by JASON GORDON

Hays senior Brandon George won the District 17-4A high jump with a leap of 6-feet last week in Elgin. (Photo by Cyndy Slovak Barton)

The Hays High girls track and field team finished third and the Rebel boys were fourth at the District 17-4A meet last week in Elgin.

The teams braved a long rain delay on Thursday, but still managed to qualify a combined 19 athletes for the Class 4A Region III track and field meet May 3-4 at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville.

The top three finishers at the district level qualified for regionals. The top two finishers at the regional meet will go on to the state meet in Austin.

“I thought we did very well considering the conditions,” Hays boys coach Gary Gaddy said. “We’re a young team, and we’re excited some of our younger athletes are going to get to experience the regional meet.”

Mariana Sigala won the 800-meters in a time of 2 minutes, 24 seconds.

“I think Mariana has a pretty good shot at state,” said girls head coach Terry Green. “Some of the regional times are a little better than hers, but the 800 is a funny race. There’s a lot of strategy involved and she’s got a good chance if things fall her way.”

Also qualifying for regionals on the girls side were Hays’ trio of pole vaulters, Meredith Driskell, Chaney Turney, and Brianna Abreo, who finished 1-2-3 respectively, Lena New in the 1,600-meters, Jaleasa Jones in the high jump, Ashley Johnson in the 300-meters, and Cary Gay in the triple jump.

“A lot of our young athletes qualified, in both the boys and girls competition,” Green said. “I think that says a lot about the future of our program.”

The highlight of the event for the Rebel boys came when Taylor Hough rounded the final 100 meters of the 800-meter dash in fifth place. He came on with a furious rush to capture the district title in a personal best time of 2:01.

“He just exploded down the stretch,” Gaddy said. “It was pretty awesome.”

The Hays boys also qualified three pole vaulters for regionals, as Jonathan Johnson, Daryl Burrell and Devin Lambeck finished 1-2-3. Johnson finished third in the event at state last year.

Also qualifying for regionals for the Rebel boys were the mile relay team of Hough, Trent Stein, Francisco Marin and Mark Oldham, Chris Wise, who won first place in the shot put, Brandon George, who captured the title in the high jump, and Tyler James in the discus.

“I think we’re all excited about regionals,” Gaddy said. “It’s always a fun event and we’ll definitely see some great competition there.”