Crawford’s Powers relies on experience for 400 gold, relay silver

AUSTIN — Officially, he’s Huston Powers. On Friday, though, you could have called him Austin Powers.

Crawford senior Huston Powers threw a party worth remembering in his final day of high school athletic competition in Austin. Powers executed a winning race plan on his way to seizing his stated goal of a gold medal in the Class 2A boys’ 400-meter dash final.

Powers’ triumph highlighted a profitable day for Central Texas athletes, a group that captured 12 medals, including five golds, on a gray, intermittently rainy day at the UIL State Track and Field Championships at UT’s Mike A. Myers Stadium.

Powers was hoping to drop a time in the 47s at state, instead he ran 49.05 on his way to the state title. But his gold medal still gleamed in the stadium lights nonetheless.

“Hey, the name of the game here is to place as high as you can. It may not have been my best time, but I’m still happy,” Powers said.

Precisely correct. Powers, a four-time state qualifier who finished seventh in the 400 in 2021 as a freshman and fifth each of the past two seasons, did exactly what he needed to do to win. The sprinters were all bunched up entering the final curve, but that’s where Powers gained his separation from him. The Pirate senior said he kept his stride closer to the track than usual on that final curve, a lesson learned from past state meets. “I knew if I kept some in the tank, I could finish,” Powers said.

That approach pushed him into the lead as he moved into the straightaway, though Falls City senior Jason Swierc was lurking in lane nine, trying to chase down Powers. As he sprinted toward the finish line, Powers snuck a peek at the big screen ahead of him on the track to see where his pursuers were positioned.

“I did, because I heard it was going to be a close race. I looked up there and I saw, lane nine, Falls City, which, props to him and Jason Moore (of Refugio), they both ran great races. But running lane nine, I did it last year, and it’s not fun. He was neck-and-neck with me. That was fun to see. “I’m glad we finished top three.”

Despite his flawless execution, Powers admitted that he carried a lot of nervous energy into his final day of races. He leaned on his faith to push through it.

“It means the world,” he said. “All the prayer from my family and friends, and my coaches, the Bible studies we’ve done, going into this week I’ve never been so nervous in my life. Honestly, kind of scared. Being able to pray through that, pray through the anxiety and read through scripture all week, I feel like this track meets has definitely helped me grow my faith in Jesus, and that’s the most important thing I could say right there.”

With a sizzling anchor leg, Powers also propelled Crawford to a silver medal in the 2A 4×100-meter relay, clocking 42.54 to finish just behind Refugio (42.15) and ahead of Centex rival Marlin (42.60), who took bronze. Joining Powers on that second-place foursome were Brady Ward, Jayden Minnish and Colt Cunningham.

Cunningham, Minnish and Powers later teamed with Chris Bunch for a sixth-place finish in the 4×400 relay. The Pirates’ 29 points as a team placed only behind state champ Refugio, which had 74.

Powers will enroll in the US Military Academy at West Point for fall, as he’ll compete for the Army’s track team. The lessons he learned from all the lapses he ran for Crawford should serve him well next year in New York, and should give him a sense of peace.

“It definitely will,” Powers said. “I think handling the adversity and, like I said, growing my faith in the Lord, in Jesus, will definitely help me handle the tough times next year.”

If “Theatrics in Track and Field” were a UIL competition, Jamarquis Johnson would definitely have a gold medal.

As it is, he’s got two anyway.

The Rosebud-Lott senior repeated as the Class 2A boys’ long jump state champion, again showing a flair for the dramatic. He landed in the second-place position behind Hamilton’s Ryan Worbington going into his sixth and final jump. But Johnson pushed ahead by dropping his best distance of the day, 22-4, to elevate to the top of the podium.

Worbington finished in the silver medal spot at 22-0¾. Axtell’s Troy Arlitt placed fifth in that same competition with a best of 21-3.

“I was pretty concerned, I just had to keep my head down and do what I had to do, for real,” Johnson said, recalling his feelings before his last jump. “And it worked out.”

Last year, Johnson earned a surprise entry to state, getting the call just two days before the meeting that he was headed to Austin due to an injured scratch by another athlete. He made the most of that appearance, flying to first at 23-6¼. Like this year, he moved to first on his last jump of the day. He has also nabbed a state silver in the event in 2022.

The conditions Friday were less than ideal, with a steady watery mist covering the runway and stunting the jumpers’ efforts.

“It was pretty tough. “I couldn’t hit the board a few times,” said Johnson, who still managed to avoid a scratch on all six of his tries.

Johnson has signed with Blinn College to play football, and is excited for what the future holds there. No doubt he’ll be capable of some electric and dramatic highlights, if his high school track and field career is any indication.

“It’s like that every time, I don’t know why,” Johnson said, a toothy smile creasing his face. “My body’s been giving me a heart attack.”

Most sprinters are not fans of the outside lanes, but lane one didn’t bother Keundra Wilson at all.

The Marlin junior followed it right to number one.

Wilson popped out to a brisk lead by the 50-meter mark and crushed it from there, winning gold in the 2A girls 100-meter dash. She had a winning time of 12.24 seconds.

That inside lane provided the inside track to victory for Wilson.

“No, it didn’t (bother me),” she said. “My goal was to come out here and (burst out of) my blocks, because I know I was doubted. “I came out here and did just that.”

Wilson said when she crossed the line first — with the big Myers Stadium crowd serenading her with the typical “Woooooooo” reserved for lickety-quick sprints — it almost didn’t feel real.

“Like, wow, this is nice,” said Wilson, who also placed fourth in the triple jump Friday morning. “I can’t believe I did this.”

Wilson still has another year of high school and more opportunities to chase future medals. As for college, she’s hoping for a full scholarship for any sport, but if not she said she’d seek out “the best major to make money.”

For now, though, this Marlin speedster can reveal in her oh-so-sweet win.

“How am I going to celebrate? I’m just humble,” she said. “I’m not going to celebrate. “I’m just going to thank God, because if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have been here.”

He’s barely halfway through high school, but Lake Belton sophomore Kendrick Jones Jr. is already building a nice jewelry collection.

Jones charged to a repeat championship performance in the 5A boys’ 200-meter dash, hustling down the track in a winning time of 20.83 seconds. That capped off a day in which he won two gold medals, as Jones also levitated his way to the 5A long jump title earlier in the day.

Despite wet and slippery conditions, Jones put down a top jump of 23-0 on his fifth of six attempts.

He’s actually not the only member of his family with a UIL gold medal. His sister Ayanna won the Class 6A girls’ long jump title in 2022 while competing for Belton. Ayanna now competes for Texas Tech.

Kendrick won Class 5A Co-Boys Athlete of the Meet honors.

With about 300 meters remaining in the Class 2A 800-meter final, Hamilton sophomore Anna Pearcy still had a gap to make up.

She closed it in a hurry.

After moving up to fifth, Pearcy made a powerful surge in the final curve to pass three more runners and close with a satisfying silver medal finish. Pearcy clocked 2:18.72, including 1:10:59 over the final lap, the fastest of any runner.

Shelbyville’s Emily Pharris won gold in 2:17.67.

On that last lap, Pearcy realized she had no time to waste.

“I was just thinking, it’s time to go,” she said. “You’ve already done all this training, it is what it is. It’s your last race. Go for it. … I saw those girls out there and I was like, I feel like I can go catch them. And so I did what I could.”

That race marked the first of three on the day for Pearcy. She later placed seventh in the 200 and ran a leg on Hamilton’s fourth-place 4×400 relay.

Even at his young age, Pearcy is no stranger to the state stage. She competed on Hamilton’s 2022 and 2023 state-winning cross country teams, finishing fourth individually last fall.

Pearcy said his cross country experience translates nicely to the track, even if there are more eyeballs watching at Myers Stadium than at Round Rock’s Settlers Park.

“It carries over with your nerves,” she said. “You know how to handle them better once you’re experienced with all that. “I just tried to stay as relaxed as I could.”

Rapoport Academy junior Marco Cunningham, a silver medalist last year in both the 2A 1,600 and 3,200, positioned himself nicely for his first state gold. Cunningham passed Stockdale’s Taylor Warrick on the final curve of the 1,600 final to take the lead. But when the race turned into a sprint in the final 100, Warrick found another gear, and Cunningham, in his quest to hang onto his lead, stumbled and fell onto the track, leading to a heartbreaking seventh-place finish. …Riesel senior Gavin Oliver uncorked a throw of 148-5 on his second attempt in the 2A boys’ discus, which marked his best of the round and earned him a fourth-place state finish. Oliver later added a seventh-place finish in the shot put. … Hico is on the Western fringes of Central Texas, but word of Kaylee Hunt’s exploits continue to spread. The Hico junior won his second straight 2A pole vault title, surpassing 11-6. She also grabbed a silver in the 100-meter dash, a bronze in the 300 hurdles and a fourth-place finish in the 100 hurdles, an event combo not often seen. Hunt won 2A Girls Athlete of the Meet honors. …Bruceville-Eddy junior Tyrrell Horne made it to the medal stand in the 2A boys’ 200, putting down a time of 22 flat for third. … Chilton’s girls brought home a pair of bronze medals back to Falls County. Sophomore Yarida De Leon placed third in the 2A 3,200 (11:42.95) and senior Germayia Robinson was third in the 400 (59.18). … Riesel senior Aiden Summers lowered his time ever so slightly in the 800 from last year’s state meet, when he captured a bronze medal, coming in at 1:57.64. However, that was only the fourth-best time in a rapid race that saw Wolfe City’s Cade Thurman win in 1:54.60. … Texas A&M football signee Ernest Campbell of Refugio capped off a 4-for-4 run in the 2A 100-meter dash, hammering to a 10.49 for his fourth straight gold. He was named the 2A Boys’ Athlete of the Meet.