Another track and field season is complete, and Frisco ISD student-athletes once again impressed at the UIL State Track and Field Championships.
Heritage led the way, with the boys team tying for second place in the Class 5A team standings and the girls team finishing seventh in 5A. Additionally, three FISD athletes won state championships and District athletes earned medals in 11 events on Thursday (4A) and Friday (5A) at Mike A. Myers Stadium on the campus of UT-Austin.
The three FISD state champions each won multiple medals.
Heritage’s CJ Williams’ best shot put of 67 feet, 3.5 inches Friday morning won him the 5A title for the second straight year. The senior also finished second in the discus later in the day, giving him a total of three gold medals and three silver medals in UIL state competitions the last three years.
Williams was battling knee injuries during the competition, and although he wasn’t able to perform at the level he wanted – with the hope of breaking national high school records during his senior season – he scored 18 points in the two events to help the Heritage boys team get on the medal stand once again. Heritage also finished second last year in the boys standings.
“I wanted to help my team,” Williams said. “That’s why I’m here.”
Heritage junior Amelia Fair took third in the 5A girls 100-meter hurdles early in Friday night’s running session. Later in the evening, she dominated the 300 hurdles with a time of 42.63 seconds to win her first gold.
“I was kind of bummed about the 100,” Fair said. "In the 300, I came out here and put it all on the track and it helped push me.”
Lebanon Trail senior Andrew Malan got the FISD medal haul rolling on Friday morning in the 3200 meters. He took the lead with a little more than one lap to go in the eight-lap race, and his final kick gave him a winning time of 9 minutes, 8.32 seconds, more than a second ahead of the second-place finisher.
Late in the evening, he added a silver medal in the 1600.
“It’s kind of unreal, I don’t think I’ve processed it yet,” Malan said after the 3200 win. “I did so much work to be here, and it’s like, ‘Wow, it actually happened.’”
The other FISD medalists included Heritage’s Sunmi Akinyeye, who earned silvers in the 5A girls 100 and 200 meters and Liberty’s Jade Burrowes, who earned silver in the 5A girls triple jump. Bronze medals went to Panther Creek’s Lalia Ukawuba (4A girls 100 hurdles) and Heritage’s Ke’onte Ross (5A boys 100).
Photos of medalists here: twitter.com/friscoisdsports
Here is the full list of Frisco ISD’s state competitors:
4A GIRLS
Lalia Ukawuba, Panther Creek (3rd in 100 hurdles)
Nautica-Marie Tunstel, Panther Creek (6th in 100 meters)
5A GIRLS
Amelia Fair, Heritage (1st in 300 hurdles, 3rd in 100 hurdles)
Lily Schmidt, Wakeland (6th in 3200)
Julia Seelman, Reedy (9th in 3200)
Jade Burrowes, Liberty (2nd in triple jump)
Sunmi Akinyeye, Heritage (2nd in 100, 2nd in 200)
Corrine Purnell, Emerson (5th in 200)
5A BOYS
Andrew Malan, Lebanon Trail (1st in 3200, 2nd in 1600)
CJ Williams, Heritage (1st in shot put, 2nd in discus)
Lowery Asel, Frisco (4th in long jump)
Dylan Grzywinski, Wakeland (5th in 800)
Ke’onte Ross, Heritage (3rd in 100)
Jon Nielsen, Heritage (5th in 200)
Heritage 4x200 relay (4th)
Relay members: Jon Nielsen, Ruben Egharevba, Peyton Holland, Ke’onte Ross