Fifteen Devine Warhorses qualified for this weekend’s regional track meet in Kingsville in route to winning the team championship over runner-up Hondo. Jacob Featherly set the school record at 14’4” in Pole Vault.
“The kids showed up with the attitude that they were going to come out of the meet as the Area Champs, and they did just that,” said Head Coach Lon Cozby. “Even though we didn’t get just a whole lot of first place finishes, we kept plugging along to get points in the events we were expecting to get points and I’m proud of the way we competed throughout the day.”
Fifteen of the twenty Warhorses that competed at area move on to Regional this Friday and Saturday.
“Having a big group qualify for Regional is really satisfying and lets me know that our program is in a great place. These guys have worked their tails off during this crazy year and are reaping the benefits of that dedication,” Cozby commented.
Putting a little twist on how individual accomplishments lead to greater team goals and achievements, Cozby concluded saying “Even though track is supposedly an individual sport, the last I checked the Warhorses won the Area TEAM Championship!”
Feather in his cap
Senior Jacob Featherly etched his name in the Warhorse track record books by setting the school record with his 14’4” pole vault performance.
Jacob made things interesting on his way to the record by almost not clearing his opening height of 13’0”. Jacob cleared 13’ on his third attempt to remain in competition or that school record would not have wound up his to own.
“Featherly is showman over at the pole vault,” said a smiling Cozby. “It was a great atmosphere as a few classes from the elementary were able to walk over and witness history. However, not without a little adversity. He decided to make it interesting by missing his opening height on his first two attempts. When he cleared in on his third attempt the kids screamed and you could see him let out a sigh of relief. After clearing a few more heights and winning, he decided to go for the record. When he cleared 14’4 those little kids were jumping around and yelling…it was a great scene. All of his friends were cheering, I am pretty sure I saw some tears from a few proud adults.”
Now in second place in Devine Pole Vault lore is Paul Jett who held the record at 14’3” since 1973, some 48 years ago.
Golden moment
Two Warhorses won their respective field events, which wound up being the only two gold medals Devine claimed in route to their 128 points.
Evan Priest threw 135’9” to win Discus by over four feet over runner-up David Castro of Carrizo Springs who threw 131’2”.
As mentioned earlier, Jacob Featherly dominated the Pole Vault division with his school record 14’4” vault to beat runner-up Paxton Clanahan of Carrizo Springs who went out after clearing 13’.
Silver bullet
The two sprint relay teams consisting of Buddy Santos, Brady Hackebeil, Christian Gerlach, and Xsavior Martinez placed second overall in each relay. Somerset won gold in each of those relays.
Gerlach won silver in the 200m Dash along with John Schnautz who won his silver medal in Shot Put and Xavier Garza in 1600m Run.
Bronze metal
Bronze medals went to 800m runner Isaiah Morin, 110m hurdler Aaron Saenz, long jumper Xavier Contreras, shot putter Geoffrey Seal, pole-vaulter Zachary Alvarez, and two-miler Xavier Garza.
Go fourth
Those that placed fourth to advance to Regional are repeater qualifiers DuBose (100m Dash), Saenz (300m Hurdles), and Gerlach (Shot Put) along with Enrique Midobuche (Long Jump).
Team rankings
1st Devine138, 2nd Hondo 109, 3rd Somerset 96, 4th Carrizo Springs 91, 5th Pearsall 72, 6th Crystal City 66, 7th Uvalde 24, 8th YMLA 19, 9th Brooks Academy 3, 10th Fox Tech 2.
Point leaders
1st Jasiah Vaquera-Pearsall 31.5, 2nd Trey Dickens-Hondo 28.5, 3rd Santiago Flores-Crystal City 21, Tie 4th Christian Gerlach-Devine, Angel Rodriguez-Hondo 20, 6th Malachi Bennett-Somerset 18, Tie 7th Martavues Patterson-Hondo, Sean Bosquez-Carrizo Springs 15, Tie 9th Xavier Garza-Devine, Ethan Vasquez-Somerset, Unberto Gonzales-Uvalde, Anthony Sandoval-Hondo 14.
Warhorse results
4x100m Relay—2nd Buddy Santos, Brady Hackebeil, Christian Gerlach, Xsavior Martinez 43.60 4x200m Relay—2nd Hackebeil, Santos, Gerlach, Martinez 1:32.12, 4x400m Relay—5th Hackebeil, Xavier Contreras, Hayden DuBose, Santos 3:30.21 100m Dash—4th DuBose 11.70, 6th Enrique Midobuche 12.02, 8th Gabriel Esquibel 12.14 200m Dash—2nd Gerlach 22.65, 8th DuBose 24.56 800m Run—3rd Isaiah Morin 2:10.38, 7th Chris Ortiz 2:23.28 1600m Run—2nd Xavier Garza 4.48.70 3200m Run—3rd Garza 10:55.96 110m Hurdles—3rd Aaron Saenz 16.37 300m Hurdles—4th Saenz 45.47 Long Jump—3rd Contreras 19’8”, 4th Midobuche 19’1½”, 8th Esquibel 17’1½” Triple Jump—5th Sage Cruz 39’4” Shot Put—2nd John Schnautz 42’7”, 3rd Geoffrey Seal 41’8”, 4th Gerlach 41’3½” Discus—1st Evan Priest 135’9”, 6th Aiden Zapata 116’9” High Jump—6th Santos 5’6”, 7th Contreras 5’6” Pole Vault—1st Jacob Featherly 14’4”, 3rd Zachary Alvarez 12’0”.
By Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer