STATE TRACK 2018
AUSTIN—Heading into the final event of the evening, Milano was trailing Valley View by a couple of points in the race for the team championship. Since Valley View did not have a horse in the 1,600-meter relay, all the Eagles needed to do was finish fifth to grab the gold.
Instead of playing it safe, they decided to go for it all.
Milano’s first place finish in the final relay propelled the Eagles to strike gold at the 107th UIL state track meet Saturday at Myer’s Stadium in front of 34,306 fans by capturing the Class 2A crown and conversely the school’s very first team state championship in dramatic fashion.
After Parker Jones pushed the Eagles from fourth place to the frontrunners during his third leg by moving to the inside in the 1,600-meter relay, Tim Demeritt took it home to secure the team championship. It was a surprise victory for Milanothe Eagles had just the seventh-best time entering the race.
They clipped San Augustine at the wire 3:23.73 to 3:24.71.
Milano won a medal in every event they competed in on Saturday and finished with 74 of a possible 80 points.
The point spread drama began as Parker Jones lined up for the 1,600-meter run as Milano and Valley View were tied with 44 points apiece with two events remaining.
While nestled in seventh place after the first lap, Jones surged into the lead by the first curve of the second lap and left his opposition in the dust after winning the race by almost 30 yards in 4:35.75, almost two seconds in front of his nearest competitor. Jones had the fastest qualifying time coming in.
In his first appearance at the state meet, the junior Jones also qualified for the 3,200-meter run, but decided to concentrate on the 1,600 and the relay.
Despite Jones’ seamless win, the Eagle still trailed Valley View 56-54 heading into the final event.
What is remarkable about Jones’ effort is he literally stepped off the track after his 1,600 victory and headed back to the holding pen to prepare for the 1,600 relay with no recovery time.
“I felt it and I knew it was going to hurt at some point, but it was the opportunity for my team to do the best that we could do,” he said. “I can feel the pain in the back of my mind, but the pain is completely undermined by our ability to win state.
“I was ready to go out and do the best that I could.” “Parker, that guy’s an animal,” Demeritt said. “He dropped the two mile for us, he knew what he was doing, he was giving up points that he could have possibly medaled in. If it wasn’t for him sacrificing, we wouldn’t have won it.” Milano pulled off the daily double by also taking the gold in the 400-meter relay with plenty of motivation after missing out on a gold medal by 1/100th of a second in 2017.
When Kyle King handed the baton off to anchorman Devonte Jones, they were in fourth place, but Jones quickly shifted gears and headed to the front of the field and crossed the finish line ahead of Cornell Sayles of second place Ker-ens, 42.45 to 42.60.
The Milano mark is a new school record.
“Devonte burnt in that last 100 meters,” said King. “We kept it close, but that’s what it goes to.”
“I’ve been telling them all week that if I’m within 10 meters, I think I can catch them,” Jones said. “I’m one of the fastest guys here and this is super emotional because last year we got second by one-hundreth of a second and Corey (Carroll) almost caught up. I wanted to redeem ourselves from last year. What happened last year was our motivation throughout the entire year.”
Demeritt mined another Milano gold by sprinting to victory in the 400-meter dash in a clocking of 48.26 ahead of Centerville’s Josh Apland who led coming down the stretch until being overtaken by Demeritt, who turned in a career-best effort to win at 48.26 and was the favorite entering the race.
“My start wasn’t as good as I wanted,” he said. “I knew coming into the race that I had more leg speed of anybody in our race. I knew if I won, we would be ahead. As long as everybody else came out and did their job, I needed to win the race.”
It took a record-setting effort by Valley View’s Cale Kassen to prevent Devonte Jones from winning in the 300-meter hurdles. Kassen sped to a time of 37.10, which smashed a 35-year old Class 2A record. Jones finished at 38.62. Jones also earned a silver in the hurdles at last year’s meet.
Jones got the Eagles off to a metallic start 12 hours before he would lead them to victory in the 1,600, by pocketing a bronze medal in the highly competitive long jump with a measurement of 22-5, a career-best, which provided him with a short-lived lead in the second round.
Joquain’s Connor Bragg moved ahead of Jones with a 22-6 ¾ leap in the second round. Bragg and Jones had the top two efforts coming in.
Milano senior Lulu Mitchell placed seventh in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.78.
“Can’t believe it,” King said. “It’s amazing. The first state championship in Milano history. It’s like a dream.”
The championship could not have been sweeter for Milano track coach David Westbrook, who is considering retiring after 33 years as coach.
“This was the most rewarding day of my coaching career,” Westbrook said. “A day which six young men earned their goals and dreams. They have created memories which each of them and I will cherish forever.”
Thorndale
The two Thorndale competitors just missed out on medaling at the state meet, as weightman Corey Preusse placed fifth in the discus with a throw of 160-2, just under his school record 161.
Bryce Spencer of Sundown—who had the top throw coming in—turned in a toss of 174-06 to win. Pruesse was fourth at last year’s meet.
Preusse was also fifth in the shot put with an effort of 49-4. Ryan Pickett of Granger won with a 52-5 ¾ heave.
Bulldog freshman Michael Herzog was fourth in the triple jump at 44-9 on his final leap, behind Axcel Santana of Iraan’s 46-2. Santana was the favorite entering the meet.
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