Region III championships on April 28th, shattered a school record held by Virgil Clark since 1986.
“The experience was very new to me,” Grice said in May. “I’m not really used to seeing someone’s back during a race, but Thompson pushed me and helped me beat my own record.”
2. Kylberg goes back-toback After becoming Thorndale High School’s first powerlifting state champion during the spring of 2021, Hayden Kylberg never wavered throughout the early months of 2022. The recent THS graduate won all but one of the meets he competed in leading up to the Texas High School powerlifting championships, where he secured a second straight title. His combined lifting total of 1,600 pounds was 200 more than runner-up Jerry Reyes of La Villa.
“Hayden puts in all the extra work,” Former coach Hudson Evans said in 2021. “He epitomizes what it means to be a Thorndale athlete.” 3. Eagle basketball returns to regional finals for first time in nearly a decade In February of 2021, a young Milano Eagle basketball team finished fifth in District 27-2A, barely missing out on the playoffs. A year later, the Eagles took their lumps against tougher and bigger schools before finding a zone during district play. Milano had crucial victories over Hearne and Thorndale to secure a district championship. When the post-season commenced, the Eagles continued to keep their foot on the gas, crushing Bloomington and Snook before upsetting highly-touted Flatonia 53-49 in the regional quarterfi nals on March 1. Although their hopes of a trip to the state tournament in San Antonio never came to fruition after falling to Mumford 50-45 in the Region IV championship, the season was considered a huge success to the community and the school. This was the first time MHS made it to the regional finals since the 2012-13 season. Key players included Jayce Todd, Gael Alcala, Greg Storey, Mykal Hutson, Ethan Gordon and recent graduates Weston Avrett, Bryson Weaver and Layne Telg.
4. Three seasons, three trips for Jesus Bocanegra When Jesus Bocanegra suffered a concussion during a baseball game five days before he was scheduled to compete at the area track meet, he was unsatisfied with how his sophomore year had ended. But when going into this fall’s cross country season, he was more motivated than ever. By the time November came, he had won six of the seven meets that he competed in.
“Last year, my track season was cut short due to an injury,” he told The Reporter earlier this year. “Once I was cleared, my main focus was to start training for my cross country season. Because I knew I had something to prove.”
Bocanegra went on to earn silver at district and placed seventh at the Region III championship before placing 31st in his third consecutive trip to state.
5. Lady Dogs fight their way to regionals With five of their nine starters committed to play softball collegiately, Thorndale’s 2022 roster was truly an outlier among smaller public high schools throughout the U.S. But, having great players also means having great expectations, perhaps even unrealistic ones. The Lady Dogs, who scored an average of 17 runs per district game in 2021, struggled relatively this past spring and went into the playoffs as district runner-up. When it was time for the post-season, something clicked for them. THS fought their way to the regional tournament and took down top-ranked Latexo and bounced back to win their series over Ganado 2-1 after a slow start in game one. Although they missed making the state tournament for the second time since 2019, the Lady Dog run was a testament to the careers of their seniors Kelsey Kovar, Emilee Baker and Reagyn Trahan, who all play college softball now.
6. Kadance Koenig returns to state As a student-athlete at Milano Junior High, Kadance Koenig stood out. She regularly placed in the top 10 and often times returned to MJH with a gold, silver or bronze medal. That trend continued at MHS, after qualifying for the UIL Class 2A girls’ cross country championships last fall and doing the same this past November. Her road to state included earning silver at district and placing at regionals before making it back to the state meet for the second straight year.
She finished 47th out of 151 runners at this year’s race, making a huge improvement from finishing 78th overall in 2021. Her time at state was 13:49.8.
7. Liu and Aguilar lift their way to the big meet In the spring of 2022, Rockdale High School had two powerlifters punch their tickets to state.
From the beginning of the season, senior Gavin Aguilar was one of the topranked competitors in his region and came into to the regional meet ranked sixth in the state. With prior trips to regionals in 2020 and 2021, it seemed all but certain that he was headed to state. The RHS senior ended his career tied for fifth at state.
For junior Kevin Liu, it was a different story. He came into regionals ranked 12th in his respective weight class with an outside shot of advancing to the state meet. When the day came, he delivered as he placed among the top five, earning a trip to state. Although he finished 12th in the title meet, Liu broke records for both the squat and the bench press lift in the 148-pound division. The bench press record had been held since 1998.
8. McCoy battles back to state track meet In May of 2021, then Thorndale High School junior Branson McCoy clawed his way to the state track meet as the ninth and final qualifier in the boys’ 100-meter dash. He placed eighth overall, but he went into senior year knowing what to expect if he was able to make it back.
But when a basketball injury in late January forced him to play with a leg brace and compromised his ability to run up and down the court for the remainder of the season, McCoy faced an uphill battle when track season began nearly a month later.
Nevertheless, he persevered.
In April, he powered through district and area, winning gold in the 100 while also competing for two qualifying relay teams. When regionals came around, he finished prelims on the outside of the qualifier bubble after placing third. McCoy bounced back in the finals, placing second and punching his ticket back to state. In Austin he placed seventh in the title race, but was grateful to compete one last time.
“The injuries did slow me down a bit,” McCoy said. “But that’s just a part of sports.”
“To make it back to state meant a lot.” he added. “I wasn’t ready to give up sports yet, so I wanted to stay running as long as I could.”
His classmate Stryker Leschber also competed at state, placing eighth in the discus and achieving a personal record of 143-1.
9. Castillo and Willard, double the trouble After fighting her way to the regional tournament in the girls’ singles division her sophomore year, Rockdale’s Yolianna Castillo teamed up with Mason Willard this past spring. Both talented tennis players, they saw success together and came into the district tourney as one of the top-ranked mixed doubles teams. However, they still encountered some challenges. After sweeping their quarterfi nal opponent 6-3, 6-1, they got off to a slow start in the semis, losing their first set to a team from Caldwell 3-6. The two fought back to win the match and placed second at district and earned a trip to the regional meet.
10. Lerch and Innocencio place third at regionals For Class 2A tennis players, sharing a region with powerhouse Mason isn’t ideal for those with hopes of reach-ing the state tournament. The Hill Country school has had more than 100 state champions and in 2021, every player representing Region IV (Class 2A) at state was an MHS student.
Last April, Thorndale senior Alex Innocencio and Torben Lerch, a German exchange student new to THS, had two chances to take on the juggernaut program.
Even though they lost to a Mason duo in the semi-finals, they had one more chance at another group of punchers after beating Thorndale classmates Dereck Cauble and Chance Betak in the third place match. Since Mason’s second doubles’ team lost to their first team in the regional championship, Innocencio and Lerch had one more opportunity to make the state tourney.
The two ended up missing out, falling 6-2, 6-3, but were bronze medalists at the regional tourney in their first year playing as a team.
Honorable mentions Other notable memories from the 2022 calendar year were the Bulldog baseball team that spent much of the season ranked in Class 2A, the Milano Eagle football squad that made it to the post-season for the first time since 2018 and the Lady Tiger volleyball team, a group that powered through adversity to clinch their third straight trip to the post-season.
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