TRACK & FIELD: Nelson moves on to 110 hurdles final
SAN ANTONIO — The first day of the Class 4A Region IV Track and Field Meet went well for Marble Falls High School senior Willie Nelson.
He qualified for the 110-meter high hurdles thanks to a time of 15.9.
IN PHOTO: IN PHOTO: Marble Falls senior hurdler Willie Nelson steps over a hurdle during track practice. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
“He had the eighth-best time,” head coach Kyle Futrell said. “That’s an automatic time.”
Nelson was off by five-tenths of a second of his average time.
Still, Futrell said reaching the finals is what’s important.
“We’re glad he made it in,” he said.
What impressed the coach the most, however, was how well athletes from District 25-4A are performing.
Lampasas’ Aaron Reyna, who was third at the district meet with 15.33 seconds, turned in the second-best time of the meet, Futrell said.
“Everybody down here is running well,” he said. “Our district is doing well.”
Nelson was running well in the 300-meter hurdles until he suffered a setback.
“He ran pretty well,” Futrell said. “But his hamstring tightened on him.”
The hurdler was fifth in his heat.
“He ran as good as he could run and still not go on,” the Mustangs skipper said. “I felt like the 110 was his best chance to advance.”
Senior Jesùs Manzano was eighth in the 3,200 meters with a time of 10:12.
“He ran really close to his best time,” the coach said.
Going into the meet, Manzano had the seventh-best time.
The top three runners had times of 9:26, 9:30 and 9:40, Futrell said.
“The chance was to sneak up and have a good day,” he said, “and one of those guys not to have a good day. A lot can happen in the race. He ran right at his best time ever.”