Lady Flames earn second at state meet

WACO — Though one point kept the Faith Academy girls track and field team from earning another Class 2A state title of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools on May 6-7, what head coach Steve McCannon will remember is how his athletes fought until the end.

Sophomore Bailey Brinkley, who had complained of a leg injury, was unable to run in the 1,600-meter relay, which the Lady Flames were expecting to finish in the top three. Instead, they finished sixth in 4 minutes 34.92 seconds.

And while McCannon said he calculated for mishap in a relay, which happened in the 400-meter relay when a drop of the baton meant the Lady Flames were disqualified, they didn’t earn enough points to win their second straight state championship.

“You’re going to have a disaster,” he said. “You plan for that in your scenarios. Bailey out for the 4×4 — that’s two big blows. That’s also where people need to step up and do things. You need a positive surprise to offset a negative surprise.”

Faith’s 76 points were good enough for second place behind Shiner St. Paul’s 77 points.

“It’s part of sports,” the coach said. “We had an opportunity, and we didn’t get it done.”

Senior Jordan Gray won three gold medals highlighted by her performance in the 100-meter hurdles, where she shattered the oldest state record in girls Class 2A. She won in 15.06 seconds, while the second-place finisher tied the old record of 15.17 seconds.