The 91st annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays were held at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas, over Easter weekend. Hosted by the University of Texas, events are held at the high school, collegiate and invitational levels. This year, 712 high school teams competed at the meet. Several athletes from the Tompkins track team travelled to Austin to partake in the races.

Freshman Hayden Gold took home a silver medal on Thursday night in the 2000m steeplechase. With a blazing 7:15.35, she not only ran the second fastest nationally ranked high school time this year, but also the eighth fastest time ever at Texas Relays.

“The race was awesome. I started pretty far behind, but then I caught up a little bit after each lap. I sprinted the last 100 meters and passed up two people to place myself in second before crossing the line,” said Gold. “I found out I ran the time I did through the loudspeaker and from my parents. They were cheering so much for me; it was great.”

The girls 4x800m team won the Section B gold medal on Saturday. Senior Alyssa Balandran ran the first leg and put Tompkins in first before handing off to freshmen Grace Kahout, Marisa Marinchak, and Gabriella Rico. The team finished with a time of 9:52.67.

On the boys’ side, sophomore Cole Lindhorst finished sixth in the 3200m run with a time of 9:24.37, setting a new school record.

“There were a lot of really good guys in there, like state champions. It was my first race with competitors like that, so it was a good experience,” said Lindhorst. “Even though it was the school record, I don’t think I had a good race at all. I know on paper it looks good, but I could definitely go faster.”