"I ran with Brett Parker who is now at Texas A&M, and it was Brett that came and talked to us this year and told us that we had the ability to win State again," the Panther senior, Ebow says.
That pep talk came after the KP track relayers had a slow start to their season, a beginning that had nothing to do with building up a momentum driven peak, but everything to do with a lack of belief in the new team that had taken shape after graduation with Jesse Hernandez and Ari Nelson replacing Parker and Kolby Chandler.
"We had to realize that if we worked harder and focused better we had the ability to do it (win state)," Ebow says.
Ian finished the 18-4A meet at Turner Stadium with three Gold medals and his veteran relay partner, Nick Rollo took a pair of Golds. Meanwhile, the number one high school hurdler in the U.S, Mariam Amadu of K-Park won the 300 and 100 hurdles, going away. The usual accomplished names made an appearance for the Lady Panthers of Brittney Lanehart: Zahri Jackson, Jennifer Nwuli, also hauled in Golden rewards, while classy Grace Fletcher ended the Humble area portion of her career with a second place finish in the 3200. She along with the others will head to the 3-4A regionals at Huntsville's Sam Houston State. Finally, the last bit of individual news concerned the new pups on the block, Summer Creek High. Lady Bulldog Asia Roberts took three Golds in the running events, while the Maroon's Girls finished third on the team chart. Huntsville won the Girls division, with K-Park not far behind in second. On the Boys side, S-Creek made their debut with a fourth place finish, including Aaron Lecesne qualifying for regional in the 400 meter dash and Dominique Sauls in the High Jump, along with Kiante Matlock in the Shot Put. Meantime, KP's Michael Lindberg won the long-distance double with Gold taken in the two mile and the mile, while KP's Zahri Jackson won by less than nine-tenths of a second over Willis Cali Roper in the mile. On the Boy's side, Ebow's K-Parkers won the team title, while Humble finished as runnerup, and Willis hit third. Summer Creek took fourth in their first go round. One special note: the sister of the pole-vaulter who won the last two State crowns in 5A, won some acclaim for herself, Megan Arnold won the Pole Vault competition. Miranda Delamorena of S-Creek finished third in that event and qualified for regional. They all head to Huntsville, while the 5A'ers in Region Two move to Waco, and of course, don't forget that the Region 3-5A and 3-3A'ers will be in Turner Stadium the first week in May.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|