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Thames and Wray Each Win State Long Jump Gold; Wray Repeats as Bronze Medalist in Triple Jump
May 12, 2023
On Thursday, May 11 Wimberley HS seniors Emily Thames and Gabriel Wray closed out their record-setting track and field careers by winning gold medals at the UIL State meet in Austin. Wray later added a bronze medal in triple jump, his third state horizontal jumps medal in two years.
Competing simultaneously at adjacent long jump pits, Thames and Wray won their gold medals just minutes apart. Thames took the lead for good on her third jump of the competition, soaring out to 19' 3", breaking her own school record by 1/2 an inch, and edging in front of Falyn Lott of Frisco Panther Creek, who finished in second with a jump of 19' 2". Thames scratched on her final three jumps of the event, but none of the other competitors was able to outjump her, as she clinched her second state long jump medal in three years. She earned a state silver medal in 2021, was fourth in 4A in 2022, and now has the elusive gold medal in the last high school meet of her career.
Wray leapt into the leader's position on his fourth jump, with a leap of 23' 6". The jump was just 1.5" shy of his school record mark he set earlier in the season. He was 3.75" ahead of silver medalist Jayden McCoy of Tuloso-Midway. Later in the afternoon, Wray reset his other school record - in triple jump - with a top jump of 48' 4.75". Despite the school-record distance, Wray finished in the bronze medal position, behind Oliver Miles of El Campo (50' 10") and Jarvis Anderson of Taylor (49' 6"). Wray's two medal-placing results totalled 16 points in the team scoring, which left WHS tied for 15th overall in 4A. The 10 points scored by Thames allowed the WHS girls to finish tied for 16th.
Also competing at the state meet was junior Baylee Gold in the 100-meter hurdles. Gold finished third at the regional meet and her finishing time was not fast enough to qualify her for the wildcard spot. However, after a dropout earlier in the week, WHS coaches were notified that Gold had an opportunity to run. She finished 7th in the race in a personal best time of 15.29 seconds. She was only .09 out of sixth place and scoring position.
The Texan track teams are led by head coaches Josh DeMarco (boys) and Lacey Lambert (girls). The horizontal jumps coach is Wesley Lambert.