The Tioga Bulldogs traveled to Era for their district meet, with the boys winning the district championship and two Lady Bulldogs, Kyndall Whitley and Lindsey Byler, earning spots at the area meet.
“We had a vision going into it, and we knew what the people around us ran, but we had to go out and prove it,” Tioga head boys track coach Beau Burrus said. “The goal is always to push kids as far into the postseason as you can, and along the way, if you push enough kids, then you are eligible to win something like that. We had enough kids in enough different areas getting us points, from distance running to hurdles to pole vaulting, and it was great to see all of the work the kids put into it getting actualized and getting rewarded for it.”
The Bulldogs relay teams were the backbone of their district-winning day, winning gold in the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relay events with times of 43.21 seconds, 1:30.16 and 3:23.74.
Sam Mott and Jake David finished first and fourth in the 100-meter dash with times of 11.17 and 11.6 seconds.
Mott also earned silver in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.81 seconds.
Austin Norwood and Justin Arrington won gold and bronze medals in the 200-meter dash with times of 22.05 and 22.59 seconds.
Kyson Kirland took silver in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:06.84.
Kirland also finished fourth in the 400-meter with a time of 52.71 seconds.
Garrison Black earned silver in the 3200-meter run with a time of 10:36.56 and bronze in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:47.08.
Alexis Santoyo-Pina also finished fourth in the 3200-meter run with a time of 10:38.99.
Raul Chavez finished fourth in the 300-hurdles with a time of 44.56 seconds.
In field events, Jayson Stogner won gold in the pole vault with a height of 12-feet-1-inch and Cason Serna earned bronze in the shot put with a distance of 45-4 3/4-inches.
Whitley led the way for the Lady Bulldogs, winning gold in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes and silver in the long and triple jump events.
Whitley won with times of 12.49 and 26.4 seconds and distances of 16-feet-10-inches and 33-feet-10 3/4-inches.
Byler capped the Lady Bulldogs’ area qualifiers, winning silver medals in the discus and shot put events with distances of 111-feet-8-inches and 36-feet-8-inches.
Burrus said the Bulldogs are focused on the little things as the competition heats up.
“We've been building to this moment, and we'll taper when we need to taper,” he said. “You're not just working hard to work hard; we're also trying to be smart with it, but everything to this point has been designed with the postseason in mind. Knowing what these special athletes are capable of and trying to maximize that.”
