The Pilot Point Bearcats and Lady Cats had a successful road trip to Ponder for district on April 2 and 3, where they had multiple events earn spots for the area meet.
“Varsity-wise, we ended up fourth overall, but we were able to get a lot of our kids into area,” said Tyler Lawson, Pilot Point head boys track coach. “Overall, it was a successful meet. Those guys did what they were supposed to do to get to the next round.”
The Bearcats’ relay teams set the tone for the running events, taking gold in the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays, with times of 44.88 seconds and 3:32.79.
The Bearcats also earned bronze in the 4x200-meter relay with a time of 1:34.25, finishing behind rival Whitesboro by less than a second.
Bennett Cory maintained the momentum, earning bronze in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:57.84.
Josh Chumlee finished fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.43 seconds.
Drevion James finished fourth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.28 seconds.
Hunter Newman led the Bearcats in the field events, winning silver in the long jump with a distance of 21-feet-4 1/2-inches.
Kaleb Reid won silver in the pole vault with a height of 12 feet.
Lawson shared his excitement to see his team perform at the area meet.
“I expect all of our relays to compete and hopefully for them to end up at Whitehouse on next Friday and Saturday,” he said. “Right now, we're fine-tuning and doing whatever we can, trying to drop those seconds. We’re also looking at the results from the others to see where we have to get a little bit better and get into that Top Four so that we can advance. This week, we'll maintain as far as our conditioning, but we'll also work on our handoffs and see what we can do to adjust those on our side to get a little bit faster and get those guys over to Tyler.”
Peytyn Goodin led the way for the Lady Cats, blistering the competition on the way to securing gold in the 400-meter dash with a time of 58.33 seconds.
Goodin beat the nearest competitor by two seconds.
Ava Smith and Kaelyn Chaney kept things rolling for Pilot Point, taking gold and bronze in the 1600-meter run with times of 5:29.14 and 5:41.12.
Smith also won gold in the 3200-meter run with a time of 11:45.27.
Austin Crow finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.79 seconds.
The Lady Cats relay teams earned silver in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 4:12.28 and finished fourth in the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 52.22 seconds.
Sanaa Jackson won gold in the long jump with a distance of 16feet-9 1/2-inches and silver in the triple jump with a distance of 33feet-6 3/4-inches.
Pilot Point head girls track coach Presley Chandler credited the Lady Cats success to their offseason training regimen.
“These girls have put in a lot of effort all season, both in the weight room and on the track,” she said. “It's great to see their hard work paying off. We're incredibly proud of each one of them and excited for Thursday.”
All three schools were scheduled to compete at their respective area meets April 9. Results were not available by press time.
