Grice comes home with silver from state meet

AUSTIN—Following his first ever race at the UIL Class 3A State Track and Field Championships, Rockdale’s Timothy Grice seemed a little down.

Despite finishing with a silver medal and breaking a school record in the 200-meter dash for the second time in thirteen days, the Tiger freshman wanted gold and he wanted it bad.

He went into this past Thursday’s race with the second best time in the state, only behind Spearman’s Brennen Thompson. The SHS senior won gold in the event last year and is also committed to play football l at the University of Texas this fall.

A little more than twenty seconds after the starting gun fired off, Thompson won the race with a 20.73 while Grice finished not too far behind him in second with a 21.26.

“The experience was very new to me,” Grice said. “I’m not really used to seeing someone’s back during a race. But (Thompson) pushed me and helped me beat my own record that I set earlier in the year.”

Grice’s time was two-tenths of a second faster than the 21.47 that he ran at regionals on April 28th. That time broke Virgil Clark’s record of 21.51 that he ran in 1986 with the Blue-and-Gold. His 21.26 was also one-hundredth of a second faster than Thompson’s time of 21.27 that won him gold in 2021.

Tiger track coach Chris Van Cleave spoke positively of the experience for him and Grice.

“So this was my fourth different school to experience the state meet with,” Van Cleave said. “And it’s surreal every time.”

“I wanted Tim to be as comfortable as possible, so I kept his daily routine the same,” the coach said. “I hope he realizes what an accomplishment it was to medal and especially as a freshman. After he got his medal, I just hugged him and told him how proud I was of him and that this was only the beginning.”

Van Cleave also said that he thinks Rockdale has a great shot to get more guys to state in the future.

“I think Tim will have an even better experience when he doesn’t have to just hang out with me and Coach Campsey all day.” Van Cleave said. “We have lots of talent returning next season and truly, it all cycles back and starts over this summer. It is critical we get our speed work in year-around to see the development. I’m excited for 2023.”

THORNDALE—The day after Grice took silver in Austin, THS athletes Stryker Leschber and Branson McCoy competed in the UIL Class 2A State Track and Field Championships.

Leschber, in his first ever trip to state, finished eighth with a personal record of 143-1 after finishing second at the Region IV meet in Kingsville two weeks earlier.

For McCoy, this was his second straight trip to the state meet. In 2021, he placed eighth with a time of 11.05 after coming into the state meet as the wildcard. This year, he placed seventh with a time of 11.02.

Although he came to Austin as the ninth and final qualifier last May, this year was hardly different as he dealt with injuries during basketball.

“To make it back to state meant a lot,” McCoy said. “I wasn’t ready to give up sports yet, so I wanted to stay running as long as I could.”

“The injuries did slow me down a little bit, but that’s just a part of sports,” he said.

McCoy also said that the road back to state was filled with competition, especially at the regional meet.

On his first day of regionals, McCoy placed third in the 100-meter dash prelims before bouncing back to grab the second and final guaranteed spot to qualify for state.