POSTSEASON TRACK: Sonora's Johnson Battles Through Injury, Illness; Wall Sweeps Area Titles

SONORA, TX -- Tuesday's Class 3A area track meet was not particularly easy for Sonora senior Mary Kyle Johnson.

Johnson was dealing with hip discomfort that stemmed from the District 4-3A meet a couple weeks ago. Johnson had to be taken out of the high jump competition because of the discomfort. Add on to that a stomach bug that left the senior's stomach upside down.

It didn't stop Johnson from placing in the top four in the 400-meter run and helping Sonora place third in the 800-meter relay and fourth in the mile relay.

"It did affect running, as you could see," Johnson said. "It's really no excuse when it gets to this time of the year. You've just gotta do what you've gotta do. So, that's what I was thinking, especially with the mile relay. I had to do it for my team because we had a really good shot at going further and I didn't want to let them down at area."

After running the 400-meter and receiving her fourth place medal, Johnson was visibly in pain and it wasn't certain if she'd be able to go as the third leg in Sonora's mile relay.

"It wasn't a very good feeling," Johnson joked. "I knew it would be hard to finish [the meet]. But I also knew if I didn't run, we most likely wouldn't get out of area and it would be really upsetting for my team. So, I just kind of gutted it up, literally, and went for it. I didn't want to let my team down."

Johnson's grit was not lost on head coach Don Brown, who said he didn't expect the senior to back down through it all.

"She's been the foundation of this program for four years," Brown praised. "I wouldn't expect anything else."

In all, the Sonora Lady Broncos qualified all nine athletes for the regional track meet next week and finished second behind Wall by 23 points.

"This whole year, we've had a great season," Brown said. "Early on, we won several meets. Obviously, competing against Wall, we've been second ... But we were really close to Wall today. Nine qualified for area. Nine are going on to regionals. It was a great team effort.

"We have several girls that have great opportunities to advance to state. Camille Harris, in the 800 and the mile, and Lane Cahill, in pole vault. If they both have great days, they should advance to the next level."

Wall Boys and Girls' Golden Sweep Helped by New Personal Bests

Tuesday was par for the course for the Wall Hawks and Lady Hawks, as they each claimed the team championships.

The Hawks scored 143 points and the Lady Hawks racked up 146.

"This is when you want to start running your fastest times, obviously," head coach Shawn Beeles said. "Our kids did a phenomenal job today. I'm super proud of them, I'm super proud of our coaches who push them along and give them the advice and the coaching points. When you mix those two, you get success."

Wall was helped by a pair of personal bests that won events. Mark Van De Walle ran a career best in the 400 with a time of 49.95 seconds. Sam Rocha had a career best jump of 5-feet-7 in the high jump to tie the school record.

After being stuck at 5-6 most of the year, clearing a new height could spell a big momentum boost for Rocha, Beeles says.

"I think it's huge, especially going into the regional meet," Beeles said. "You kinda set yourself apart. One, you kinda eclipse that barrier you've been stuck at. Mentally, that's gotta do wonders for her. Then, the confidence that it provides going into the regional track meet. She's not finished yet, though. I know she's happy, but she's got bigger goals than just that."

Van De Walle's new mark in the 400 was a long time coming, too. In 2018, he ran a 50.24 and this year a 50.99.

"This whole year, I've been struggling to run under 50 [seconds]. I finally did it! I felt good running. I'm psyched," Van De Walle said.

Heading into regionals, Van De Walle felt his confidence boost after seeing his new personal best.

"It definitely helps out a bunch," Van De Walle said. "I'm feeling a lot better than I did after the last meet. There's still a lot of good competition. We'll see, anything can happen."

The regional meet is at Abilene Christian University on April 26.

Advancing to regionals:

Boy's 400-meter Relay

1. Wall: Sutton Braden, Austin Gray, Mason Kindle, Justis Watkins 43.73
2. Sonora: Oscar Gutierrez, Wilson Johnson, Willie Munoz, Wesley Dutton 43.87
3. Ballinger: Edgar Nunez, JoeMarcus Guerrero, Damian Willborn, Peter Alfaro 44.22
4. Alpine: Griffin Carlin, Alden Rodriguez, Aaron Fellows, Mario Hernandez 44.32

Girl's 400-meter Relay

1. Presidio: Jasmine Sotelo, Daniella Valenzuela, Nicole Felix, Davinia Mireles 50.51
2. Wall: Taylor Wyatt, Sawyer Lloyd, Mackensie Wilson, Coroline Holtman 50.63.
3. Reagan County: Paige Baggett, Valeria Ortiz, Michelle DeLeon, Jayslynn Reyes 50.87
4. Sonora: Carson Cahill, Angela Gonzalez, Aleasha Smith, Lane Cahill 51.39

Boy's 800-meter Run

1. Orlando Romero 2:01.61 TLCA
2. Marco Rey 2:03.82 Presidio
3. Jorhan Velasco 2:04.22 Crane
4. Taylor Garner 2:04.67 TLCA

Girl's 800-meter Run

1. ​​​​​​​Jayden Fiebiger 2:19.41 Wall
2. Camille Harris 2:22.16 Sonora
3. Skylar Harris 2:24.37 Sonora
4. Maci Beeles 2:25.71 Wall

Boy's 110-meter Hurdles

1. Drake Holifield 15.02 Wall
2. Hunter Bunch 15.46 Sonora
3. Taylor Dossey 16.34 Brady
4. Kennedy Byler 16.58 Ballinger

Girl's 100-meter Hurdles

1. Kylie Penders 16.83 Alpine
2. Chloe Smith 16.96 Crane
3. Deanna Payne 17.12 Alpine
4. Mackensie Wilson 17.13 Wall

Boy's 100-meter Dash

1. Jack Marshall 10.94 Brady
2. Sutton Braden 11.07 Wall
3. Manuel Bustamante 11.37 Presidio
4. Kodee Warriner 11.54 Reagan County

Girl's 100-meter Dash

1. Jayslynn Reyes 11.96 Reagan County
2. Abryana Pruitt 13.00 TLCA
3. Lane Cahill 13.16 Sonora
4. Sarah Acosta 13.40 Kermit

Boy's 800-meter Relay

1. Wall: Sutton Braden, Austin Gray, Justis Watkins, Mason Kindle 1:30.62
2. Kermit: Orlando Juarez, Bradley Peralta, Anthony Muniz, Hernan Hernandez 1:30.66
3. Ballinger: Peter Alfaro, Edgar Nunez, Damian Willborn, JoeMarcus Guerrero 1:31.34
4. Crane: Rey Garcia, Jose Palos, Aldo Garcia, Brandon Cerna 1:31.87

Girl's 800-meter Relay

1. Presidio: Jasmine Sotelo, Daniela Valenzuela, Nicole Felix, Davinia Miereles 1:46.69
2. Wall: Taylor Wyatt, Sawyer Lloyd, Caroline Holtman, Maci Beeles 1:48.13
3. Sonora: Lane Cahill, Mary Kyle Johnson, Angela Gonzalez, Alyssa Martinez 1:48.79.
4. Ballinger: Kelsey Hughes, Haley Matschek, Danielle Pena, Kinlee Bowman 1:50.69

Boy's 400-meter Dash

1. Mark Van De Walle 49.95 Wall
2. Orlando Romero 50.10 TLCA
3. Bradley Peralta 53.00 Kermit
4. Caesar Nunez 53.02 Ballinger

Girl's 400-meter Dash

1. Jayden Fiebiger 58.54 Wall
2. Shaylee Shiller 1:01.98 Wall
3. Corissa Tory 1:02.76 Tornillo
4. Mary Kyle Johnson 1:03.29 Sonora

Men's 300-meter Hurdles

1. Drake Holifield 40.13 Wall
2. Weston Rollwitz 40.85 Ballinger
3. David Delgado 41.85 Sonora
4. Kennedy Byler 42.45 Ballinger

Girl's 300-meter Hurdles

1. Skylar Harris 48.22 Sonora
2. Alyssa Martinez 48.37 Sonora
3. Kelsey Hughes 48.69 Ballinger
4. Kylie Penders 48.76 Alpine

Boy's 200-meter Dash

1. Jack Marshall 22.62 Brady
2. Benji Armendariz 22.93 Grape Creek
3. Aaron Fellows 22.99 Alpine
4. Austin Gray 23.11 Wall

Girl's 200-meter Dash

1. ​​​​​​​Jayslynn Reyes 25.09 Reagan County
2. Elyssa Korn-Flores 26.21 Ballinger
3. Angela Gonzalez 26.98 Sonora
4. Angelique Fox 27.44 Alpine

Boy's 1600-meter Run

1. Evan Shannon 4:34.96 Sonora
2. Eduardo Carrillo 4:39.80 Tornillo
3. Ofir Ortega 4:40.81 Tornillo
4. Cristian Vasquez 4:47.04 Kermit

Girl's 1600-meter Run

1. Camille Harris 5:29.14 Sonora
2. Sydney Bowman 5:34.18 Ballinger
3. Taylor Limbaugh 5:36.94 Brady
4. Bethany Pugh 5:42.05 Wall

Boy's 1600-meter Relay

1. Wall: Mason Kindle, Drake Holifield, Justis Watkins, Mark Van De Walle 3:24.47
2. Sonora: Wilson Johnson, David Delgado, Evan Shannon, Wesley Dutton 3:25.21
3. Presidio: Manuel Bustamante, Endrik Renoso, Emiliano Valenzuela, Oscar Moreno 3:26.16
4. Ballinger: JoeMarcus Guerrero, Edgar Nunez, Damian Willborn, Weston Rollwitz 3:27.42

Girl's 1600-meter Relay

1. Wall: Maci Beeles, Sawyer Lloyd, Shaylee Shiller, Jayden Fiebiger 4:00.49
2. Presidio: Davinia Mireles, Alejandra Valles, Nicole Felix, Brittany Huitron 4:00.99
3. Ballinger: Danielle Pena, Sydney Bowman, Elyssa Korn-Flores, Kelsey Hughes 4:09.30
4. Sonora: Skylar Harris, Alyssa Martinez, Mary Kyle Johnson, Camille Harris 4:10.03 

Boy's 3200-meter Run

1. Eduardo Carrillo 10:10.29 Tornillo
2. Ofir Ortega 10:14.69 Tornillo
3. Evan Shannon 10:15.35 Sonora
4. Cristian Vasquez 10:32.38 Kermit

Girl's 3200-meter Run

1. Taylor Limbaugh 12:10.35 Brady
2. Sydney Bowman 12:26.22 Ballinger
3. Lexie Davenport 12:26.84 Ballinger
4. Olivia Garcia 12:51.85 Tornillo

Boy's Triple Jump

1. Orlando Juarez 44-3.25 Kermit
2. JoeMarcus Guerrero 44-1.00 Ballinger 
3. David Delgado 43-5.00 Sonora
4. Seth Levesque 42-8.50 TLCA

Girl's Triple Jump

1. Daniela Valenzuela 37-2.50 Presidio
2. Mackensie Wilson 38-8.00 Wall
3. Kaitlyn Adair 34-10.25 Brady
4. Alyssa Martinez 34-8.50 Sonora

Boy's Long Jump

1. JoeMarcus Moreno 20-9.00 Ballinger
2. Anthony Muniz 20-9.00 Kermit
3. Jack Marshall 20-7.75 Brady
4. Cinch Dickey 20-6.25 Wall

Girl's Long Jump

1. Daniela Valenzuela 17-11.00 Presidio
2. Alyssa Martinez 17-4.75 Sonora
3. Sawyer Lloyd 16-10.75 Wall
4. Miraya Morado 16-9.50 Crane

Boy's High Jump

1. Endrik Reynoso 5-10.00 Presidio
2. Taren Parker 5-10.00 Wall
3. Brandon Cerna 5-8.00 Crane
4. Blaine Foster 5-8.00 Wall

Girl's High Jump

1. Sam Rocha 5-7.00 Wall
2. Rylee Meyers 5-0.00 Brady
3. Elyssa Korn-Flores 4-10.00 Ballinger
4. Sydney Anderson 4-10.00 Alpine

Boy's Pole Vault

1. Kennedy Byler 14-0.00 Ballinger
2. Ross Jacoby 13-0.00 Brady
3. Caleb Nolen 12-6.00 Sonora
4. Cole Bryant 11-6.00 Brady

Girl's Pole Vault

1. Lane Cahill 10-6.00 Sonora
2. Chloe Smith 10-6.00 Crane
3. Danni Akers 9-6.00 Alpine
4. Aleasha Smith 9-0.00 Sonora

Boy's Shot Put

1. Chad Glasscock 50-6.50 Wall
2. Torian Joseph 46-10.50 Crane
3. Tristan Ortiz 46-9.50 Reagan County
4. Kodee Warriner 45-10.00 Reagan County

Girl's Shot Put

1. Adrianna Villalobos 35-11.75 Sonora
2. DeAndra Hinton 35-10.50 Brady
3. Melissa Hernandez 35-4.00 Reagan County
4. Rylee Braden 34-10.75 Wall

Boy's Discus

1. Tate Williams 133-6.00 Wall
2. Garrett Dixon 133-3.00 Ballinger
3. Julio Estrada 124-2.00 Alpine
4. Rodolfo Navarette 122-4.00 Crane

Girl's Discus

1. Chelsea Martinez 107-10.00 Ballinger
2. Madison Morgan 98-7.00 Wall
3. Rylee Braden 97-2.00 Wall
4. Kendyl Henry 96-4.00 Wall