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Rice’s varsity track team will have a number of athletes competing in the upcoming Area track meet after a solid overall team performance. Many individuals stepped up as the Raiders claimed many top four sports to qualify for the Area Championship Meet. The girls picked up a lone area meet qualifier while finishing with one of their highest team totals of the season. On the other side of the tournament for the boys, they found plenty of success in long-distance runs as well as in field events as they took fourth place as a team.
The boys had a quality day in many events as they finished with several Raiders that qualified for the area meet. The field events went relatively well for the Raiders as they had a few qualifiers from those competitions. Jon Woods qualified after taking fourth place in the high jump competition, and Robert Myers took the bronze medal in the shotput toss to claim his spot at the next level. Dyren Johnson also contributed a bronze medal with a third-place finish in the discus throw. Deodrick Fitzgerald was just a few inches from becoming an area qualifier in the pole vault competition, taking fifth place after his performance.
The Raiders found most of their qualifiers on the track as they had quality outings in the long-distance races. Kejun Wilson claimed the district championship in the 800m run with Raider teammate Jael Valles Serrano claiming the silver in the same event. Payton Engelbrecht claimed the silver medal in the 3200m race just a few seconds ahead of his fellow Raider Lance Dingler who claimed the bronze medal and qualified for area with his teammate. Valles Serrano ran again in the 1600m run, claiming the fourth and final area qualifying spot. Dingler came in fifth, just missing out on his chance to move to the next level. Jace Upson took on a shorter distance race and turned in a strong outing in the 110m hurdles. He claimed a silver medal to ensure his season would continue in Seguin.
While the Lady Raiders did not have many area qualifiers, they still had some quality performances that led to points for the team. Tatianna Mills had a teamhigh finish with a bronze medal in the 100m hurdles. Mills also claimed some team points for the Lady Raiders after taking sixth place in the discus throw. Alejandra Palacios nearly punched her ticket to the Area Championships after coming in fifth place for the longer-distance hurdles race.
