SAN ANGELO, TX -- Trailing late in the meet didn't matter as both the Wall Hawk and Lady Hawk track teams took home hardware at the 61st running of the San Angelo Relays on Saturday.
The Hawks won the Division II title thanks to their third place finish in the mile relay and Brownwood not having a relay team. The Hawks finished behind district rivals Ballinger and Sonora. Ballinger finished first with a time of 3 minutes, 25.1 seconds. Sonora just barely edged out Wall by 0.63 seconds with a time of 3:26.31.
"The kicker on that is, those are three district teams right there," Wall head coach Shawn Beeles said. "Luckily, they changed the format years ago or else one of those teams would be sitting at home because they only took two teams. Those three teams are gonna represent not only our district and our area, but our region very well. The times are very competitive right now. For us, we never shy away from competition. It's gonna make us better and them better."
Wall picked up big, record-breaking wins from seniors Drake Holifield and Jayden Fiebiger, an Oklahoma State University signee. The duo accounted for four gold medals in individual events while also helping the Wall relay teams place in each relay event.
Fiebiger broke her 2017 record in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:19.07. That's three-tenths of a second faster than the previous mark for the senior who was battling sickness at the start of the day.
"It felt pretty good. I actually felt a little sick when I woke up this morning," Fiebiger laughed. "I was just kinda pushing through it. The weather was really, really awesome today. The wind wasn't too bad. I just felt strong and it was an easy race. I'm excited I got to break my record because I didn't get to break that record last year. So that shows how much I've improved for this season."
Fiebiger would also pick up gold in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.97 seconds, just 0.05 seconds off the record set by Faith Roberson in 2016. It was also the only sub-60 seconds of the finals. Fiebiger anchored the mile relay and help Wall to another gold medal.
Holifield had dreamt of breaking records at the San Angelo Relays. The senior who missed all of football season with a broken back did just that with a 14.81-second run in the 110-meter hurdles for gold. That broke the previous record of 15.02 by Wall's Brock Pettiet.
"It's something I've always wanted to do at this meet. It's such a big meet," Holifield said. "I actually got to run with Brock Pettiet who held the record. We've always talked about that because we've been so close in hurdles. It's just awesome to beat his record and set the record for my school again."
Holifield also set a personal record in the 300-meter hurdles with a 39.97-second run.
But it wasn't just Fiebiger and Holifield setting the pace for Wall.
The Lady Hawks were sitting outside of second late in the meet. Thanks to a second place finish in long jump from All-Concho Valley MVP Sawyer Lloyd and a fifth place finish from Mackensie Wilson to go with Bethany Pugh's third place finish in the mile run.
That went with Wall's total of 18 medals. Seven of them were gold.
Final Meet Standings
Division IV Girls
- Brownwood 118
- Wall 114
- Lubbock Estacado 92
- Sonora 81
- Midland Greenwood 39
- Andrews 31
- Mineral Wells 28
- Ballinger 24
- Big Spring 22
- Monahans 20
- Gatesville 13
- San Angelo Lake View 11
Division III Girls
- San Antonio Reagan 122
- Odessa Permian 91
- Spring Branch Smithson Valley 58
- Wolfforth Frenship 52
- Round Rock 45
- Lubbock Coronado 38
- Midland Lee 37
- Abilene Wylie 32
- Dripping Springs 30
- Del Rio 26
- Killeen Ellison 19
- Killeen 17
Division II Boys
- Wall 91.33
- Andrews 86
- Brownwood 80
- Sonora 64
- Big Spring 60
- Midland Greenwood 42
- Ballinger 39
- Snyder 32
- Perryton 25.33
- Lubbock Estacado 24
- Iraan 18
- Monahans 12.33
Division I Boys
- Round Rock 121
- Killeen Ellison 102
- Spring Branch Smithson Valley 62
- Killeen 52
- Wolfforth Frenship 40
- San Antonio Reagan 39
- Del Rio 34
- Odessa Permian 32
- Dripping Springs 26
- Midland Lee 23
- Lubbock Coronado; Abilene Cooper 16
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