State track meet starts today; area schools well-represented

The 2026 UIL State Track and Field Meet gets underway Thursday morning, May 14 and runs through Saturday, May 16, at Mike A. Myers Stadium, on the University of Texas campus.

A handful of local individual athletes are headed to Austin over the next three days: two from Hondo, one from D’Hanis in two events, one from Sabinal, one from Medina Valley, three from Lytle and four individuals plus a relay team from Devine.

This morning, Hondo senior Mason Barr will start things off in the 3A boys’ pole vault, which begins at 9 a.m. He vaulted 14’3” to place second in the Region IV meet. He has a personal best and school record mark of 14’7” set in his junior year. He was fourth in the state last year.

In the evening, Kristyn Ybarra will compete in the 3A girls’  400m dash, in which she broke a 38-year old school record, running a 59.18 in the May 2 Region IV-3A finals.

Lytle will send three boys to state, all in Thursday evening events – Sebastian Garcia in the 800m, Jewell Hicks in the 400m and Jacob Cantu in the 1600m.

From Devine, Bo Wheeler will compete in the high jump at 9 a.m., with Karter Brown in the shot put at 10:30 and Rowdy Esparza in the long jump at 10:45. Rylie Wells will triple jump at 2:45. Esparza will run in the 400 at 7:15, and the 4x400m relay team will close the evening at 9 p.m.

On Friday, Sabinal will be represented in the shot put by Aiden Tinker. The 2A boys’ competition begins at 2 p.m.

Finally, on Saturday, Medina Valley’s Cade Mangum will compete at 1 p.m. in the 6A pole vault. At the same time, Kami Johnson of D’Hanis will go in the triple jump. In the evening, she’ll take to the track at 7:55 p.m. for the 200m dash. 

Utopia will send Jace Bennett in the 1A pole vault at 9 a.m. on Saturday, while Elizabeth Duke will vault at 11 a.m.

Visit uiltexas.org for ticket and parking purchase information.