- Wimberley High School
- Homepage
Two Texan Track Athletes Qualify for State Track & Field Meet
May 1, 2023
Wimberley HS seniors Gabriel Wray and Emily Thames both punched their tickets to the 4A State Track & Field Meet with top performances at the 4A-Region IV meet in Kingsville on April 28-29.
This will be the third consecutive state track and field meet for Thames, who finished 2nd in 2021 and 4th in 2022 in the long jump. She will once again be competing in her premier event after winning the Region IV meet with a personal best and school-record breaking 19' 2.5" jump. Compared with all the other regional meets statewide, her mark was second-best, behind a 20' 3.5" mark by Falyn Lott of Frisco Panther Creek. Earlier this season, Thames broke a 27-year-old school record in the long jump (Leigh Dunson, 18' 8" in 1996) and has now reset her own mark.
A two event school record holder, Wray qualified for state in both the triple jump and the long jump. A triple jump bronze medalist at the state meet in 2022, Wray finished second at the Region IV meet in triple jump and was third in long jump. While only the top-two places automatically qualify for state, Wray's long jump mark was the top third place distance in the state, qualifying him as an entry into the state meet. In fact, Wray's leap of 22' 10" was the third-longest regional mark in the state. His triple jump of 47" 8.75" is also the third-seeded distance in 4A. Both regional marks were shorter than Wray's school records.
While no other event entries qualified for state, Wimberley HS had several outstanding performances at the regional meet. The girls' 4x200 meter relay placed fourth and the girls' 4x400 meter relay squad was fifth. The boys' 4x200 meter relay team also advanced to finals, and finished fifth. Junior Baylee Gold finished just one spot away from state qualification in the 100-meter hurdles, finishing third in a personal best time of 15.34. She also finished fifth in triple jump. (See full results here.)
Complete results of Wimberley HS competitors at the Region-IV meet are listed below (state qualifiers in bold):
Girls 4x100 Meter Relay
Lauren Foster, Baylee Gold, Laney Hennessee, Emily Thames
Prelims: 7th - 49.68
Finals: DNS
4x200 Meter Relay
Girls: Lauren Foster, Addison Laney, Laney Hennessee, Emily Thames
Prelims: 6th - 1:44.79
Finals: 4th - 1:44.67
Boys: Lane Towns, Nolan Waida, Nathan Brooks, Ethan Talley
Prelims: 3rd - 1:30.73
Finals: 5th - 1:31.30
4x400 Meter Relay
Girls: Addison Laney, Allison Dodds, Emily Thames, Laney Hennessee
Prelims: 5th - 4:03.76
Finals: 5th - 4:00.85
Boys: Lucas Brookshier, Nathan Brooks, Lane Towns, Nolan Waida
Prelims: 10th - 3:27.53
Boys' 800 Meters
Finals: 10th - A.J. Hanle, 2:05.80
Girls' 100 Meter Hurdles
Prelims:
3rd - Baylee Gold, 15.67
9th - Mariah McCoy, 16.34
Finals:
3rd - Baylee Gold, 15.34
Boys' 300 Meter Hurdles
Prelims: 13th - Reed Leinneweber, 43.21
High Jump
Girls
5th - Juniper Daniel, 5'4"
Long Jump
Girls
1st - Emily Thames, 19' 2.5" **SCHOOL RECORD**
5th - Laney Hennessee, 17' 8.75"
Boys
3rd - Gabriel Wray, 22' 10"
8th - Nolan Waida, 21' 10.25"
Boys' Pole Vault
12th - Cash Toomey, 12'
Triple Jump
Girls
5th - Baylee Gold, 36' 3.5"
14th - Emily Thames, 33' 6.5"
Boys
2nd - Gabriel Wray, 47' 8.75"
In team scoring, the girls finished tied for sixth overall with 34 points and the boys were tied for 13th with 18 points. The Fredericksburg HS girls and Stafford HS boys each won the Region IV meet.