Wall Continues Chasing Medals With Dominant Cotton Patch Relays

WALL, TX -- The Wall Hawk and Lady Hawk track teams continued their phenomenal season with the the Lady Hawks taking first and the Hawks taking second.

The Lady Hawks dominated the field by scoring 229 points and 22 medals, nine of which were gold.

Wall swept the mile run with Bethany Pugh, Elise Countess and Cyleste Mirelez finishing first through third for 24 points.

Sam Rocha picked up gold in the high jump for the Lady Hawks after taking home consecutive titles at the San Angelo Relays and Angelo State Relays. The Angelo State basketball signee cleared 5-foot-3 to win her final Cotton Patch Relays.

Even though it's short of her personal record of 5-6, the senior is taking everything in stride after returning from the Lady Hawk basketball run to the state tournament.

"I think [these three meets] are giving me confidence to get back to 5-6," Rocha said. "It gives me a lot of confidence knowing that I'm still capable of that coming from basketball." 

Wall's Sawyer Lloyd accounted for four medals, including a gold in long jump and a silver in her debut as a high jumper.

It took a little convincing for Lloyd to get head coach Shawn Beeles to let her make her foray into high jump. But after Lloyd showed her ability to Beeles on Wednesday, the day before the meet, her coach couldn't say no.

"It didn't look half bad [on Wednesday]. Of course, we know she's a heck of an athlete," Beeles said. "The biggest thing I told her was 'Go compete. I know you can do that, but don't make me regret this, don't hurt yourself by doing something totally new."

Rocha's soon-to-be collegiate teammate relished the opportunity of getting to compete against the state-title hopeful.

"It was a lot of fun," Lloyd smiled. "Sam's so good. We start off at 4-6 and she gets a mile higher. I'm excited, it was a good last Cotton Patch Relay."

Lloyd won long jump against Reagan County's Jayslynn Reyes. The two are expected to compete for the District 4-3A title at Ballinger next week.

With Lloyd, Rocha and Jayden Fiebiger highlighting a group of state-caliber Lady Hawks transitioning back to the track from the hardwood, they feel a sense of unfinished business.

"That's the beauty of our seniors. They have goals for themselves," Beeles said. "Once you attain the state meet, that level of competition, that ... fuels you to wanna get back there. The beauty of [Sam and Sawyer] is they're going to the next level playing a totally different sport. They want to compete for their team, they want to compete for the personal satisfaction of doing the best they can do. For a lack of better words, it's been a lot of fun being around them on a more personal level as their coach this year." 

The Hawks scored 165 points to finish 22 points behind Class 5A school Abilene Cooper.

Wall was helped out a lot in the field with Chad Glasscock and Tate Williams finishing second and third in shotput behind Cooper's McCord Whitaker, who had a winning throw of 49-feet, 7.25-inches. Williams also finished third in discus with a throw of 130-7.5.

Whitaker and Jacob Deax Cooper to a top two sweep in discus. Whitaker had a winning throw of 163-feet.

Wall's Blaine Foster finished second in high jump behind Lake View's Jorden Watjen, who won the event with a jump of 6-feet.

Wall picked up a win in the 100-meter dash from Sutton Braden and two in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles from Drake Holifield.

Holifield set a personal best of 39.45 seconds in the 300 while coming within .06 seconds of his PR in the 110 at 14.51 seconds.

The Hawks also stole the show in the thrower relay, better known as the big man relay, where four throwers run the 400-meter relay. The Hawks beat Abilene Cooper and Lake View.

With how uncommon it is at meets, the throwers jump at the opportunity to have a little fun.

"That is something these kids eat up," Beeles laughed. "It's awesome because the throwers typically don't run. Anytime we go to a meet that has a thrower relay, you'd think they're fixin' to play for the Super Bowl."

Here are the team results from Thursday's meet:

Boys

1. Abilene Cooper 187
2. Wall 165
3. Jim Ned 116
4. Lake View 80
5. Reagan County 30    
6. Grape Creek 8
7. Cornerstone Christian/San Angelo Saints 0

Girls

1. Wall 229    
2. Abilene Cooper 100    
3. Jim Ned 85    
4. Reagan County 57    
5. Grape Creek 48    
6. Lake View 38    
7. Cornerstone Christian 14    
8. Wall JV 13    
9. San Angelo Saints 0