Leachman wins gold as Charger athletes compete at state track and field meet

AUSTIN – A total of 12 Champion athletes qualified for last weekend’s 5A state track and field meet in Austin and one of the Chargers earned a gold medal after freshman Elizabeth Leachman won the 1600.

Leachman blew away the field on Friday night and won by nine seconds after posting a PR time of 4:47.28, and was just a couple of seconds from setting a state record.

“It’s really exciting,” said Leachman after her race Friday night at Myers Stadium on the UT campus. “I’ve worked for this for a long time so I’m super excited.”

The freshman ran a 1:00.13 first lap and kept such a fast pace that she thought the time on the stadium scoreboard was incorrect.

“I didn’t really think the time was right at first because I had never gone out quite that fast and I felt really strong, which I guess could mean not being fatigued from not running an earlier race,” she said. “I didn’t really think that was going to be the actual time.”

She was in at 2:11 on her second lap, finished the third lap at 3:23 and closed it out at 4:47.

Leachman still has three years ahead of her and is looking forward to the fall when she can run cross country.

“I just want to keep dropping time and improve my cross-country season because it’s my favorite,” she said, “a better season going into that would be great.”

In other girls events, senior Vanesa Gonzalez raced in the 100 and finished 8th with a time of 11.99, senior Mariela Gonzalez clocked in at 24.62 for 6th in the 200 to earn a team point, freshman Kendall Fallon competed in the 300 hurdles and finished 8th with a time of 45.09, while the relay team of Madison Meinke, Vanesa Gonzales, Erin Fallon and Mariela Gonzalez recorded a time of 1:38.95 in the 4x200 that was good enough for 5th and 4 team points.

As a team, the Lady Chargers tallied 15 points to tie for 14th, while the boys were 40th with 4 points.

Boys

Early on Friday, Connor Warzecha just missed out on a state medal after he finished fourth in the discus. The senior’s best throw came on his final attempt with a toss of 166-0 for fourth place to earn Champion’s only points on the boys side.

Joshua Hierholzer also competed in a field event after he was entered in the triple jump and finished ninth. The sophomore’s best’s leap came on his third attempt when he went 43-1.00.

Two Chargers raced in hurdle events and senior Brock Lewis placed 8th in the 110 hurdles with a time of 14.34 and senior Benjamin Blomqvist finished 8th in the 300 hurdles after clocking in at 38.75. Also for the Chargers, sophomore Luis Tovar posted a time of 1:58.19 in the 800 for 8th place.

Additionally, Ephraim Tonn-Bourg qualified for state in the 100 and 400 wheelchair events but was unable to attend because of a scheduling conflict.