While the UIL state track meet provides a fun and exciting end to the high school track season every year, giving the best athletes in each part of the state an opportunity to compete against the other top athletes in their classification, we here at Big Country Preps weren’t quite ready to say goodbye to the sport.

After introducing the inaugural All-Big Country Preps Dream Track Meet in 2021, we’ve decided to reprise it this year.

As with our All-Big Country Preps teams for other sports, our Dream Meet is our way of honoring some of best athletes the Big Country had to offer this past school year. But our concept for this is just a little bit different.

Instead of being presented as a team, we’re treating this like a meet with an area-wide field in each event. There are no distinctions made for classification, just a collection of the top performers from across the BCP coverage area. 

Without further ado, we present our All-Big Country Preps Dream Meet girls field. We hope you enjoy reading through our selections.

Continue reading “2023 ALL-BIG COUNTRY PREPS DREAM MEET: Girls field” →

Here the final Big Country’s boys track bests for 2023 (top 15 in each event): 

Here are the final girls area track bests for 2023 (top 15 in each event): 

Here is a complete list of the state track and field qualifiers from the Big Country Preps coverage area with seed ranking and time/mark:

Here the Big Country’s boys track bests through May 7 (top 15 in each event): 

Here the Big Country’s boys track bests through April 30 (top 15 in each event): 

Here are the girls area track bests through April 30 (top 15 in each event): 

KINGSVILLE — The Goldthwaite girls and boys track teams both made successful showings at the Region IV-2A track meet Friday and Saturday at Texas A&M-Kingsville’s Javelina Stadium, finishing third and sixth in their respective team races.

The Lady Eagles claimed six medals and clinched five berths to the state meet, while the Eagles earned three medals and secured two state bids.

The GHS girls finished 63 points to tie with Shiner for third, 18 points behind team champion Thrall and nine points behind runner-up Refugio. The boys, meanwhile, totaled 37 points to finish three points outside of the top five. Refugio won the boys team title with 88 points, followed by Falls City with 53, Mason with 52, Stockdale with 42 and Shiner with 40.

Here the Big Country’s boys track bests through April 23 (top 15 in each event): 

Here are the girls area track bests through April 23 (top 15 in each event): 

Here the Big Country’s boys track bests through April 16 (top 15 in each event): 

Here are the girls area track bests through April 16 (top 15 in each event): 

Here the Big Country’s boys track bests through April 9 (top 15 in each event): 

Here are the girls area track bests through April 9 (top 15 in each event): 

Here the Big Country’s boys track bests through April 2 (top 15 in each event): 

Here are the girls area track bests through April 2 (top 15 in each event): 

On the heels of our release of the top area girls track athletes to watch yesterday, we now present our top returning boys for 2023. 

Below you’ll find a comprehensive list of this year’s top returnees, along with their personal best times and distances from last year. 

Enjoy. 

The Big Country takes its track and field quite seriously and the results often prove it, with a multitude of team and individual state championships collected by area athletes over the years. 

Soon, the sound of starters pistols will be ringing throughout the area as we once again begin the process of seeing who will represent their schools and the entire Big Country area at the state meet in Austin. 

So let’s see how everyone stacks up, shall we? 

Below you’ll find a comprehensive list of this year’s top returnees, along with their personal best times and distances from last year. 

Enjoy. We’ll see you at the track. 

GORDON — Throughout the gamut of junior high athletics, it is common to see adjustments made for children of that age.  From the size of the field, to the size of the ball to the weight of the equipment used, middle schoolers are helped with modifications designed specifically for them. Without them, 11-13 year-olds would have a difficult time competing in the sports of their choice. 

It only makes sense. 

In Texas, however, there has been a noteworthy exception — one that long-time area track coach Mike Reed (now at Gordon High School) has been battling to have changed for six years: The recommended distance for meet organizers to place between the girls 100 hurdles and boys 110 hurdles. 

Photos by Joe Garcia III, PressPassSports.com

Katie Goains became a legend for the community of Cross Plains on Saturday night as the Class 1A state track and field meet came to a conclusion.

In the 1,600-meter relay, Goains passed Blum’s Kayden Arrington in the final meters to clock a time of 4:14.72 and earn a bronze medal.

More importantly, Goains’ strong closing effort helped lift the Lady Buffaloes into what they thought was a state championship.

The elation of the title was short lived as the Lady Buffs found out shortly after thinking they had tied Ackerly Sands for the title with 40 points that the UIL did not account for the four points that Sands’ Landry Morrow had earned in the 100 hurdles with her fourth-place finish.

BRONTE — A year ago as a freshman, Bronte’s Emily Jackson made her state track meet debut with a nervous performance in the 300 hurdles. 

A year later, a 16-year-old Jackson is returning to Austin as a still young, albeit more experienced 10th-grader with an added level of maturity 

She is a year older. A year faster. And most importantly, she believes she has learned from her nerve-racking experience at Myers Stadium which saw her place eighth out of nine runners with a time of 51.50 last season. 

“Last year on the day of (the state meet), I was so nervous that I felt like I really couldn’t compete to my highest potential,” Jackson said. “And I don’t think I did.

“But after just going and seeing it and being there last year, I’m hoping the (experience) will help things go smoother. I’ve been there once, so hopefully, it won’t be such a shock.”

Photos by Joe Garcia III, PressPassSports.com

AUSTIN — With a second-place finish in the final event of the night, the Haskell girls track team won the Class 2A state championship Friday at the University of Texas’ Mike A. Myers Stadium.

Asia Billington, Brittany Andrews, Emma Roewe and Savanna Camacho ran a time of 4 minutes, 00.37 seconds to claim the silver medal in the 1,600-meter relay, helping their team to a total of 60 points — just two more than runner-up Panhandle (58).

The Goldthwaite girls mile relay wrapped up a big event for the Big Country by stealing a bronze medal with a time of 4:03.78, cutting nearly six seconds off of their time from the regional meet.

AUSTIN — Stephenville freshman Keirstyn Carlton’s bronze medal in the high jump was the first in a string of surprising podium finishes as the UIL state track and field meet began Thursday at the University of Texas’ Mike A. Myers Stadium.

Carlton jumpstarted a day in which athletes from the Big Country Preps coverage area earned 17 medals.

It wasn’t just the individual medal count that started strong, but also team results. The Brock and Breckenridge boys finished 1-2 in the team standings in the Class 3A boys competition, finishing with 55 and 33 points, respectively, while the Stephenville girls finished in second place with 43 points in the 4A standings.