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Vista Ridge’s Emma Wade adds another medal to rapidly growing trophy case

Vista Ridge’s Emma Wade runs in the high school girls division II 1,600 meter run at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on Friday, March 29, 2024 at Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. (Michael Adams/Austin Sports Journal)

By Michael Adams
Austin Sports Journal

The Wade family may need to expand their Cedar Park home to make more room for all of the track and field and cross country medals.

On Friday, Vista Ridge distance runner Emma Wade took home bronze in the high school girls 1,600 meter run at the 96th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. Friday’s medal is the second one the junior has won at the Texas Relays.

A year ago, Wade took home a silver medal in the event, finishing behind Lewisville Flower Mound’s Samantha Humphries, who also won gold in this year’s event while setting a meet record with a time of 4:44.66.

“This meet’s a really good opportunity to see where I’m at,” Wade said. “I’ll see (Humphries) at state, so seeing that competition and being in this atmosphere is really helpful.

Humphries and Wade have developed a bit of a rivalry in the 1,600, and at Mike A. Myers Stadium, home to the Texas Relays and the UIL state track meet.

In her freshman year in 2022, Wade finished fifth at the UIL state meet with a time of 4:54.25, while Humphries, as a sophomore, won silver and was less than a second faster than Wade. Humphries took home silver again at last year’s state meet, while Wade finished eighth.

Vista Ridge’s Emma Wade runs in third place in thh high school girls division II 1,600 meter run at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on Friday, March 29, 2024 at Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. (Michael Adams/Austin Sports Journal)

At the Texas Relays, the rivalry is a bit closer despite Humphries winning the event the past three times.

Friday’s time of 4:50.87 was a personal best at Mike A. Myers Stadium for Wade. She was three seconds 2.59 seconds behind second place finisher Sophia Bendet of Universal City Randolph, a Class 3A school in San Antonio.

“I’m really happy with the race I ran,” she said. “It was really windy (Friday), so my strategy was to stay behind until I felt like I could actually go.”

Wade had one more chance at a medal at this year’s relays. She was part of Vista Ridge’s distance medley relay team. The event was scheduled for 9:30 p.m. on Friday,  but the meet was behind schedule in the evening.

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