Lady Eagles primed for greatness
The Holliday Lady Eagle track roster has two runners with Class 3-A state competition medals. Hannah Spears earned gold medals in the 1600 meter and 3200 meter runs at the state meet last spring. Jayce Lyons was a bronze medalist at the state meet in the 1600 meters. Credit to those accomplishments but make no mistake the Lady Eagle track team is loaded with talent.
At the District 7-3A meet last year they scored 251 points. Breckenridge, the closest competitor, had only 98. Holliday returns practically all of the members from last year.
Head Coach Glenn Griffin is pretty matter of fact about his team’s accomplishments, but his team should actually make a run at a team championship in the Region 1 meet on April 29 and 30 at Abilene Christian University.
Emphasizing his team’s depth Griffin said, “I would think the majority of the team will get down to regionals. Campbell Jurecek has thrown the shot really well. Last week, she threw about five inches shy of what won state last year. She’s upped her school record by two and a half feet. She’s been a really nice addition. She missed going to state last year by one inch and she’s already thrown two and a half feet further than last year.” In the discus, Griffin
In the discus, Griffin focused on two throwers saying, “Last year, we had a discus thrower and I’ve got two of them that are about the same quality. Those are Addison Lindemann and Kenna Wood. Kenna’s got a lot of talent. She didn’t have a great regional meet last year so we’re hoping this year goes a little better.” The Lady Eagles will add a freshman sprinter to the mix this year. Bregan Blowers went to a meet at Abilene Christian University earlier in the year and ran a 12.13 in the 100 meters. The time was a school record.
Griffin assessed her chances, “She’s got a pretty good chance of making it in the 100 and I think she puts us over the top in the 4x400 as well. I think we can get down there in the 4x4.”
Senior leadership is a key to the Lady Eagle track program. Skyler Rivers, Payton Murray, and Hannah Spears are the workhorses who will be counted on to score a lot of point. Rivers scores points in the long jump and triple jump.
“She jumped 17’8 last year. If she can do that again at regionals, she’ll have a chance of getting down to Austin,” said Griffin.
Murray is a quality jumper and hurdler. She finished fifth in the 100 meter hurdles and sixth in the 300 meter hurdles at the regional meet last spring. She is set up for a chance at the state meet as well.
Spears and Lyons should be able to improve times on the way to the state meet. Spears has a legitimate shot at set state records in Class 3A in both the 1600 meter and 3200 meter runs.
Focusing on her early season times Griffin said, “Hannah seems to be in a little better shape this year than what she was last year. Before the state meet, I think 11:18.88 was the fastest she had run. She ran 11:19 in the wind the other day.”
Griffin is continually setting high goals for his athletes.
His final statement last week was, “We had a loaded team last year and should be better this year. We almost won the regional meet last year and as far as I know, Holliday’s never won the regional meet. That would be a step in the right direction.”
