Since the turn of the 20th Century, the Rockdale Relays have been bringing top notch athletes to the area to compete. This year’s Rockdale track and field team will play host to the 60th Rockdale Relays at the new Tiger Stadium on Friday and the competition is just as stiff as in years past.
“It’s a great tradition,” said Jeff Miller, RHS athletic director. “It’s a meet that’s been going on for sixty something years, and it’s one of the best high school track meets in Central Texas.
“For our kids, it’s their one home game and it’s been really competitive since I’ve been here and this one will be especially neat getting to perform on the new track.”
In the past, Johnny “Lam” Jones, a Lampasas native who won a gold medal running the second leg of the 4x100 relay at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal placed fourth in the long jump at the 1974 Rock-dale Relays.
Jeremy Kerley, who was a receiver for the Buffalo Bills, ran as a member of the sprint relay team for the Hutto Hippos in the 2006.
This year’s meet features many talented athletes throughout Central Texas. Taylor’s Anna Cathryn Griffith is expected to pole vault on Friday. Griffith is a Texas Tech University commit and won every meet last season besides the Texas Relays including her third straight UIL Class 4A state championship. She holds the Rock-dale Relays record for her 12-6 3/4 vault in 2017.
UTEP signee Davion Bynaum will compete for Cameron. He placed eighth last year at the UIL Class 3A state track meet in the 100-meter dash and was a member of the 4x100 meter relay team that defeated Rockdale in last year’s relays.
Coach Lewis Edmonson said, “We’re really excited and eager to get things going. I know my kids have been itching to get to this meet.
“We have some really good competition at this one and a lot of district opponents will be there, including Cameron,” he said. “We battled last year with their sprint relay team that made it to state last season, so I know our boys are ready to face them again.”
Two runners returning from last year’s relay team are Will Storey and Cam’Ron Valdez.
In addition to the relay Storey will compete in the 100-meter. Storey won the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.8, beating out Taylor’s Ronak Naik (10.83) and Dushon Orr (10.97) in last year’s meet.
Gavin Young dueled with Taylor athletes last year, placing second in the pole vault behind Montana Welch, who placed sixth at the UIL Class 4A state track meet last season as a freshman.
Field events begin at 1:30 p.m. and running events start at 3 p.m. with the 3200-meter run.
CALDWELL—Rock-dale High School hurdlers, sprinters and distance runners got their first chance of the season to compete on Wednesday afternoon in Caldwell.
“I was really pleased with how we did,” Edmonson said. “We came out of the blocks really well and we were very technical.
“And from an endurance stand point, we looked really good. We looked healthy, which is a big plus because usually at this time of the season, you’re not really in shape. But with our workouts starting before the Christmas break, we’re so much farther along than we’ve been in the past.”
For the girls, Coach Brian Thomas was impressed with how his young team did.
“I thought the kids had a great first showing,” Thomas said. “We had kids running in events they had never competed in before and they stepped up and did a great job. We’re pretty young this year, but our girls did great.”
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