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3 Mustangs headed to regional track meet

Marble Falls high jumper Kason O'Riley

Marble Falls High School senior high jumper Kason O’Riley wins his second area track meet gold medal after clearing 6 feet 10 inches. Photo by Chris Schrader

Three Marble Falls High School track-and-field athletes advanced to the Class 5A Region IV meet after finishing in the top four of their events at the area meet April 14 at Georgetown High School.

Senior high jumpers Kason O’Riley and Lance Long and junior discus thrower Logan Barnes will compete at regionals on Friday-Saturday, April 23-24, at Heroes Stadium, 4799 Thousand Oaks Drive in San Antonio. 

For O’Riley, it was just another day at the high-jump pit. He won another area gold medal, clearing 6 feet 10 inches on his first attempt and coming within a scrape of 7 feet, a height he cleared earlier this year. He is one of four high school high jumpers nationally to clear 7 feet this year.

“I barely missed by the back of my shoe,” he said of his 7-foot attempt. “It hurt my soul. I was a little disappointed on not clearing 7-0, but 6-10 is an improvement from the district meet. I’ll take it.”  

“It was a tiny nick,” head coach Chris Schrader said. 

Unlike the windy conditions at the district meet two weeks earlier, O’Riley said the weather wasn’t much of a factor.

“It felt perfect,” he said. “The wind wasn’t bad. It was a perfect day to jump.”

Marble Falls high jumper Lance Long
Marble Falls High School senior high jumper Lance Long will at the Class 5A Region IV meet after finishing fourth at the area meet April 14. Photo by Chris Schrader

Long cleared 6 feet 2 inches for a fourth place finish, earning him the regional trip.

Barnes finished second in the discus throw with a mark of 141 feet 11.5 inches.

Barnes has simply been outstanding in the discus competition, said Schrader said, noting he has shown a competitor’s heart at every meet. 

Marble Falls junior Django Segovia was sixth in the pole vault and junior Eric Nickowski was eighth in the 1,600 meters.

“I’m really proud of them,” Schrader said. “They came to compete; they didn’t come in with the thought that we’re not good enough.”

jfierro@thepicayune.com