Athletes will represent Alba-Golden, Mineola and Quitman at the UIL Track and Field Championships May 1-2 at Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas. 

Mineola Lady Jacket Tierany Neighbors set personal, school and meet records with a winning pole vault of 14’ to earn her ticket to Austin. She also leapt 36’ 2.75” to finish third in the triple jump. The winning triple jump came in at 36’ 11.75.” Events were held in Whitehouse.

Mineola teammate Raylie Peebles took second in the 800-meter run with a 2:18.83 to advance to state.

Quitman’s Bryson Hobbs soared 23’ 1.5” to capture second place, and a state berth, in the long jump. Hobbs was only 7.73” shy of the winning mark. 

Alba-Golden’s Wyatt Sutton earned his lane assignment by winning the 200-meter dash at regionals last week in Palestine. He logged a time of 22.53 seconds to best the field. All seven 200-meter finalists crossed the finish line within one second of Sutton, with Sutton edging out the second- place finisher by one one-hundredth of a second.

Sutton also qualified as the anchor leg of the Panthers 4x400-meter relay team. He and teammates Cameron Lennon, Kayden Massie and Garrett Wright finished second with a time of 3:28.84. Athletes who finish in first or second place at regional competition automatically qualify for the state meet.

Third-place finishers were candidates for wild card invitations to the state meet, but none advanced. 

From Alba-Golden, third-place finishers were Olivia Morrison in the pole vault at 9’9” and the 4x400-meter relay team of Jayla Sitar, Lainey Teel, Campbell Shrum and Averi Stevenson. Their time of 4:13.66 was only eight tenths off the second-place time.

In addition to Tierany Neighbors’ third-place leap in the triple jump, Mineola’s 4x400-meter relay team also logged a third-place finish. The team of Olivia Hughes, Neighbors, Adelyn Steward and Peebles logged a time of 4:04.14, which was 1.21 off the winning time. 

Quitman’s Katie DeGorostiza claimed third-place ribbons in the 1600-meter and 3200-meter runs, with times of 5:25.32 and 11:52.67. Those times were 11 and 17 seconds off the winning times, respectively.

Others placing at the region meets included Jayla Sitar, 6th in the pole vault; Wyatt Sutton, 5th in long jump; Alex Pfingsten of Alba-Golden, 5th in pole vault; Mahayla McMahon, Mineola, 4th in high jump; Shyli Rushing, Mineola, 5th in shot put; Ainsley Steward, Mineola, 4th in high jump; Kipton Neighbors, Mineola, 4th in pole vault; Braleigh Wood, Quitman, 5th in 800 meters; and Sadie Vander Schaaf, Quitman, 5th in high jump.

In addition, defending 100-meter dash champion Camden Capehart of Winnsboro will return to state, winning region in 10.65 after turning in a 10.47 in the prelims.

The class 3A state meet commences at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday May 1. The class 2A meet will be hosted on Friday, May 2.