TAPPS Rundown: The Texas Relays Edition


Cameron Miller

In the first edition of the TAPPS Rundown, Cameron Miller and Bishop Dunne made an appearance due to their out of this world relays however this time Miller shined as an individual. At Texas Relays, he ran a 10.57 to take second place in the D1 section of the 100 meter dash. With the sheer amount of depth that Bishop Dunne has on the sprinting side, it's anyone's guess as to what Miller, Marquez Beason, Jalen Drayden, and Kendall Paul will run as the team came within 16 points of a state title last year.

Houston St. Agnes 4x400 Team
Houston St. Agnes ran 3:52.98 to win the D1 section of the girls 4x400 at TX Relays. The team was composed of seniors Meghan Rotter, Lauren Lowe, Cristen Harrison, and junior Maysen Odom. Lowe, Rotter, and Harrison have been running the 4x400 together since their freshman year with Odom joining the party in 2016. In 2015, they finished second to Antonian and haven't walked away from the event without a state title since. The programs development in the event as a whole is astounding when you look at their year to year improvement.

2012 PR: 4:26.01
2013 PR: 4:21.67
2014 PR: 4:12.79
2015 PR: 4:03.02 (Lowe, Harrison, Rotter join)
2016 PR: 3:56.41 (Odom joins)
2017 PR: 3:54.62
2018 PR: 3:52.98

What's even more encouraging for Coach Kristi Robbins is that her team always tends to peak at the right time as the team's PRs have been at either regionals or state the last seven years. It appears as if the best is yet to come for this veteran relay team.
Elizabeth Reneau
Three time 1600 meter state champion Elizabeth Reneau ran a 5:00.12 to narrowly edge out 2A powerhouse (and one of last week's stars) Celia Holmes at Texas Relays by nine hundredths of a second. There was talk that perhaps the 1600 meter race in the 6A state qualification was more open than it had been since Reneau appeared on the scene in 2015 but she quickly put an end to that conversation in her first competitive race of the season by soaring to the top of the TAPPS rankings. I don't think any fan of track and field would complain if we got to see Holmes vs. Reneau II before these girls graduate.

Shiner St. Paul has a load of TAPPS cross country state titles in their trophy case, but senior shot putter Parker Clay has won a couple of state titles of her own. She has two straight shot put titles in her pocket and is back for senior year to make it three. 

She not only is the best in TAPPS, but she is the best in Texas so far this year. Clay threw a then PR 44-5 at the TSU Relays and skipped 45 feet altogether and moved straight into throwing 46 footers. She has an absurd 46-11 PR and her 46-5 this weekend was enough to enough to take down a stacked Texas Relays field last weekend. The sky is the limit for this Texas A&M commit!


TAPPS
This week has been full of athletes facing unfortunate hurdles when it came to competing on a national level. In Missouri, Victor Mugeche and Victoria Findley were not given the green light to run at Arcadia due to a $20 entry fee, Mondo Duplantis had issues getting cleared to vault at Texas Relays due to a state association technicality, and Indiana's athletes have a rule which bars athletes from competing more than 300 miles away (or roughly half the distance El Paso athletes travel to the state meet in Waco). TAPPS had potential for its own problem as questions arose over whether or not athletes could compete over the Easter weekend. TAPPS addressed this issue in an expedient manner with a post on their site as well as leaving the decision up to the school. If TAPPS would've taken a hard line, we wouldn't have had Parker Clay setting a US #2 mark, St. Agnes and Bishop Dunne making relay magic, or Elizabeth Reneau vs. Celia Holmes. Instead TAPPS did what was in the best interest of athletes, parents, and track fans alike to make this week a big win for everyone involved.