Joe Lang and Maggie Delay place at state track
The group of athletes and coaches that represented Royal at the state track meet paused for a team photo. From left, back row, they are coach Jeremy Elliot, Victor Garcia, Payten Stakkeland, Arturo Villa, Gerard Weyns, Joe Lang, Steven Toro, coach John Trepanier, Samantha Eilers and coach Scott Sandberg. From left, front row, they are Salvador Horta, Yajaira Michel, Maggie Delay, Kay Lester, Berenise Rodriguez, Gracelynn Miller, Mariana Jimenez and Jacob Lee. Elsie Delgado was unavailable for the photo.
ROYAL CITY - Joe Lang and Maggie Delay, who led their Royal High track teams all season, were the only Knights athletes to score team points at the 1A state meet at Cheney last weekend.
But the rest of the state performers, 12 of whom are underclassmen, picked up valuable experience to impart to the rest of the program before the season starts next year. Two of the returners will be Lang and Delay.
Graduating from this group later this week will be Jacob Lee, Samantha Eilers, Payten Stakkeland and Gerard Weyns.
The 22 points accumulated by Lang in three events were enough to give the Royal boys ninth place. The 11 Delay scored placed her team in 22nd. There were 58 teams.
Lang took second place in the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.59, just a nick of a second from the title. He finished third in the long jump with an effort of 21-5.5. and second in the triple jump at 44-5.
Delay finished second in the 100 hurdles in 15.58. She took sixth place in long jump at 16-9.25 and 11th in the pole vault at 8-0.
The team of Gracelynn Miller, Marianna Jimenez, Elsie Delgado and Kay Lester finished 14th in the 1600 relay with a time of 4:25.03.
Berenise Rodriguez took ninth in the pole vault with an effort of 8-6. Samantha Eilers finished 12th in the triple jump at 32-0.75. Eilers was 16th in the 100 hurdles in 18.21.
Kay Lester, the freshman, demonstrated she will be a force over the next three years. She finished 10th in the 800, 1600 and 3200 with times of 2:30.71, 5:42.93 and 12:33.94.
The team of Lang, Steven Toro, Victor Garcia and Arturo Villa finished 12th in the 400 relay with a time of 44.87. All four boys will return to the team next year.
Also taking 12th was the 1600 relay team of Toro, Jacob Lee, Salvador Horta and Garcia. Only Lee will be lost from that group.
Villa, who improved his effort throughout the season, took 15th place in the 300 hurdles with a time of 45.40. In the pole vault, Gerard Weyns took 15th with a mark of 10-0.
Yajaira Michel went to state as the alternate for the 1600 relay. Payten Stakkeland served the same role for the boys.
The Knights may not have accomplished all they wanted or expected this year, but they were still a young team and are likely qualify a stronger contingent for state next year.
State participants who will return next year include Joe Lang, 11th grade; Arturo Villa, 10th grade; Steven Toro, 10th grade; Victor Garcia, 10th grade; Salvador Horta, 11th grade; Gracelynn Miller, 10th grade; Kay Lester, 9th grade; Maggie Delay, 10th grade; Marianna Jimenez, 10th grade; Elsie Delgado, 11th grade; Berenise Rodriguez, 10th grade; and Yajaira Michel, ninth grade.