Sports
Eli Garcia wins Regional title,
Reese Jenkins gets 4-peat in pole vault
Jenkins also takes bronze in 100-meter dash
BY BILL KELLY
Dalhart Texan
The Dalhart High track and field teams competed at the Region 1-3A Championships at Abilene Christian University on Friday May 1 and Saturday May 2. Dalhart once again showed why its known as “Pole Vault High” as Eli Garcia and Reese Jenkins both qualified for a return to State, and the teams also grabbed one bronze medal and three fourth-place finishes along with a fifth place finish.
The schedule was changed for the meet due to expected rain, so the prelims were held Friday evening for most races, along with the 3200-meter run. The field events were held in four different sessions Saturday morning, and the race finals were held Saturday evening, with the first race starting about 7:15 p.m. after the Region II-1A boys’ pole vault went late. (Abilene hosts both the Region I, Class 3A meet and the Region II, Class 1A meet), so the final races didn’t start until after 10 p.m.
The Lady Wolves tied for sixth place as a team with 30 points and were just one point behind fifth and six points behind fourth. Reese Jenkins competed in the pole vault Saturday morning for Dalhart’s first event of the meet. Jenkins cleared 10 feet 6 inches, which put her in the final two vaulters and guaranteed she would move on, despite an injury right around Christmas break that kept her from vaulting until the district meet. The other vaulter cleared 11 feet on the first try while Jenkins missed. After that, the bar was raised to 11 feet 3 inches, which Jenkins was able to try twice since she had missed on her attempt at 11 feet. Neither was able to clear 11 feet 3 inches, so Jenkins ended up with the silver medal for second place and a trip to State. Jenkins will be the first Dalhart vaulter to compete at State all four years in high school. (Ashley Amico would have probably done it as well, but her junior season was cut short due to COVID.)
Eli Garcia and Corbin Curbow were next in the boys’ pole vault. Curbow cleared 13 feet 6 inches, which was his first height and placed him in at least the top six. Curbow just barely missed clearly 14 feet on his third attempt, and ended up with fifth place due to misses.
Garcia started out at 14 feet and cleared it on his first try, as did two others. All three then cleared 14 feet 6 inches on their second try. Garcia cleared 15 feet on his first try, while one of the others was eliminated and the other cleared it on his second try, which put Garcia in the lead. Garcia also cleared 15 feet 6 inches on his first try, and that gave him the championship as the other vaulter missed all three attempts. Garcia then attempted to move up to 16 feet 4 inches, which would have been a new meet record. Garcia just barely missed it on his third try, but he should have an excellent chance to break the record next year.
Those were Dalhart’s only field events. The Lady Wolves’ sprint relay (4x100) team had placed sixth in the prelims to qualify for the finals, with Kaetlin Sundvahl coming back from her foot injury to rejoin the team after missing district and area (the team is composed of Kambry Kitchens, Sundvahl, Maggie Hartman and Jenkins.) The team then moved up two places in the final, placing fourth with a time of 49.59 seconds, just 29 hundredths of a second behind third and just under a second from qualifying for State.
The boys sprint relay team of Bentley Garcia, Hunter Trusler, Luis Deleon and Brett Alver qualified for finals in the prelims with a time of 43.2 seconds. The team ended up placing seventh in the finals with a time of 43.33 seconds, three-tenths of a second behind sixth and 1.24 seconds behind second, which would have moved them on.
Victoria Terrazas had qualified for Regional by winning all three long-distance races at Area, something that no other Dalhart runner has ever done. Terrazas chose to concentrate on the two shorter races at Regional, and so didn’t run in the 3200 on Friday. Terrazas placed fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2 minutes 21.85 seconds, setting a new personal record, taking five seconds off her time at a regional qualifier meet, and running faster than any Dalhart Lady Wolf runner in that race since Stephanie Vogel became a coach at Dalhart. Terrazas was just 12 hundredths of a second behind third, with the third-place runner mainly passing her at the very end due to a longer stride. Vogel said of Terrazas, “She executed that race flawlessly!”
Kitchens placed ninth in the prelims of the 100-meter hurdles on Friday with a time of 17.35 seconds, missing the finals by just 0.15 seconds. Cole James did make the finals in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.12 seconds, and placed eighth in the finals with a time of 15.59 seconds.
Jenkins had also qualified for Regional in the 100-meter dash, and made it to the finals with a time of 12.39 seconds in the prelims. Jenkins placed third in the finals with a time of 12.35 seconds, while second place was just one-hundredth of a second faster at 12.36 seconds.
The Dalhart boys 800-meter relay team suffered a mishap during the prelims as the baton was dropped, which kept them from making the finals. In the 300-meter hurdles, James ran it in the prelims in a time of 42.98 seconds, but was unable to make the finals. Brett Alver qualified for the finals in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.4 seconds. Alver ended up placing fifth in the finals with a time of 22.39 seconds. He was just 0.26 seconds behind fourth, 0.41 seconds behind third, 0.44 seconds behind second (and a trip to State), and 0.81 seconds behind first. Less than one second separated the top seven runners in that race, so it was probably the closest race of the night.
The final race of the night for Dalhart, which started after 10 p.m., was the 1600-meter run for Terrazas. Terrazas had the 12th fastest time of all the runners at the Area meets, and was in the last four or five runners after the first lap. She then moved up from one lap to the next to the final lap, until she ended up placing fourth with a time of 5 minutes 28.62 seconds. Terrazas ended up being just under three seconds behind third in the 1600, ending an incredible senior season by running two of her best races of the year. She took nearly 10 seconds off her time at Area.
Garcia and Jenkins will compete at State next Thursday, May 14 at Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas at Austin. Garcia will compete at 9 a.m., and Jenkins will compete at 11 a.m.
Female Athlete of the Week
BY BILL KELLY
Dalhart Texan
The Dalhart Federal Savings & Loan Female Athlete of the Week is Reese Jenkins. Jenkins is a senior on the Dalhart Lady Wolves track and field team, and she has also been named athlete of the week earlier in the school year for volleyball and a few weeks ago for track and field.
An attempt is usually made to only name an athlete as athlete of the week once per year in any given sport, but there are exceptions to that rule. One of those exceptions is when an athlete qualifies for State, which is exactly what Jenkins did last weekend in the pole vault.
Jenkins suffered an injury right at the end of December or first of January, which put her right wrist/hand in a cast. She wore the cast for a couple of months, then switched to a brace. What that meant in terms of track in general and pole vaulting in particular is that she wasn’t able to start practicing as early as she normally would. Jenkins only began running on relay teams a couple of weeks into the season, and didn’t run in the 100-meter dash until right before district.
As for pole vaulting, Jenkins was unable to actually compete until the district meet. Jenkins cleared nine feet at that meet to win first place and move on to Area, and then placed second at Area to qualify for Regional. She also made it to both Area and Regional in the 100-meter dash, and as the anchor of the sprint relay team.
At Regional, her third meet of the season, Jenkins cleared 10 feet 6 inches to guarantee a trip to State. She eventually tried twice for 11 feet 3 inches after the other vaulter cleared 11 feet, and came very close to clearing it. Jenkins still placed second to win the silver medal, and will return to State next Thursday, May 14. It will be her fourth straight trip to State, making her the first Dalhart vaulter to go to State four straight years. Jenkins also placed third in the 100-meter dash, missing out on qualifying for State by one-hundredth of a second, and was the anchor on the sprint relay team that placed fourth.
Jenkins won the bronze medal at State last year. Coming off her injury, it will be difficult to repeat that performance or improve, but she has shown that she can rise to the occasion.
Honorable Mention:
Victoria Terrazas: Dalhart track and field. Terrazas is a senior and was named athlete of the week earlier in the year for cross country, and twice for track, including last week. She ran her fastest times in both the 800-meter run and 1600-meter run to place fourth at Regional, ending her high school career on a high note.
Kambry Kitchens, Kaetlin Sundvahl and Maggie Hartman: Dalhart track and field. These three runners form the sprint relay team along with Jenkins, and placed fourth at the Regional meet. Sundvahl returned from a foot injury that had forced her to scratch out of her events at district, Kitchens also competed in the 100-meter hurdles at Regional, and Hartman has always focused on relays, showing just how unselfish she is as a teammate.
