At the 65th annual Rockdale Relays, an event that has taken place in eight different decades, RHS track-and-field athletes went up against rigorous competition from bigger schools such as Bryan’s Rudder High School and Georgetown’s East View High. The meet was the second of their season and although they went up against many competitors that primarily focus on track, Blue-and-Gold athletes held their own.
Senior Yovanney Delgadillo opened the meet’s running portion with a gold medal finish in the 3200-meter run, while freshman teammate De’Andre Stephens earned a silver medal in the high jump in his second high school meet ever.
“Delgadillo winning a gold in a meet of that caliber just shows you what he is capable of doing,” said Chris VanCleave, RHS head track coach. “And Stephens continues to impress me each week. A freshman going out and jumping 6’6 in his second meet at the high school level—that kid is going to be really special.”
The Academy native also talked about how well his teams did overall, despite dealing with multiple injuries. “For the boys, I thought things went pretty well considering we lost maybe the fastest kid in Texas after the sprint relay,” VanCleave said. “Tim Grice tweaked his hamstring at the end of the first race, so I decided to shut him down for the rest of the day. We are still without Tristan Galvan and Gerren Marrero on our relays, but it was good to see other kids compete the rest of the night.”
Rockdale’s sprint relay team made up of Grice, Stephens, Robert Owens and Aiden Hirt ended up coming back on the final leg of the race to place fourth with a time of 43.60. The only teams to beat the Blueand- Gold group were from Leander-Glenn, Round Rock-Vista Ridge and Taylor, a team that features Stephen F. Austin-signee Jarvis Anderson. Tiger senior Devon Hicks also made his season debut, placing third in the pole vault with a height of 12’-6”.
Other medalists for RHS were sophomore Erik Sheppard, who placed third in the triple jump with a personal record of 41’-6”. Van-Cleave said he believes that Sheppard will “come on strong this season.”
Tiger track also had fifth-place finishes from Cristo Hernandez in the 3200, Owens, Hirt, Stephens and Cruz San Miguel in the 4x200-meter relay and Delgadillo in the mile.
LADY TIGERS— For the Lady Tigers, sophomore T’Niyah Miles was the team’s standout, placing fifth in the shot put with a distance of 33’-10”.
Despite not having quite as many RHS girls placing in events, VanCleave said he was still impressed with how the Lady Tigers competed, especially against many Class 5A and 6A teams.
“The girls are working harder each week and trying to change the culture,” he said. “And I think we are heading in the right direction.”
TROY— On Thursday, both Tiger and Lady Tiger track teams head to Bell County for the Troy Trojan Relays. Going into their third meet of the season, RHS is focused on continued improvement, but also resting, since winning in April and May is more important than the immediate future. “I am going to hold out Tim Grice, Tristan Galvan and Gerren Marrero,” Van Cleave said. “I want them to get a break and come back healthy as we have bigger goals than winning an invitational track meet. So this week, I am going to put some people in different events on the boys and girls sides and see what our kids can do.”
With Rockdale High School’s spring break taking place the following week and no meets scheduled during the time off from school, this means Grice, Galvan and Marrero will get three weeks of rest before competing at the Temple Wilcat Relays on Friday, March 24.
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