Ballinger Track team performs well in Cross Plains

On February 27^th Cross Plains hosted the Buffalo Relays where the Ballinger Track and Field teams went to compete. The Junior Varsity boys came in Second place overall preventing a clean sweep by Ballinger as they took 1^st in the Varsity Boys, Varsity Girls and the Junior Varsity Girls.

Ballinger Junior Varsity Boys top performances starts with the 400 meter race. Landen McIntyre placed 1^st at 58.93 seconds. Luke Rollwitz was on his heels in 2^nd place with 58.93 seconds. Blake Collom also was a point getter for Ballinger as he placed 6^th. Those three, along with Bryce Sallee took second in the 4×400 relay. Damian Ornelaz and Conner Gray finished 2^nd and third in the 1600 meter run. Bryce Sallee took 1^st in the 800 meter run. Nathan Rivera-McDuffee took 4^th overall in the 100 meter dash while Tyler Vaughn took 5^th in the 200 meter dash. Luke Rollwitz took 3^rd in the long jump while Ballinger had Bryson Klein place 5^th in the shot put and Robert Roman place 3^rd in the discus.

Junior Varsity Girls team dominated, 64 points ahead of second place teams Bangs and Goldwaithe.  Starting with Christy Zhuang finishing 5^th in the 100 meter dash. In the 200 meter dash there were two top finishers for Ballinger. Alyssa Aguero took first with Mikaela Gonzalez finishing 4^th. Allison Ferguson was the 6^th place finisher in the 400 meter dash while Ballinger again had two top performers in the 800 meter dash. Natalia Rangel finished 4^th with Jersey Perkins taking the 6^th spot. In the 1600 meter run Natalia Rangel was third with Sydny Jones two spots behind her in 5^th. Sydny took first in the 3600 meter run with a time of 15:14. The 300 meter hurdles saw Ballingers Skyla Hostetter take 2^nd and Lacey Workman take 3^rd. The relay teams all had strong showings as well. The 4×100 group of Christy Zhuang, Mikaela Gonzalez, Skyla Hostetter and Alyssa Aguero took 3^rd overall. The 4×200 team consisting of Alina Pena, Jersey Perkins, Natalia Rangel and Chloe Reyes took 1^st place while the 4×400 of Jersey Perkins, Mikaela Gonzalez, Skyla Hostetter and Alyssa Aguero also took 1^st. Field events were met with even more success. Christy Zhuang placed 4^th in the long jump with Skyla Hostetter placing 6^th. Skyla also placed 1^st in the triple jump and Haven Harper placed 1^st in the high jump. Three placed in shot put with Alexia Villareal placing 2^nd, Jasmine Patino 3^rd and Kati King 6^th. Discus also had three place with Brianna Herrera taking 1^st place, Alexia Villarreal in 3^rd and Stephanie Martinez in 6^th.

On the Varsity Boys side Bradyn Bowman took 5^th place in the 100 meter dash, JoeMarcus Guerrero took 1^st and Landen Landers took 4^th in the 200 meter dash, Weston Rollwitz took 1^st and Peter Alfaro took 2^nd in the 400 meter dash. The 800 meter run continued a good showing by Ballinger as JoeMarcus Guerrero took 1^st, Peter Alfaro took 2^nd and Landen Landers took 4^th. In the distance runs, starting with the 1600 meter Javion Zavala took 1^st and Nate Galant took 5^th then again in the 3200 meter run Javion again took 1^st with Nate taking 6^th. The 110 meter hurdles saw Weston Rollwitz improve on his season best time to increase his state ranking to 2^nd place. Weston did not run the 300 meter hurdles, but remains ranked 3^rd based off of his previous time. The 4×400 relay team of JoeMarcus Guerrero, Weston Rollwitz, Landen Landers and Peter Alfaro took 1^st place for the second week in a row and are currently ranked third in the state. In field events JoeMarcus Guerrero was 2^nd in the triple jump with 42-1 1/2 which, according to the information I could find has him 2^nd in the state. In the high jump Landen Landers took 3^rd.

The Varsity Girls team had a fight on their hands, but managed to finish four points ahead of Coleman to take the team victory. Elyssa Korn-Flores took 2^nd in the 100 meter dash, Danielle Pena took 4^th in the 200 meter dash and in the 400 meter dash Danielle took 3^rd with Elyssa taking 4^th. In the distance runs Ema’leigh Rosser took 3^rd in the 1600 meter run and 5^th in the 3200 meter. The 4×200 meter relay team of Addison Martin, Grace Hoelscher, Sarah Booher and Jillian Halfmann took 1^st place and the 4×400 relay team of Addison Martin, Danielle Pena, Elyssa Korn-Flores and Jillian Halfmann took 2^nd. In the triple jump Addison Martin took 3^rd and Jillian Halfmann took 4^th while Elyssa Korn-Flores took 5^th in the high jump. In the shot put Kiana Alfaro took second with Julie Martinez taking 4^th while in the discus Tristan Hoelscher took 4^th and Chelseas Martinez was 1^st. Chelsea’s 107’6” is good enough for 5^th in the state currently.

Overall it was a strong performance for the Ballinger student athletes as they still don’t even have a track to practice on due to the damage from last years tornado. Ballinger will be hosting the track meet in Winters on Thursday March 5^th as Winters is graciously allowing Ballinger to use their track due to repairs still being conducted on Ballinger’s track. If you can come out and show your support for these young kids that have been training hard all year long.