Lago Vista’s Griffin win state gold, La Grange runner and Burnet pole vaulter win silvers
By Michael Adams
madams@onthesidelinessports.com
Lago Vista’s Swayde Griffin entered Thursday’s Class 4A boys 110-meter hurdles finals at the UIL state track and field meet with the fourth fastest seed time.
The three-star defensive back for the Vikings football team beed his seed time of 14.35 seconds, along with the other eight competitors at Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas to win state gold in the event.
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Griffin’s time of 13.75 seconds edged out Kingsville King’s Josiah Rivera by nine hundredths of a second. Rivera had the fastest time going into the event at 14.02.
Griffin was just one of a handful of athletes from the Greater Austin Metropolitan Area to win medals at Thursday’s Class 3A and 4A state championships.
Rygaard wins silver in pole vault
In the boys Class 4A pole vault, Burnet’s Brady Rygaard won a silver medal with a vault of 15-feet. The senior cleared the bar on this third attempt at that height, but filed to clear 15-feet, 6 inches.
“Normally, I don’t have really great warm ups, but today I felt really good during warm ups,” Rygaard said. “It just fueled me for the rest of the event. I got on some poles that I’ve never used before and managed to make them work for me.”
Salado’s Jackson Bragg took home gold in the event with a height of 16-4.75.
Rygaard’s teammate Brayden Hill scratched on all three of his attempts at 14-6. Hill entered the event as one of the favorites, having the same seed mark as Bragg of 15-6.
Diggs sprints to double silver
Gilmer’s Will Henderson repeated as champion in the Class 4A boys 100-meter dash, but he got one heckuva battle from La Grange sprinter Austen Diggs.
Diggs was only three-hundredths of a second short of beating Anderson with a time of 10.43 seconds, winning state silver. Thursday’s time was faster than his and Henderson’s seed time. In last year’s state meet, Diggs finished third in the 100.
The senior found himself in another tight race in the 200 where he looked to repeat as champion. However, Diggs’ time of 20.77 was five hundredths of a second behind Aubrey’s Tyler Brown for second place.
Illness derails Burnet’s Aviles medal hopes
Burnet distance runner Victor Aviles was a favorite to medal in all three of the events the junior qualified to compete. However, an early morning illness forced Aviles to pull out of the morning’s Class 4A boys 3,200 meter run.
Aviles, the Region III champion in the 3,200, 1,600 and 800, ran in the evening’s 4A boys 800 meter run but was visibly still not feeling 100%.
Aviles finished eighth in the event with a time of 2 minutes, 11.31 seconds, which was almost 15 seconds slower than his seed time.
He pulled out of the boys 1,600.
Other results
- Blanco’s Reggie Johnson took home bronze in the Class 3A boys discus with a throw of 169 feet, 4 inches. The senior also placed fifth in the shot put.
- Lago Vista sophomore Lilah Smith plaed seventh in the Class 4A girls pole vault.
- Wimberley senior Baylee Gold finished seventh in the Class 4A girls 100 meter hurdles.
- La Grange freshman Macie Collier finished eighth in the Class 4A girls 300 meter hurdles.