AUSTIN — Argyle had just two events in Friday’s session of the UIL state track and field championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
For the Denton Record-Chronicle/Erich Schlegel
Guyer senior Julia Agawu competes in the Class 4A girls discus during the UIL state track and field meet Friday in Austin.
So far, it’s been clear sailing for the Eagles.
Argyle won gold medals in the boys and girls 3,200-meter runs on Friday morning as Colbea Harris and Stephen Curry both ran personal-best times to give the Eagles a perfect 2-for-2 start in their quests for medals in the team standings.
“I know we have a good chance as a team because we have so many good runners,” said Harris, a junior. “There’s not many of us but we run good whenever we do run. I knew I needed to get the points for my team, and I’ll try to do the same thing tomorrow.”
Harris and Curry will each compete in the 1,600 today, with Harris coming in with the second-best girls time and Curry entering as the top seed in the boys final, ahead of teammate Jake Roberts.
Curry, who finished second in the 1,600 last year as a junior, already has a cross country state title to his name from November, and will be going for the distance trifecta today.
“I’m pretty pleased,” the senior said. “That’s two championships now with cross country and now this, and I’m aiming for a third [today].”
Curry led the 3,200 wire-to-wire and set a new school record with his winning time of 9:22.91, finishing nearly eight seconds ahead of his closest competitor, La Vernia’s Abrahm Leija. The previous record was held by last year’s 3,200 champion and Curry’s former teammate Blake Woolums.
“What was impressive was that his two goals were to win the race and break the school record, which was 9:23-flat,” Argyle distance coach Bryan Beene said.
What’s even more impressive is the fact that Curry wasn’t even giving it his all in order to save some energy for today’s mile, which will be run at 2:55 p.m., in the heat of the day.
“I felt confident and I also didn’t want to go put out too much because I have the mile [today], and I want to save up for that,” Curry said. “I fully expect to win. If I don’t win, I will be sorely disappointed.”
Harris’ race was nearly as easy as Curry’s, as she led for the first four laps before falling to second place behind Canton’s Heather Sterling until the eighth and final lap, when she passed Sterling with about 300 meters to go and ended up winning by almost four seconds in a career-best time of 11:07.59.
It was all part of Harris’ strategy, which also worked at the Class 3A Region II championships, when Harris edged Sterling for the title in 11:15.
“I ran against her at region and we did the exact same thing,” Harris said. “I was a little worried because we ran at night [at regionals] and it’s hot, so it’s harder now. I didn’t really expect that good of a time.”
Harris said it was nice to get her first state medal after running in the shadow of former teammate Kristie Krueger, who won six state medals, including three golds, in distance events. She’s now running at Georgia.
“She was an amazing runner, and I always looked up to her,” Harris said. “She helped me a lot when I was a freshman and sophomore. This year was hard because I was used to being behind her and it just being me and her. Now that she’s gone, it’s not that I’m glad she’s gone, but I’m not the second best anymore.”
Guyer, Ryan pole vaulters compete for final time
After finishing fourth at the Texas Relays at the same track in April, Guyer senior Garrett Montgomery knew he had one more chance to win a medal in the state capital.
And after vaulting 15 feet, he finished second in the Class 4A boys pole vault in his final high school meet behind Midlothian’s Vince Frawley.
“I knew I wanted to walk away from Austin at least once with a medal, and I did that,” Mont-gomery said. “I competed my hardest and did what I came to do. I couldn’t be happier.”
The Guyer senior, who’s signed with UT-Arlington, suffered a stress fracture in his back prior to the Class 4A Region I championships, which he won ahead of Ryan’s Michael McLeod.
McLeod, also a senior, beat Montgomery at the District 5-4A meet, but was out of Friday’s competition early on as he missed all three vaults at 13 feet after passing at 12-6.
“I tried to give everything I could, and absolutely nothing came out of it,” McLeod said.
Guyer’s Agawu finishes fifth
Julia Agawu’s first discus throw of her first state championship meet went pretty well for the Guyer senior, but it got no better in the final five attempts.
Agawu’s first throw sailed 137-2, good for third place after Round 1, but her distance dwindled over the next three throws before she fouled on her final two while trying to get back up into the medal chase.
“It was frustrating,” she said. “I don’t know what it was. I was really trying hard. I really wanted to medal since it’s my last track meet. I was trying really hard to get it out there, probably a little too hard.”
Agawu, who is in discussion with Rice for a track scholarship, said that despite her disappointing showing, she was happy with the opportunity after finishing third at the regional meet last year.
“Even though I didn’t medal, I’m glad I was able to get this far,” she said.
Denton’s Amadi takes sixth
Johnson Amadi’s high school track career came to an end on Friday with a sixth-place finish in the Class 4A boys 400.
Amadi got off to a strong start and appeared to make up a bit of the stagger around the first curve but fell back on the final curve to finish in a time of 48.77 seconds.
He made one final push during the final 20 meters, but narrowly missed, edging out Lancaster’s Howard Shepard by 0.03 seconds for fifth place.
Svane ties for sixth
Pilot Point high jumper Hunter Svane had his first crack at the state meet after watching his sister shine on the state’s biggest stage for three years, but his run at a medal hit a wall when that bar was set at 6-4.
Svane cleared his first attempt at the first three heights (5-10, 6-0 and 6-2) before missing all three attempts at 6-4 to tie for sixth place with Lexington’s Julien Clark.
ADAM BOEDEKER can be reached at 940-566-6872. His e-mail address is aboedeker@dentonrc.com.
