Madisonville senior Josh Snow tore up the track at the District 19-3A meet Saturday in Fairfield.
Literally.
"We're winning by about 25 meters," Madisonville track coach Russell Smith said of his 400-meter relay team. "He's running the third leg, and it looks like somebody shot him. I'm thinking he had blown out his hamstring, but the whole track peeled up.
"He tore about a 3-foot hole, and when he gets his other foot down, it tears again and he face-plants."
After briefly considering avoiding the damaged lane and running heats for times, district athletics directors decided to move the meet to Palestine. The move came before the conclusion of the first boys running final.
The meet concluded Monday, and Snow, who has signed to play linebacker at Navarro College, couldn't run. His hamstring muscles were still too sore. The Mustangs failed to qualify for regional in the event.
"In my 18 years coaching, I had never seen anything like it, and never seen a track meet moved because of a faulty track," Smith said. "Josh is fine, but he had red track all over him, all over his uniform. The whole lane bubbled up."
Fairfield, which installed a new artificial turf field for the 2007 football season, also resurfaced its track. The school has been a regular stop for district track meets as well as its own invitational.
Madisonville's Brock Taylor, the younger brother of Baylor receiver Brad Taylor, won the long jump (22 feet, 11 1/2 inches) and triple jump (44-11). He ran a 10.54 in the 100 to lead the preliminary times but settled for second in the finals, bothered by a strained quadriceps muscle. In a final held last Thursday in Fairfield, Madisonville's Armando Saldana won the 3,200 in 11:03.
Reese = class: Temple's Tevin Reese was the standout male athlete at the District 13-5A meet on his home track at Wildcat Stadium. He also led the way in class.
Reese, who had matched Bryan's Jaron Gentry in the long jump but won the gold medal on a tiebreaker, was leading second-place Gentry in the triple jump. Because of the cold weather, the Bryan senior slipped into a T-shirt between jumps and forgot to take it off, which would've been a rules violation.
From down the runway, Reese yelled "Gentry!" and tugged at his shirt to remind the Viking of the rules. Gentry removed the shirt to display his track uniform. Reese's warning might have saved Gentry a disqualification from the event, and Gentry went on to win the silver medal and advance to regionals.
Tigers win in the long run: Going the distance was not a problem for the A&M Consolidated Tigers at the 13-5A meet. In races of 800 meters or longer, the Tigers captured seven of the nine regional spots. Chris Florian and Stephen Case advanced in both the 3,200 and 1,600.
Tiger competitors in the three races accounted for 58 of the 90 1/2 team points scored by Consol.
Trojans win again: Calvert scored 165 1/2 points to win the District 27-A track meet, winning all three relays. Individual winners included Wendell Green in the 100 (11.70), Andre Ross in the high jump (5-10) and Josh Taylor in the triple jump (38-3). The Trojans have won every district boys meet they've competed in since 1994.
Football stars on track: Bremond finished second by six points to Meridian in the 25-A meet.
Two Tigers who helped Bremond's football team reach the state football finals earned the track team's two gold medals. LiDarral Bailey won the 300 hurdles in 41.12, and Rickie Williams' throw of 47-1 1/2 won the shot put.
One more meet: The last of the UIL district track meets wraps up Wednesday, when Hempstead hosts the District 26-2A running finals.
• David Campbell covers boys track and field in the Brazos Valley. If you have something of interest to report, e-mail him at david.campbell@theeagle.com.