By Jacob Stock
The Cuero Record
Playing host to three track meets in a season is a rarity within itself. At this Wednesday's District 27/28 class 4A area meet held at Gobbler Stadium, the Fightin’ Gobblers of Cuero put together a competitive day across the board.
Featuring a total of 12 teams, the meet would conclude with Cuero accumulating a total of 79 points. That finish would earn them the runner-up title behind the Texans of Wimberley who finished with 114 points.
“I think overall we performed better than expected. I always have high expectations for our kids, but they exceeded that today,” stated head coach Bryan Hood.
The Mean Green’s 400-meter relay team strutted their way to the Area title, to pair with their District title, with a time of 43.081. Consisting of all seniors, Braidon Mathis, Lebron Johnson, Justice Belvin, and Justin Banda that same crew ran the 800-meter relay race taking home second with a time of 1:28.495. That race came down to the literal wire with Wimberley, (1:28.466), just barely nudging them out.
The Gobblers 1600-mile relay team of Mason Notaro, Donavin Jones, Banda, and Mathis would come in fourth clinching them a lane in next week’s regional meet.
As for individual races and field events, Cuero’s Lebron Johnson would cruise to the gold medal in the all-out wind-assisted 100-meter dash. Johnson was hand-clocked at 10.82. He claimed the district championship last week, and now couples that with area champ.
“He’s a special kid. He was really reluctant to run track, but he has so much ability. I am nothing but proud of him,” praised Hood. “I think as he faces better competition they are just going to make him better.”
All six field events would feature a Gobbler, with two qualifying for region across three events.
Read the full story in next week's edition of The Cuero Record (4-27). Call 361-275-3464 to subscribe.