Track breaks records; places in top five in district
Senior Alpha Mara takes the baton from Isaiah Sibi Hackney to finish and take 1st place in the South Austin Relays. Varsity boys took 3rd place in their district at the meet.
April 25, 2019
Members of the varsity track teams are earning recognition this year as athletes have consistently broken school records and earned first place finishes at meets.
At the Canyon Lake Hawk Relays on Saturday, Feb. 23 at Canyon Lake High School. The Varsity Boys placed in 3rd out of 14 teams.
Also, all runners and throwers represented Akins very well especially the Varsity Track runner Matthew Quiroz, who had a time of 4:37.64, He broke the school record for the 1600 meter sprint in which he placed first. He also came in first place 1st place in the 3200-meter sprint at the meet.
The track team also had good performances at the Texas State Invitational Meet.
The Varsity Girls track athletes took in fourth place overall in a very competitive meet. Freshman Mak’hi Falkquay came in first place in both the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash, setting school records. She also earned second place in the triple jump, breaking a school record.
Falkquay said she has hoped to make it to state this year even as a freshman.
“(I just want) to just get out there and do my best,” she said.
Sophomore Diego Hernandez said he has his own methods of finding a good mindset before competitions.
“Before a run, usually on the way to the track meet I listened to like some really motivational speeches, or my music and my mindset is just to be number one and get a good time and spot,” he said.
The boys and girls track teams have had high performers, and the coaches are proud of their teams, giving them support and hoping the teams can do it again next year. Misty Lindsey, head coach for the girl’s varsity track team, said she is very proud of all of the track athletes this year.
“I think we had some standouts but our real focus is going be to get this group to work as a team,” she said. “So we had several students take down some school records but we would really like to just recognize everyone instead of focusing on one on one or two girls. they’re a young group and we wanted to learn to work together.”
Falkquay set a school record in the triple jump and the 100-meter dash and Pistel Knox set a school record on the long jump, Lindsey said. Lindsey said there are a few athletes that have a good chance at advancing to regional and state track meets.
Students competing in the hurdles, 4 x 100-meter relay and the two-mile runners all have a really good chance of advance into the regional meet.
“We look forward to seeing any athlete from the entire Akins Track program go and I think those boys have a really good shot,” she said.
Lindsey said injuries hurt some of the female athlete’s chances to advance to regional and state meets, but she is looking forward to seeing athletes like Falkquay returning to compete next year.
Lindsay said the coaches will continue to work with athletes to see what skills they’re good at so that they can build for the future.
“We have a very young program with lots of potentials but we just really needed to see what we need to do with them,” Lindsey said. “ they worked hard but we’ve got a lot of work to do going forward.”
