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TEXAS CITY – The Columbus Youth Football Federation’s track team got some strong performances from several of their runners in the regional meet for a chance to move on to the state competition. The team brought 44 competitors with many athletes earning state qualifications. Nearly all the runners set their personal records as they earned many top 10 placements and finished with some medals as well. CYFF earned medals in 17 different events as they had plenty of top performances to boast after a quality two-day competition.
The CYFF track team took the gold medal in three events with three different age groups. The 18U girls benefitted from having varsity Columbus runner Scarlett McClelland take on a few events for the team. Mclelland took the gold medal in the triple jump competition as well as a silver medal in the long jump competition after coming off a strong season for the Lady Cards and placing in the top five for two events in the UIL Regional Meet.
CYFF got another gold medal from their 8U division after Zavrie McCathern placed in first place for the long jump competition. The team had a strong outing in the long jump event in that division as Elliott Davis and Layla Henneke took the silver and bronze medals respectively behind McCathern.
The 12U boys secured the final gold medal as Levi Emmons took first place in the high jump competition.
The team also secured several silver medals as well. Like their counterparts on the girls’ side, 18U boys also got to boast a varsity competitor that made it all the way to state this past season as Ty’vone Whitehead took on the event that he qualified for state with. Whitehead raced in the 100 m dash and took the silver medal. Arielle Martin also took on the 100 m dash for the 12U girls, placing in second place to secure the silver medal for the team.
Martin also claimed a bronze medal in the 400 m run as she qualified for state in two events. Samaria Williams on the girls’ 8U team also qualified for two events after taking the bronze in both the 200 m dash as well as the 50 m sprint. Layla Henneke took another bronze medal for the 8U division with her third-place finish in the long jump competition. Kiyan Johnson for the 12U boys also placed in third for the long jump. Jaycee Hayes Woods took third place as well in the 10U division 200 m race.
The CYFF track team also had several relay teams that performed well during their competition. The girls’ 8U 100 m relay team of Zavrie and Zaniya McCathern, Elliot Davis and Samaria Williams took the bronze medal after a quality team performance. The boys also produced some bronze medals as the 10U and the 8U division took third place in their respective races. The 10U team earned their spot at state with the team of Dajhon Houston, Braylon Carter, Jude Heffley and Simeon Williams, while the 8U boys ran with Avery Carter, Jartavius Vengaus Jr. Isaiah Wishon and Dallas Taylor.
Each of these competitors will be qualifying for the state competition after securing their high placements in the regional meet. However, there were several other top performances that did not quite qualify for state despite taking a top-5 spot.
The 12U boys relay team for the 100 m sprint took fourth place led by Bryce and Bentley Byrd, Jacob Owen and Jaiden Carter. Izaya Anderson took fifth place in the 8U girls’ long jump competition. Both the girls’ and the boys’ 14U shot put teams took fifth place as Jamaria Brooks Woods for the girls and Marc Lewis for the boys had top performances during their outing. Laura Henneke also took fifth during the 12U shot put competition for the girls. Rafael Zefferino just missed out on qualifying for state after taking second place in the shot-put competition for the 12U boys. Kyrie Toliver took fifth place in the 12U girls long jump while Scarlett McClelland added another fifth-place finish for CYFF with a top-five finish in the 100 m dash.
