Track and field: First-time performances by Corralez and Cook highlight area performances in Austin

>> GLAD TO BE HERE, AND THEN SOME: Van Horn's boys had entries in the state meet for the first time since 2006 with senior Jacob Corralez in the 200 meters along with the 400 and 800 relays, both of which Corralez ran on.

The Eagles started the day by finishing third in the 400 relay with the team of Jesus Baca, Ricky Ramirez, Alex Baca and Corralez in a time of 43.30 seconds.

In the 800 relay, the foursome was the same for a sixth-place finish in 1:31.74 before Corralez was fifth in the hotly contested 200.

He finished in 22.58, narrowly behind third-place LaDerrick Long of Dallas Gateway (22.56) and Jordan Mullinnik of Normangee (22.57).

"This is actually only my second year in track, so I didn't think I could ever be here," said Corralez, who took part in the UIL's graduation ceremony Friday night at Mike A. Myers Stadium for athletes who competed instead of attending their high school graduations.

"But man, it's a good feeling."

>> WHAT A RACE: Jonathan Lira of Plains won the Class 1A boys 1,600 meters in a time of 4:30.12.

Lira put on a tremendous kick to pass Elkhart Slocum's Logan Foster, who had rallied ahead of Sanderson's Travis Roberts going into the last 200 meters of the race.

Foster ended up second in 4:32.28 while Roberts took third in 4:32.70. Roberts had been the Region I-1A champion ahead of Lira.

All three runners are juniors, so in a little bit less than a year they could be doing it again in Austin.

>> RANGER RUNS A LOT: Greenwood senior Josh Cook, who never had run track before this spring, had to recover quite a bit in a short period of time in the most important meet of his life.

Cook opened the day by taking fourth in the 100 meters in 10.86 seconds, with Region I-3A rival Kenneth Turner of Snyder getting third in 10.69.

He got about 10 minutes to recover before coming back to anchor Greenwood's sixth-place team in the 800 relay. Aaron Norris, Jarrett Hall, Zachery Owens and Cook finished with a time of 1:29.42, which is just about what they ran to win the Region I-3A meet.

Finally, Cook finished eighth in the 200 in 21.96, significantly faster than his 22.45 to finish second at the regional meet.

>> TOUGH FIELD: Iraan's boys 1,600 relay team of Dakota Green, Shane Holmes, Jaime Ibarra and Zak Owen finished seventh in 3:29.51.

The Braves finished about six seconds back of the winning team from Collinsville (3:23.50).