Waelder JH pair garners six first-place medals at district

Tony Morales and Tracy Moore placed first in every event they competed in March 24 at the junior high district track meet in Tilden.
Morales was the champion in the 2,400 and 1,600-meter runs while Moore took first in the high jump, long jump, 100 meter and 200 meter dashes.
Waelder came in sixth overall, thanks to Morales’ 20 points.
Coach Spencer Jones marked splits on Morales’ wrist and stood at the 200 mark to call out his half-lap splits. On the 2400, Jones had him set to run a 9:15 to beat his 9:32 from the Edna meet. He felt really good and stayed 5-15 seconds fast on each lap and ended up with the 8:42.
Then on the 1600, after the temperature got into the 90’s, Morales followed the prescribed splits within 5-10 seconds either way and finished in 5:32.96. The second place finisher, Nathan Tijerina of Austwell-Tivoli, had a time of 7:07.49.
Moore was a one-man wrecking crew for the Waelder 7th grade team, who placed fourth overall based on his performances.
In the high jump, he cleared 4’ 9” at practice in Flatonia and set his personal best in Tilden at 4’ 10”. This coming after only three days of practice.
“He did some video work and really refined his form,” said Jones. “On the long jump, he could not keep from jumping off his left foot. After all that basketball practice it’s hard to switch feet.”
Even so, Moore reached 16’ 2” to win first place easily by two feet. Two weeks prior at Ganado, he soared a personal best of 16’ 4”.
Moore won the 100m very easily with a time of 13.0, finishing at least 10 meters ahead of nearest competitor. On the 200m, he jogged an easy 29.1 without breaking a sweat.