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Texas Greatest Moments In Track & Field
Here is your chance to let us know what was your most memorable moment during the last millinuem in Texas Track & Field. It can be from high school, college, or athletes with Texas Ties. Let us know and we will post them up here during the season. Email us your name, city, and the greatest thing you have witnessed in Texas Track and Field History. We look forward to your responses. My greatest moment in Texas HS T & F was watching my brother run the 200 meters in White Oak, Tx in march of 1986. He was running against some pretty good competition in the 4a district. I think he qualified 5th or 6th that night in the prelims because he was in lane 2. What was so special to me was the fact he was the skinniest white kid out there running against a bunch of football players who obviously were in tremendous shape. His name is Mark Levra and he was attending Pine Tree Hs as a junior. He ran a 20.08 and apparently set the record which I think still stands. What I truly appreciated about my brother was the fact that he had so much fun running and never let anyone tell him that he couldn’t do it. He just went out the and stomped the competition. Let me know if anyone else remembers this.
One Proud sister Lisa Levra Hands down one the greatest track moments in my life was summer 94
Junior Olympics at the University of Florida. I was a young quarter
horse, anchoring the Mile Relay for the Fort Worth Wildcats. The stands
were full, and Obea Moore was in the house, this is no exaggeration,
a Florida team had a 170 meter lead on the L.A. Jets, Obea got the
stick on anchor put on his jet suite and dropped a 45.2 split to run
down a 51 split. Spoken words cant do justice to the greatness of
OBEA MOORE (THE GREATEST TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETE UNDER 16 OF ALL TIME!
the greatest moment i had was last year because in 1977 phil walls,herkie
walls,freddy paige and me, johnny mccoy won state in the 4x100 rly
and had the fastest time in the nation that yr, we placed 3rd. in
the mile relay and state runner-up behide galveston ball high school.
last yr i was coach of the yr but the special thing was being able
to be the head coach at the same school that broke our school record
that had stood since1977. the 2006 team finished 2nd in the state
, set a new school record in the 4x100 at 40.30 that was also the
second fastest in the nation in 2006, third in the 4x200 at 1:24.61
at state and the nation, it was like living a dream all over again.
and this yr we have already have some of the states best this yr.
In 1992 I was pleased to watch a guy from North Garland High School pull off one of the most difficult doubles in state history. Milton Mallard won the state 5A 400 meters and 200 meters. Due to a major rain delay Milton Mallard ran the 400 at 12:30 am in a major down poor. and came back 20 min later to win the 200 meters. In the history of Texas track and field I can't remember of any athlete to complete that double at the 5A level, or with that close interval. The times at the state meet were not really that impressive 400m 46.6 and 200m 21.4 but this kid had run that season 20.5 200 meters and 400 meters 45.9 "Did Shedrick Fields of Dallas win the Athlete of the year" ? Why not this kid ? A Big Fan!!! My proudest moment in track and field was watching Mark Johnson of
the Houston Highsteppers run the 200m hurdles against 5 or six other
boys. This child started out in first but when he hit the middle of
the curb he fell but he immediately got back up & this put him
in third. I watched this child fight to stay in that race , once he
neared the end of that straight-away the MARK of a true champion came
thru, he went on to win that very race he fell in. I saw him after
the race while he was getting some salve and bandages to put on the
scarring he got when he fell. I was shocked because the way that Mark
ran you wouldn't have known he was hurt. That was so inspiring to
me and made me be proud to be a Highstepper. We all are proud parents , but I must say my greats moment for my
wife and myself was seeing our son run a 37.46 as a junior in high
school and coming out second place. It was at the State Track Meet
of 5-12-2006 in the 300-Im hurdles . And his name is Jay Newman from
Klein Oak High School. My most memorable moment came at the State Meet 1988. My ninth grade
daughter Melony and I had come
I REMEMBER A FEW YEARS AGO BACK IN 2002 I THINK THERE WAS A 2A HIGH SCHOOL BOY NAMED CALE TRAIL (WHO HAPPENS TO BE A GREAT FRIEND OF MINE) THAT TORE ALL THE TENDONS AND STUFF IN HIS FOOT AND HALF WAY UP THE BACK OF HIS LEG AND EVERYTHING ACROSS HIS ACHILLES AND FRACTURED THE BONES IN THE TOP OF HIS FOOT AND HE WAS TO WEAR A BOOT AND WAS TOLD HE MIGHT NOT EVER RUN OR JUMP AGAIN. BUT THAT YEAR AT THE DISTRICT TRACK MEET HE TOOK HIS CAST AND BOOT OFF HIS LEG AND FOOT AND JUMPED AT DISTRICT AT VALLEY VIEW WINNING IT AND THEN TAKING 2ND AT REGIONALS AND THEN WINNING STATE HIS SOPHMORE YEAR IN HIGH SCHOOL, BECOMING THE FIRST STATE CHAMPION EVER IN CALLISBURG MENS SPORTS HISTORY. HE DIDNT EVEN PRACTICE OR ANYTHING AND WENT OUT AND DID SOMETHING AMAZING THAT NOT ONLY ASTONISHED ME BUT EVERYBODY ELSE THERE AT THAT DISTRICT MEET THAT DAY, WHEN CALE WASNT SUPPOSE TO BE DOING ANYTHING AT ALL.. Cale Trail IN 1993 AT THE GOLDEN WEST INVITIONAL, I SAW CHARLES MITCHELLBREAK FLOYD HEARD 200M RECORD. HE RAN A 20.52. AND ALSO WON THE 100M AND STOP RUNNING AT ABOUT 10METERS BEFORE THE FINISH LINE AND STILL RAN A 10.41. LaSandra Mitchell Wilbur Hoffman@Angleton High School Class of 1982/ TCU signee Badpooh My daughter, Marina Womble, 14 year old 8th grader at Columbia Christian School in West Columbia, TX, beat not only all the other junior high girls, but the varsity girls also at the 16 Christian School invitational track meet this past Saturday. Marina who already held the junior high girls record, beat it and set the new junior high girls mark at 4’-2”. Don Womble.
I BELIEVE IT WAS 1988 DONALD MARSHALL , THEN A FRESHMAN AT L.B. WASHINGTON The greatest moment i remember was when Arlington Bowie won the 4x100 meter relay with a new school record of 40.06. They also got second in the 4x200 meter relay with a time of 1:24.17. The team that beat them was pa memorial with a time of 1:24.16. It was a photo finish in 2003. My greatest high school moment was watching Jasper break the national record in the 400m relay at the 4a state meet in 1991. The time was 39.9 (hand-held), the first high school team in history to go below 40 seconds. The machine time was 40.07 if I remember correctly. Lee Stringer One of my most greatest track and field moments was last year's 4x400 race watching East Central"s anthony Boyd at anchor split a 46 to bring the 5a title back to San antonio texas and guess what he is back again this year with the rest of the squad. I looking for a low 45 kellie willie style Anthony Boyd My greatest track-and-field moment came in 1961 when I saw Ted Nelson of Andrews cap one of the greatest high school careers in Texas track and field history. Starting in 1958, Nelson helped establish Andrews as a track and field powerhouse by running on the winning mile relay team and helping win the team state title. In 1959 the sprint relay and mile relay teams, both featuring Nelson, won gold. In 1960 Nelson won the 220-yard dash and powered both the sprint relay and mile relay teams to victory, collecting another team state title. In his senior year of 1961, I was at Memorial Stadium to watch Nelson win the 220 and the 440. Then, in the mile relay, he got the baton for the anchor leg in fifth place. He ran down all four runners -- two on the first turn, one down the back stretch and one in the final turn -- as he anchored the Andrews mile relay team to its fourth victory in four years. Unbelievable. Joe Stroops The best race I have even seen was the 5A boys 400m race at the 1994 state track meet. After a rain delay of about an hour, Marlon Ramsey from Beaumont Westbrook took the track. On a wet track in cool temperatures he ran everyone else off the track. His time of 45.1 was a national record at the time. He was so far ahead of everyone else, it must have been at least 30 meters back to second place (second place time was 47.1). Doug Maziur The greatest moment I saw was in 1989 when then freshman Danny McCray from Killeen Ellison caught and passed then hearlded as the top sprinter in the state, Donald Marshall from Grand Prarie on the anchor leg on the 4x100 relay. Also his junior year in the 4x400 when he caught Bobby Taylor of Longview and I believe Raoul Howard of L.B.J. on the anchor leg They had at least a 20 meter lead. He caught them in the last 100 meters but they held him off. All three teams clocked 3:10's, but only the top two advanced. His split was a 44 Anthony Degrate I think it was 1961 when I saw John Roderick of Dallas, Highland
Park break the national high school record in the 180 yard low hurdles.
He ran an 18 second flat race to set the national high school record.
He had just been beaten by Fred Brocker of Austin High in the 120
yard high hurdles. Brocker ran 13.6 to tie the national high school
record. Roderick had run 13.6 in the Little State Meet at Corpus Christi
the week before. I recall the Hight twins of Liberty who ran at the 1965 Texas Relays.
Liberty turned in the fastest time for the mile relay on Friday. On
Saturday, in the finals, Liberty dropped the baton on the first exchange.
To the teams' credit, they did not stop running. When Carl Hight grabbed
the baton on the last leg, he immediately started passing runners
on the first curve. He passed everyone by the time he entered the
straightaway, except the Dallas team. I think it was Dallas Samuel
which won the race, but Carl Hight ran a 46.3 anchor leg. Liberty
finished second AND their time was faster than they ran the day before.
The Dallas team ran an exceptional time of 3:16.5, but the Liberty
performance was the guttsiest performance by a high school team I
had ever seen and Mr. Hight ran the guttsiest quarter mile I had ever
seen by any high school runner - ever. He and his brother Rusty later
went on to stellar track careers at LSU. I am a son of a coach so I have been watching track all my life. I have been attending the state track meet for 32 yrs. So I have seen a lot of great athletes and some great races over that time period but until this day I have never seen anything like what happened in 1976 when Johnny Jones took the baton that night. I will never forget that night as long as I live. Jean and Joe Pouncy also stand out in my early childhood memories. How fast could they have really run if they had run on today's tracks? Monty Walker
In 2003 at the JO National Champion Ship in Florida watching Westbery
High School two girls join forces with West Side High School two girls
and Breaking the National Record in the 4x400 relay and the anchor
leg Katie Baker of West Side was about 10 meters behind when she got
the stick and on that day i had never seen a young lady run as fast
as she did as they begain to round the last curve behind, it was as
if she hit another gear and blast pass an all star team and the Announcer
called out a 52.1 split for Baker. Team -1.C.swayzer 2.J.stixx 3.V.kienast
4.K.baker and there time was 3:37.00 . The greatest moment in Texas track history was in 2002 when Kaufman's
Joe Wren high jumped 7'1'' at the Lion Relays after coming in at 5'8''
because he had never participated in the event before. He weighed
240 but could jump out of this world. I remember hearing another participant
say, "That boy's got rabbit in his blood." The most amazing high school race I have ever seen was the 1600 meter
run at the 2003 District 15-5A meet. Not only did Steve Magness of
Klein Oak break a 20 year old state record with a 4:01.58, Erik Stanley
of Klein broke the old record with a 4:03.77, but Brian Sullivan of
the Woodlands runs 4:11 and doesn't qualify for regionals. Beyond
that, Gabe Gonzalez of Klein Oak runs 4:13, Darren Brown ran a 4:15,
and Dane Hurtubise of the Woodlands runs a 4:17 and gets sixth!! You've
got to be kidding me. How many districts would Dane have won, and
he got sixth? That was pretty special. Barry Abercrombie THE GREATEST TRACK MOMENT I SEEN IS WHEN BRADLEY REED OF GREENVILLE WAS CLOCK AT A 20.10 IN THE 200 METERS. IT WAS CONVERTED TO A 20.4 AND HE PULLED UP ABOUT 5 METERS BEFORE THE LINE. Teresa Site: Plano East field Bradley Norwood 2002--JimAnne Baker's anchor leg of the 2A girl's mile relay. She
had Lauren Valastro 2002 STATE 4A SHOT PUT AT 7PM. LUCAS MIRELES HAD ALREADY WON THE GOLD AND HAD ONE THROW LEFT IN HIS HIGH SCHOOL CAREER. HIS PREVIOUS BEST WAS 63'1". HE ROTATED AND LET GO A HUGE PUT OF 66'11 1/2" TO BREAK A 15 YEAR OLD 4A RECORD. HIS LAST THROW FOR CALALLEN HIGH SCHOOL. DARWIN D BAUCUM Back in 1987, I was coaching at Oliver Wendell Holmes Middle School
and had probably the fastest group of all time.Steve "Country"
Robinson,Chris Deamus,Darius Williams and Derrick Hopkins unofficially
clocked a 42.41 in a practice run at Sprague Stadium against Carters'
freshmen and Roosevelts' JV.Carter had the fastest freshmen in the
nation at that time, headed by Doyle Jones, who very well could be
the fastest kid to come through Dallas and Greg Hill(former Kansas
City Chief). Roosevelt had former Dallas Cowboy Kevin Williams.They
still hold all the DISD Junior High Meet Records.I beleive the fastest
official time was something like 43.3 against their peers and won
by about 30 yards. I don't think any of them ran too much once they
reached high school, I think the streets got a couple of them.
Everyone always talking about Roy Martin, Johnny Lam Jones, etc. Go back to the days of not only one team that was setting the track on fire, but two or three teams. In the late 60’s and early 70’s the team at Dallas Lincoln – featuring John Delley, Joe Pouncy, Rufus Shaw, Gene Pouncy blazed the tracks at will. Sure they always won – but the competition in the metroplex was outstanding. SOC had Donnie McGraw & Larry Jefferson – North Dallas had Clifton Graves & Willard Thompson and yes Pinkston had Larry Dukes and Donnie Yow. Those schools relay teams never beat the mighty Tigers, but they pushed Lincoln to one of the longest standing records on the National scene. 40.2 in the 440 yd relay. By the way Lincoln also ran a 3:11.0 Mile Relay indoors at the AstroDome. (Shaw, J. Pouncy, B. Medlock, G. Pouncy) Cecil Young
The most rememberable relay I remember was in 1988 State Meet when Austin Reagan ran 40.00 flat. The clock said, 39.95 unofficall. But that year Reagan had four Outstanding runners who all went to college and Graduated. The first leg was Damone Freeman he went to Wis. playing football. Second leg was Dushon Orr went to Blinn/Mississippi State Univ.ran track their.Brian Wilson went Houston. And finally Keith Caldwell went to Baylor on a football scholarship. I still think that Austin Reagan's Boys should be ranked, but the USA TODAY PAPER added .24 to their time and gave them 40.24 Reagan should be ranked in the top ten in the relay but they are not. But they ran a great race. Mrs. Denise Murff The 2002 Regional Meet in Lubbock, Texas Jeremy Wariner runs a 45.57
in the 400 meters setting a regional record and turns around one hour
later and sets a regional record in the 200 meters running a 20.41.
The was no wind gauge so his 200 meters is listed as wind aided. The
wind was out of the west and the track runs north and south. The meet
referee said if there had been a gauge, the time would have been legal.
Clyde Hart said "I can't remember a high school double better
than that in all my years of following track." Jeremy's 200 at
the State Meet in 2002 was also outstanding running in lane eight
he defeats the 100 meter State Champion Edoran McCollough running
a 20.48, after winning the State Championship in the 400 with a time
of 46.52.
The Shaw Family
1990, Texas Relays, friday night. The collegiate men's 4x200 relay. That's when I saw Michael Johnson run the anchor leg for Baylor. When he got the stick he was in 3rd place behind Texas A&M and TCU. He caught them before he was out of the curve. The announcer said, 18.5 split. Unbelievable. I still get chills when I have a flashback in my mind. RoJo 1997 STATE MEET. 3A 1600 RELAY BETWEEN TRADITIONAL POWERS ATLANTA AND TATUM. BUMPING AND ELBOWS EVERYWHERE. GREAT 2 TEAM RACE THAT DECIDED THE STATE TITLE. ONLY FEAR FOR THE FANS WAS WHETHER ONE OR BOTH WOULD BE DQ'D. Drew Norwood When I saw O.D. Wyatt run an amazing 39.7 in the 400 meter relay. No name given I have two moments that my dad has told me about Texas track history. My favorite of them is the mile relay at the state meet when Johnny Lam Jones ran a 43.8 anchor leg to come from last place and help Lampasas win the state mile relay title. Also, he told me about the fun that the Pouncy twins used to have with their opponents. He said that, one time, one of the twins acted like he pulled a muscle on the mile relay just so the guy could catch up. Then, he looked at him, smiled and ran away. Josh Allen Amani Terrell's 10:29 was pretty awesome, listening to the annoucer calling out her splits and stating "We are a head of State Record pace!" after each one. On the 7th lap she fell off but as the bell lap sounded the entire crowd stood and yelled at the top of their lungs pushing her to a 73 second last lap, just beating the old record by less than one second. It was as magical as it gets. Barry Dill Jeremy Stallings - Stanton, Texas ran alone, he was so far ahead of the rest. A boy from a small Class AA school had the entire crowd reported as over 25,000 standing, yelling, stomping. We knew he was running probably record pace for Class AA, but not that the boy from the small West Texas town was running a race that would tie the all-time Texas record for all classes. A lifetime memory for all. Johnny Lemmons I went to high school with Carla Spears of Luling but her niece Ychlindria last year at state was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. She broke both the state records in the long and triple jumps on her first jump of both events. James Wright Have seen many impressive performances, but nothing compares to Johnny Jones finishing leg on mile relay at 1976 state meet. The distance he was purported to be trailing by has been extended over the years, but as I recall, he took the baton when the leader was over halfway through the turn, made up huge ground on the backstretch, was only trailing by about 5-10 yds at the head of the homestretch. Teams ahead of him were, if I remember correctly, Odessa Ector and Lubbock Estacado. He was boxed for a while, but the sound of the crowd notified the other runners that something was happening. About 20 yards from the finish line the runner in the inside lane veered toward the center of the track a little allowing Jones to slip by on the inside, which he did to win going away. At that point, hyperventilated and nearly passed out. Johnny Roberson The 1970 Texas Relays when Wes Jeans of Richardson High School ran down Al Stewart of Pearce to win the two mile relay. I think it set a national record at the time. Chuck. at the regional qualifiers meet on April 20, 2000 I saw one of the best mile relay displays by 3 teams. Holmes High school ran an outstanding 3:12.63, but were closely followed by Judson 3:14.34 and Connally 3:14.53. This was an outstanding race with Holmes taking the lead on the back stretch and pulling away for the nations leading time thus far. Unknown my favorite moment was when kelly willie of sterling came back from a 80 meter lead to catch westbury in the mile relay by running a 45.01 anchor leg. Unknown My most memorable moment was April 18, 2000, the 20-4A District Meet, when RaNysha LeBlanc, of Port Arthur - Lincoln, ran a 41.00 in the 300 meter hurdles. I believe that is the 2nd fastest time in the nation so far. A few events later, she anchored the 4X400 meter relay to a first place finish. Wait, that's not all...... she also finished first in the Long Jump, Triple Jump, AND finished first in the 100 meter hurdles. RaNysha is only a Junior in high school. She is also the 1999 300 meter hurdle state champion. I see Olympics 2004 in her future. RaNysha is a very blessed young lady......Keep up the good work! One of her BIGGEST fans from I remember wilmer hutchins came from behind to catch ft. worth eastern hill in denton tx. at regionals but they got second but they really got thrid place. wilmer hutchins was achored by joseph lovely with an split of 46.1 and got that team at the tape and they said we got third so we did not get to go to state. In TX,we have the greatest Men that have ever laced up spikes.Our women are very formidable as well.Which leads me to TX's defining MOMENTS in Track&Field. That hot night in 85' at the State Meet. Joe Deloach 200m=20.4(class 4A) Stanley Kerr 200m=20.4(class 1A) These were National Records until Dallas Roosevelt's own Roy Martin(greatest highschool sprinter of all-time) set himself in the blocks.Roy Martin 200m=20.00(To this day National Record).3 different National Records in one night.The next special moment was in 90',Henry Neal 100m=9.90(National Record).The 3rd moment was my senior year in highschool,94'.Marlon Ramsey's night of state records.400m=45.1,4x400mrelay=3:08.65. Number four,well O.D.Wyatt enough said.4x100mrelay 39.7(National Record) and 4x200m=1:23.32(National Record) later that summer. DeMario Wesly was the anchor leg on that record setting 4x100m with a split of 9.2(hand timed) WOW! Finally number 5 was last year,when I became a HUGE fan of Miss Ychlindria Spears.100m=11.7 200m=23.8 long jump=20.5 1/2 triple jump 41.0 1/4.She put herself in the top ten in AMERICA in FOUR different events as a FRESHMAN!!!!!!! Praise JESUS HOLY NAME for the Athletes our GREAT STATE has been BLESSED with!!!!!!! The most memorable memory this year was at the state meet watching Roy Williams jump 25"6 in the long jump was absoluetly amazing. And what is so scary is that he only took two jumps. James Boykin My favorite moment was when I saw Alex Valladares ( Baytown Sterling) fall down during the mile run at the Region III Championships, and managed to beat both Brad and Brent Hauser in a dual down the stretch. He still holds the Regional record for the mile with a 4:13. Alex, has never been given credit where credit is due for his races. But he is the only runner in the State of Texas that he has beaten the Hauser's twins more than once. We all know that the Hauser Twins were and are still great runners. I have keep up with the former state champ and for what I've heard, he is about to take a coaching position in Houston. So, expect to see Mr. Valladares at the State Meet, but in a different uniform. Sincerely, I think I am in the majority here with putting the great come from behind anchor by Johnny "Lam" Jones in the 1976 mile relay in the top spot. A huge crowd had come to see Lam perform and as he got the stick in dead last far behind the leaders the crowd gave a sigh of pain. There was no way he could do it but he did. Believe it was West Columbia who was passed at the end. Their man was quoted as saying in reference to Lam, "that dude is bad." Johnny was the smoothest I have ever seen along with the great Olympic sprint champ Bobby Morrow. Certainly the 1985 200 trio of Stanley Kerr, Joe DeLoach and Roy Martin would rank next. As for me, my Atlanta guys setting a state AAA 1600 relay record coming from behind in 1989 was super along with that photo finish by Atlanta and Tatum in 1996 1600 relay in which finish was reversed after review to give Rabbits the gold. Hope to see many more like the above. Gordon Pynes |