Wednesday and Thursday, April 10th and 11th, Jesuit track fought its daunting district rivals and, for the second year in a row, came out on top. With several outstanding individual and team performances, spirits could not have been higher around the track and field program as some of the athletes advanced to area on April 18th at Jesse Owens High School.
On the distance side of District, Jesuit did remarkably well as Luke Kiser ’13 and Dillon Smith ’14 took first and second in both the 3200 and 1600. “I was really feeling good about the 3200,” commented Smith, “and then when I finished, I saw Kiser following right behind me, and I knew that we would be raking in points for Jesuit’s overall score.” Also stepping up was the freshman phenom, Connor Garvey ’16, who ran in the varsity 1600 and 3200 as well and placed sixth, while putting himself among the top ten freshmen in the state with his remarkable times.
The sprinters then followed suit, doing well for their lack of usual “star-power.” They lacked vital runners like Orion Salters ’14, who is out with a toe injury, and Will Brown ’13 who was held out by a shoulder injury. Both of these sprinters could have made a substantial impact, as Salters won the 100 last year at District as a sophomore and Brown would have been a 3-time starter on the 4×100 and 4×200 team. “It killed me not to be out there, but a bunch of guys picked up the slack and ran really well” explained Brown. Stepping up to the plate to fill the giant shoes left by Salters in the 4×100 was Adam Holtz ’16, who “makes the future look bright [for the program]” said head coach Bob Molyet.
Despite the personnel issues surrounding the sprinters, Dennis Kamara ’13 was able to pull through for the Rangers, placing second in the triple jump and third in the 100 and 200, advancing to the Area meet in all three of these events (the first Jesuit athlete to qualify for three different events). Ryan Mehl ’13 was another athlete with a phenomenal day, winning both the 110 and 300 hurdles and advancing to Area. “Mehl is a super talented kid and we’re going to miss him next year,” remarked hurdlers coach Robert Williams.
In the field events, Trey Elliot ’14 dominated, finishing 3rd in both the shot put and discus. Over the past three years, Elliot has put up some great numbers with the help of his enormous “Ogre” build; “I wasn’t happy with third, because I know I can do better, and I will at area.” Kyle Shannon ’14 also pulled off a PR in the shot and finished fourth, while Paolo Salazar ’13 took fifth in the discus.
Sophomores had a strong showing in the field events: Dan Carver ’15 finished third in the pole vault and Jared Ucherek ’15 placed fourth in the triple jump. All in all, the field portion of Jesuit’s track and field program accounted for 59 team points, which was the highest total by any of the track and field sections, beating distance running by 7 points.
What was left of the program then moved on to Area, where once again Jesuit athletes excelled in their respective competitions. Once again finishing second to none, Ryan Mehl came out ready to run and took first place in both the 110 and 300 hurdles, which is an amazing feat considering the level of competition present at the Area track meet. “Mehl really had a great day as we expected he would,” commented Molyet.
Another top finisher, Paden Gatlin ’13 won the discus and moves on to Regionals this Friday, the 26th. “I was so happy to take first again,” Gatlin expressed, “I really want to do well at Regionals so I can hopefully move on to state; that’s my goal.” Elliot also pulled out a fourth place finish in the discus and a fifth place finish in the shot and will advance to Regionals as an alternate for discus.
After such an outstanding day at District, Kamara had similar numbers at Area, finishing third in the 100 (an extremely competitive event) and fourth in the triple jump. Andrew Pott ’14, likewise, did outstanding as he came in third in the 800 (another tough event). Pott was thrilled with this victory, “I couldn’t believe I was able to do that well at Area, I just started going and suddenly realized I could take a top 3 spot.”
Due to bad weather, the jumpers were moved to the next day at Jesuit, which didn’t faze Patrick Campbell ’14 at all as he made it into the top 5 and advanced to regionals. “Going into regionals, Campbell has a real chance to finish in the top 6 and really show what he’s got,” said Molyet.
Jesuit Track and Field has definitely grown and become a force to be reckoned with in the state of Texas, and will continue to grow under the leadership of Coach Molyet. Now Jesuit has won District twice in a row, beating such schools as Skyline, Lake Highlands, Richardson, and Berkner. The future is bright and one can only wait until this Friday, when the Rangers try to keep dominating at Regionals.
