Regional Bound

Well we are Regional Track bound!!!! I am soooo excited and proud of our kids.

We started out the day with the kids we thought would make running finals did, with a few surprises. Field events went ok. My high jump girl was in a 4 way tie for 3rd place, but didn't win the jump off to go to regionals. She jumped pretty well though. Kallie qualified for pole vault placing 3rd and Kaci advanced in discus placing 2nd! So proud of those girls. Neither of my boys did as well as they or I would have like them to do. Kristian didn't place and Travis ended up 5th. Baza ended up 4th in one of the throwing events (don't remember which, shot I think) and Jordan is the top qualifier in the region for Pole Vault!!!!

Then running finals started. The sprint relay went well. The girls placed 2nd and the boys finished 3rd, so the both advance to regionals. Then came the 800. I was pretty confident about getting Betty & Tony both out. Then distaster struck. Betty was running a GREAT race...she was 2nd at the break and was holding strong at 2nd-3rd throughout the entire lap, then at the last curve of the first lap she got tangled up in a group and fell. She got up and was in tears when she got to me close to the start/finish line, I told her to keep going, then turned to my head coach and said I was just going to have her stride to finish, becuase I could tell she was hurting and she still had to run the mile relay. So I run across the field and meet her on the other side and just tell her to stride and finish. None of my girls ended up placing, but I was very proud of the way they ran. So then it's the boy's turn. Tony is running a great race, not leading or in 2nd like I am used to, but he is right on pace. He kicks when I need him to and coming down the home stretch he is in perfect position to end up 2nd. A Bushland kid is in the clear lead and another is in 2nd and the last one right beside him. Well Bushland kid C, goes to pass Bushland kid B on the right in lane 2. Bushland kid B is running on the very outside of lane 1, so there is PLENTY of room for Tony to pass on the inside. I am yelling and jumping like crazy for Tony to finish. Just as Bushland kid C passes kid B, he looks to his right....the next thing I know all 3 of them are even with me and Tony is rolling off the track. He lands right in front of me and I remember just yelling at him to get up and finish. Well he ends up finishing 4th and I am CRUSHED. I go check on him and tell him good job and begin walking back to the bus to check on Betty and wrap one fo my girl's hamstrings. On my way back down the track, I meet several of our boys and they say, "What are they going to do?" I say what are y'all talking about, and they reply, "That kid shoved Tony off the track." I reply, "Seriously???" cause I never saw it. Then I realize nearly every one of our coaches are headed towards the finish line. I turn around and see my boys' head track coach, my athletic director, 2 Bushland coaches and the meet director talking. I walk up and one Bushland coach says that the other Bushland coach saw him shove Tony off the track. Our coaches say they saw it and then the meet director says he was standing next to the AD that was hosting the district meet and he saw it. He then says the Bushland kid would be disqualified and Tony was in. I was SOOOOOO EXCITED. Then I had to find Tony. I had NO IDEA where he went, so then I went on the great adventure. I finally found him and told him he was in. I felt like I had finally succeeded. Before I found all of this out, I was ready to just go to the bus for the rest of the meet. I was still upset that Betty hadn't qualified, but felt a lot better with Tony getting out. The rest of the day went pretty well. Chris got 2nd in the 100. Our boys 800 relay team was edged out by Bushland by .05 of a second, but our girls beat Panhandle by .02 of a second. Thank goodness Taylor leaned!! Sheldyn didn't get out in the hurdles :( but Tony qualifed 3rd in the mile. (He by far didn't run his fastest time, but ran well enough to get in. He was pretty sore from his tumble before.) Our boys ran an exciting mile relay and won it. Coach Pointer has checked regional times and we are 3rd going in. Top 2 advance to state so we gotta run well to get in. Our girls didn't run their best splits and ended up 4th :(

Anyways, I am super excited for all of the kids that qualified and am looking forward to a great time in Odessa. We are middle of the pack in most of the boys stuff except for Jordan in pole vault and the mile relay. I am not sure about the girls. I would think that we will be middle of the pack for most things. I am just so excited to get down to Odessa and see how they do.