After dominating the season opening track meet Ballinger had a tougher task in their second meet against Wall, Jim, Ned, Coleman and San Angelo Homeschool. With competition stepped up in a major way it made the victories that much more impressive. Possibly the most impressive performance, and undoubtedly the most exciting, was the boys 4×400 team that won in a come from behind fashion. Gavin Martinez, Landen Landers, Carter Arrott and JoeMarcus Guerrero defeated Jim Ned in shocking way when JoeMarcus chased down Jim Ned All-State running back Xavier Wishert and passed him at the finish line. Event of the meet for Ballinger would have to be pole vault as they took first in Varsity boys and girls as well as the JV girls. Also no pole vaulter finished lower than 3rd place for Ballinger.
The JV Boys team came in 3rd place overall behind Wall and Jim Ned in 1st place. In the 100M dash Nathan Rivera-McDuffee took 3rd and Jeremiah Bullingor was tied for 4th. Johnny Wheeler was 2nd in the 200m dash and 3rd in the 400M dash. A tough 800M run resulted in a 5th place finish for Evan Busenlehner and 6th for Hayden Coy. Damian Ornelaz was able to finish 3rd place in the 1600M run, three seconds behind 2nd place and a full 11 seconds ahead of 4th. Also in the 1600 was Evan Busnlehner in 5th. Miguel Rangel finisher 5th in the 300M hurdles. The 4×100 of Hayden Foster, Jeremiah Bullingor, Nathan Rivera-McDuffee and Blake Collom took first place over Jim Ned by .06 seconds. A reversal of fortunes for the 4×200 saw Peyton Harris, Jeremiah Bullingor, Noah Peacock and Blake Collom come in second to Jim Ned by .01 seconds. Also in 2nd place for Ballinger was the 4×400 relay team of Peacock, Peyton Harris, Foster and Wheeler. In field events Blake Collom was 3rd in the long jump and Nathan Rivera-McDuffee was 3rd in the pole vault.
When it comes to a dominating performance you need look no further than the Junior Varsity Girls team. They finished a full 80 points ahead of Jim Ned with 234 team points, while Wall finished with 88 and San Angelo Homeschool had 22 and Coleman finished with 0. The impressive performance for Ballinger started with a first through fourth sweep in the 100M dash. Gabi Santiago came in 4th, Christy Zhuang was 3rd, Kira Garcia 2nd and Emma Harrison was 1st with a 14.62s that would have placed her in the top 6 on Varsity. The 200M dash had Mikaela Gonzalez finish in 1st, Abby Herrera in 3rd and Stephanie Rangel in 6th. Stephanie Rangel would continue her success with a 3rd place finish in the 400M dash. Alissah Landeros placed in both distance runs with a 6th place finish in the 1600M and a 3rd in the 3200M. Hurdles were also good to the girls as Ballinger had three top finishers in the 100M and the 300M. Piper McBrayer was 3rd, Caysen Collier was 4th and Emma Rutledge was 5th in the 100M hurdle and in the 300M hurdle Piper McBrayer was 2nd, Megan Booher was 3rd and Caysen Collier was 5th. Finishing first in the 4×100 relay was Mikaela Gonzalez, Kira Garcia, Emma Harrison and Christy Zhuang. The 4×200 relay was another LadyCat victory with Mikaela Gonzalez, Kira Garcia, Abby Herrera and Christy Zhuang in 1st while in the 4×400 relay Stephanie Rangel, Emma Harrison, Megan Booher and Chloe Reyes were 2nd. Field events were very good to the JV LadyCats as well. In the Long jump Christy Zhuang took 1st, Emma Toliver was 2nd and Emma Rutledge was 3rd. Megan Booher was 2nd in the Triple jump and Christy Zhuang was 2nd in the high jump. Megan Booher was 3rd in pole vault and Emma Harrison had an impressive 8′ high 1st place vault that would have tied her for second on Varsity. Shot put was a 1st place finish for Jasmine Patino with Stephanie Martinez in 4th and Kati King in 5th. Discus had another LadyCat in 1st with Emma Toliver getting the win and in 2nd was Stephanie Martinez.
Ballinger Varsity boys track finished in second place with 167 points, just three behind Jim Ned. Luke Rollwitz started strong with a 6th place finish in the 100M dash and a 2nd place in the 200M dash. JoeMarcus Guerrero took a comfportable victory in the 400M dash with Gavin Martinez and Landen Landers finishing 3rd and 4th. Javion Zavala took 6th in the 800M and 1600M while brother Donovan took 6th in the 1600M and 5th in the 3200M. Dylan Hostetter and Carter Arrott had impressive performances in the hurdles. Dylan was 1st in the 110M hurdles with Carter coming in 3rd. In the 300M hurdles Carter came in 1st with Dylan .02 seconds behind in 2nd place. Field events showed good performances by the Bearcats also. Guerrero and Hostetter took 3rd and 4th in the long jump. Garrett Dixon was 2nd in the shot put behind Baylor commit Tate Williams from Wall, but was able to edge out Williams for 1st in the discus. Markus Castleberry had a good performance throwing also with 4th in the shot put and 3rd in the discus. JoeMarcus finished 3rd in the triple jump and Landen Landers set a new PR with a 6 foot 1st place finish in the high jump. Briley Clinton took 1st in the pole vault with Javion Zavala in 3rd.
The LadyCats Varsity came in 3rd place as a team against extremely stiff competition, but had many standout performances. Danielle Pena was 1st in the 400M dash in a race that had her smiling from start to finish. Kendall Smith continued her impressive season with a 1st in the 3200 M and 2nd in the 1600M. Addison Martin had a strong showing in the 300M hurdle and finished 2nd. The 4×400 team of Danielle Pena, Grace Hoelscher, Annabelle Reed and Addison Martin looked strong taking 2nd. Chelsea Martinez is looking to put an emphatic stamp on an impressive high school career as she took another 1st place in the discus by a full nine feet. Pole vault finished with an impressive performance by Jillian Halfmann and Jessa McIntyre finishing 1st and 2nd. Congratulations to all competitors on an outstanding performance.
