Gaines brings home silver medals

Johnny Gaines is no ordinary person and certainly no ordinary athlete.

Gaines qualified for the State Track Meet in Austin last weekend in three events, and even though Gaines missed out on the gold, by a combined two and three-fourths inches in the two events, his performance in the meet was stellar.

Gaines jumped to two silver medals and ran for a seventh-place finish in the 300-meter
hurdles.

Gaines jumped a distance of 22’2 ¾” in the long jump for second place, which was only three-fourths of an inch behind the gold medalist.

He then put together a fantastic leap in the triple jump at 45’4” to tie the longest distance at the meet in class 1A. Because of the tie, the winner was determined on the young men’s second longest mark and Gaines fell short again, and this time it was two
inches.

“Forty-five feet four inches was his personal best,” coach Johnny Nino said. “And achieved that jump on his last jump in the finals. He tied for first, but his next jump of 45’1” was less than the other jumper.”

Gaines ran a time of 40:33 in the 300-meter hurdles for a seventh-place finish. The winner of that race ran the distance in a time of 38.37.

“This was Johnny’s third trip to Austin, which is quite an accomplishment,” Nino said. “This year he received his first two medals. I was proud of the way he
competed. Johnny has always represented himself and Clarendon very well. This year was no different. I was very happy for him to finally get a medal at the state meet and I will surely miss his competitive spirit and leadership.”

The Lady Bronco 800-meter relay also competed in the state meet and finished the race in a time of 1:48.85, which was good enough for 8th place. The 1A team from Snook won the gold at a time of 1:43.28. Members of the relay are Amber Keelin, Sarah Luttrell, Marqueda Gaines, and Glory Bryley. Coach Alton Gaines was pleased with the ladies’ performance at the state level.

“The state meet was a real reward on the year for coaches and girls,” Gaines said. “They really worked hard this year to get to that point in the season. I am so honored to be their coach. They put another clip on my highlight reel. Ladies, thank you.”

Gaines knows the girls that ran at state are young and the experience they gained in Austin was huge.

“The meet was pretty intimidating,” Gaines said. “They were able to see what it is going to take to get back to the state meet next year and the hard work they are going to have to invest in, in order to run with that type of competition. They ran really well and we got the experience we needed to repeat next year. Again, thanks for a heck of a year ladies.”