Fort Bend Marshall, Summer Creek win state titles at state track meet in Austin
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- As we wrap up another track season, so many performances and athletes stood out at the state track meet in Austin.
We'll start with the champions. In 5A, the Fort Bend Thurgood Marshall boys and girls won the state team title. This actually makes the girls back-to-back winners.
Timberview High School girls finished second with 61 points. Tairah Johnson, who will run track at North Carolina A&T State University defended her state title in the 100m hurdles. She also ran in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays and finished second in the state.
Summer Creek High School boys used a gutsy performance in the 4x400 relay to secure their second state championship. The bulldogs trailed Duncanville by 2 points in the team standings with one event to run the 4x400 relay.
Summer Creek's Darius Rainey's final lap of the final event gave the Bulldogs the points they needed for their second consecutive state title.
The future University of South Carolina Trojan left it all on the track, literally, collapsing on the track after anchoring the gold medal relay running a 3:10.36.
Shadow Creek girls won gold in the 4x2 and 4x4 relays. The team's 4x2 relay was the fourth fastest time ever in the state of Texas at 1:35.14.
Meanwhile, Tomball Memorial High School's Molly Haywood set a new state record in the pole vault at 14-3.
On the boy's side, Obra D. Tompkins High School's Matthew Kumar took gold, clearing 16-3, and celebrated by giving his mom his gold medal.
Mayde Creek's Simone Ballard placed first in the 100 and 300 hurdles.
Four-time state medalist Haley Tate of Seven Lakes High School held five school records and ended her Spartan career with silver in the 400.
Klein's India Alix named to National Honor Society earlier in the week took silver in the long jump and bronze in the triple jump.
Clear Brook's Camryn Dickson closed her career with state silver in the 200.
George Ranch coach Alicia Dutch called Junior Skylar Herrera relentless. Herrera snagged two sixth place awards and one seventh place award in her wheelchair events.
Baytown's Sterling Cameron Chin won first in the 5A 400, and Emanuel Galdino of Stratford took home gold in the mile.
We'll end with a special recognition to Lake Creek senior Emma Little who is described by her coach as the cornerstone of the program, with her contributions going beyond the track. Little finished seventh and eighth in her events at state.
