Photo of Kameron Williams (Fort Bend Marshall)
UIL Track and Field State Championships
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Boys 4x100 Relay
Last year's champion, Red Oak, and bronze medalist Fort Bend Marshall were both back in this year's field.
Marshall, the Region 3-5A champions, entered with the top regional qualifier time of 40.28, which was one-hundredths of a second faster than last year's state-winning time.
The race was destined to be even more exciting, as Richmond Randle's 40.85 and Red Oak's 40.99 were additional sub 41-second qualifying teams coming in from regionals.
After the gun, the first legs were electric as Killeen Shoemaker, Marshall and Red Oak quickly evened things up on the backstretch.
There were four to five teams mixing things up on the second turn.
On the turn, Marshall got a masterful run by William Mitchell to give anchor leg Kameron Williams almost a five-meter advantage.
Williams would extend that lead as he powered Marshall to a winning time of 39.88.
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Boys 4x200 Relay
None of the medalists from last year's state meet returned this season.
After winning the 4x100 relay, Fort Bend Marshall looked to add to their season haul. They entered the meet with the top regional seed of 1:25.17 and Red Oak had the second-best time of 1:26.20.
Marshall received a lane assignment of five and Red Oak was on their outside in lane six.
On the first leg, it was Red Oak applying pressure with a great scratch leg, but William Mitchell had just won the 100m state title and he had enough juice left in his energy system to have Marshall there at the exchange.
Also running well through the first leg was Killeen Shoemaker.
Red Oak slightly exchanged first in the second exchange zone with Marshall going nowhere.
Coming off the last turn, it was Kameron Williams again running a brilliant anchor leg to give Marshall the win with a time of 1:24.92. Red Oak scored crucial points with their runner-up finish in 1:25.60. Shoemaker won the mad dash for third with a 1:26.23 time.
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UIL 5A Boys 4x400 relay
The 4x400 relay always has team implications on the line and this race was very important to the final standings.
Fort Bend Marshall didn't have a 4x400 relay in the race, but led the team title race by four points over Red Oak, which did have a relay.
In fact, Red Oak had the fourth-fastest time from regionals and if the squad was able to finish that high then they'd win the state title.
But it was the reigning champs McKinney North who had the best qualifying time of 3:14.72. McKinney North made up quickly on first leg, with only Port Arthur Memorial holding them off on the outside.
At the break of the second carry, it was only the Bulldogs with the nearest team, 10 meters back.
Port Arthur Memorial would pull them in before the end of the final carry closing the gap to five meters, then closed the entire third carry until the final stretch when McKinney North would again create more breathing room and it would never be close again.
Mansfield Timberview passed PA Memorial on the inside rail at the backstretch, but McKinney North went mostly unchallenged to repeat as state champions with a time of 3:13.36, Timberview was second in 3:15.95, and Corpus Christi Flour Bluff third in 3:17.03.
Red Oak would only finish sixth for two team points and placing them second overall in the team tally behind FB Marshall.
