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Extraordinary times highlight District 11-6A track meet that includes many of nation’s best

Plus, check out notable performances from other district meets around Dallas area.

DESOTO — Dacorey Ware didn’t act surprised when he was told that he had just helped Cedar Hill run the fastest time in the nation in the boys 4x200-meter relay Friday afternoon at the talent-rich District 11-6A track and field meet.

“It feels amazing, but we already knew that we could do that,” Ware said. “Every time we step on the track, we’re trying to go faster.”

The senior teamed with Kaleb Green, Robert Richardson and Diallo Good to win the district title in 1:24.51.

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Cedar Hill didn’t stay No. 1 in America for long, as MileSplit.com updated its national rankings later in the day to show that Alief Taylor had run 1:24.41 at the District 23-6A meet.

But the 4x200 relay showed just how extraordinary the speed is in 11-6A, and just how tough it is to win the district. Duncanville finished second in the race in 1:26.16 — a time that now ranks No. 6 in the nation — and Mansfield’s third-place time of 1:27.24 is 13th-best in the United States.

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This is a district that has been labeled the “District of Doom” and is considered the best in Texas in several sports.

In track, the DeSoto girls have won four consecutive Class 6A team state titles, and in 2019, the last time there was a state meet before the pandemic hit, DeSoto took first at state and Duncanville finished second. This school year, the district produced a state runner-up (Cedar Hill) and a state semifinalist (Duncanville) in football, and in basketball Duncanville won the 6A boys state championship and DeSoto claimed the girls state title.

It was a very good day for Good and his fellow Cedar Hill sprinters.

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Kaleb Green, Good, Brian Rainey and Ware won the 4x100 relay in 40.66. That ranks third nationally, according to MileSplit.com, behind IMG Elite (40.59) and Killeen Shoemaker (40.62). DeSoto’s second-place time of 40.89 on Friday is now No. 6 in the nation, and third-place district finisher Duncanville ran 41.26 Friday and ranks eighth nationally with its time of 40.96 from earlier in the season.

“We did good. It’s only our second time running with that new order, so that time is going to drop,” Good said. “We weren’t really worried about who we were running against. We just worried about dropping that time.”

Good won the 100 in a personal-best time of 10.51, a race in which the top five finishers all ran faster than 10.90. Ware won the 200 in 21.43 on Friday after his preliminary time Wednesday was 21.26 — tied for 17th in the country.

Cedar Hill dominated the sprints, but it was Duncanville that won the boys team title by 11 points over Mansfield Lake Ridge. Texas signee Martin David-Chavez won district titles in the 1,600 (4:27.96) and 3,200 (9:49.44), Duncanville also got victories from Kaleb Berry in the 800 (1:58.33) and Calen Jones in the high jump (6-2), and it clinched the team championship by running 3:18.49 and finishing second in the 4x400 relay behind Lake Ridge (3:16.33).

That 4x400 time by Lake Ridge ranks No. 5 in the United States, and Duncanville now sits at No. 10 on the national list. Lake Ridge also got a victory by sophomore Dominic Byles in the 400 (48.89) and took first, second and third in the boys discus, with the winning throw of 172-4 by Jon Thomas ranking No. 26 in the U.S.

The eight-time state champion DeSoto girls continued to dominate, despite the elite competition. DeSoto won the team title by 54 points over Duncanville and took first in all three relays, plus the 100 (Ja’Era Griffin in 11.81), 400 (Amelliah Birdow in 56.92), 100 hurdles (USC signee Jalaysi’ya Smith in 13.53) and 300 hurdles (Smith in 42.64).

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Smith’s 13.53 is the second-best wind-legal time in the nation, according to MileSplit.com, and ranks seventh in the U.S. among all fully automatic times. She now ranks fifth nationally in the 300 hurdles with her time Friday. Griffin’s 100 time Friday is tied for the 11th-best wind-legal time nationally.

DeSoto’s team of Smith, Griffin, Trinity Kirk and Illinois signee Mia Abraham won the 4x100 relay in 46.01. That tied Greater Atlanta Christian for the second-best time in the nation, behind only San Antonio Reagan’s time of 45.48.

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“We thought we had 45 today,” said Griffin, a North Carolina A&T signee. “But our handoffs could have been a little better. Down the road, we know we can challenge any competition that comes our way.”

DeSoto’s 4x200 team of Illinois signee Logan Neely, Chloe Shaw, Kirk and Abraham won in 1:37.90 -- just off their nation-leading time of 1:37.49. Duncanville ran the third-fastest time in the nation — 1:38.41 — and had to settle for second in district.

The only sprint event that the DeSoto girls did not win was the 200. Duncanville senior MaKhiya McDonald, who is a four-star recruit and Texas A&M signee in soccer, ran 23.84 to edge Griffin (23.90) for the district title. McDonald’s time ranks No. 7 in the state.

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Cedar Hill senior Brya Brewer had only done the long jump and run on some relays before taking up the triple jump in December. She is amazingly now ranked No. 1 in the nation, and she improved on her previous nation-leading mark of 42-0.5 by jumping 43 feet, 0 inches to win the District 11-6A meet.

“I’m just going out there and jumping my best, PRing every time,” she said. “I want to make it to state, and I want to jump 44 feet.”

She also set a personal best in the long jump by winning the district title with a mark of 19-6, which is tied for 17th nationally. She said she has already picked the school she will compete for in college, but she plans to announce her commitment the week before the state meet if she qualifies for state.

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Area-round meets will be held next week, followed by regionals on April 23-24. The UIL state meet is scheduled for May 6-8 at the University of Texas’ Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin.

Here are notable performances from five other district meets around the Dallas area:

District 5-6A

Denton Guyer’s Brynn Brown won the girls 3,200 meters in 10:11.22, which is the best time in Texas and the fourth-best time in the nation for the 2021 outdoor season. Indoors this year, Brown ran two miles in 9:51.00, the third-best time in national history, according to Track & Field News.

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The North Carolina signee also won the district title in the 1,600 in 4:46.10, which would have placed her in the top five in the nation if Brown had not already run 4:43.96 this season to rank No. 3 nationally. Brown finished second in the 800 at district, running the nation’s ninth-best time (2:10.16), and it took the best time in the state and the third-best time in the nation — 2:08.74 by Prosper junior Aubrey O’Connell — to beat Brown.

Brown was the 6A state champion in cross country in the fall, and she was named the Gatorade Texas girls cross country runner of the year Thursday.

District 9-5A

Frisco Liberty four-star football recruit Evan Stewart, rated the fifth-best wide receiver in the nation in the Class of 2022, put on quite a show at the District 9-5A meet.

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He won the long jump with a mark of 24-4.50, tied for the second-best jump in the nation (going by all marks, not just wind-legal ones), according to MileSplit.com. Stewart also won the triple jump (46-7.75) and 200 meters (21.53), ran on Liberty’s winning 4x100 relay (41.70) and finished second in the 100 (10.73). Liberty’s boys won the 4x200 (1:29.12) and 4x400 (3:26.54) as well.

Frisco Lebanon Trail three-star wide receiver Drew Donley, a Cincinnati signee, beat Stewart in the 100 by running 10.70 in the finals after clocking 10.49 in the prelims.

On the girls side, Frisco Reedy’s Madison Jeffries won the 100 (12.08) and 200 (24.38), with her 200 time ranking 16th-best in the state among all FAT times, according to Texas MileSplit. Oklahoma State signee Colleen Stegmann of Frisco Reedy won district titles in the 800 (2:17.04), 1,600 (5:06.58) and 3,200 (11:14.59).

The winning time of 43.78 for Frisco Heritage’s Kirin Chacchia in the 300 hurdles ranks No. 8 in the state, and she ran on Heritage’s winning 4x100 relay team that ran 47.41 (the state’s 15th-best time) and on Heritage’s 4x200 team that won in 1:43.31. Heritage’s Kaitlyn Bradford won the long jump with a mark of 19-1.75, good for No. 9 in the state rankings.

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District 10-5A

Lovejoy’s Kailey Littlefield is only a freshman, but she’s already one of the best 800 runners in the nation. She won the event at the District 10-5A meet by nearly 13 seconds, running 2:09.57 — a time that ranks third in the state and No. 7 in the nation. She also won the 1,600 in 5:03.90.

Lovejoy sophomore Amy Morefield won the girls 3,200 in 10:58.02, good for 20th-best in the state. Littlefield and Morefield teamed with Chloe Schaeffer and Bella Landrum to win the 4x400 relay in 3:56.81, the 16th-best time in Texas.

District 12-5A

The Lancaster girls, who have won a UIL-record 12 team state championships, crushed the competition at the District 12-5A meet, winning by 242 points over runner-up South Oak Cliff. Lancaster won all three relays — the 4x100 (47.56), 4x200 (1:41.84) and 4x400 (4:10.89) — and 13 of the 14 individual events. Chazmin Wilson won three individual events (800, 1,600 and 3,200), while Ashyiria Savage (100 meters, 300 hurdles), Jalyn Williams (200, long jump) and Kianni Moore (shot put, discus) won two apiece.

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The seven-time state champion Lancaster boys won their district team title by 59.5 points over SOC. Lancaster’s winning time of 41.47 in the 4x100 relay ranks No. 14 in the state, and Trevon Levingston won the 400 (48.99) and 800 (1:58.58) and Kendrick Jones won the 110 hurdles (15.35) and 300 hurdles (40.47).

District 13-5A

Mesquite Poteet junior Kendrick Smallwood won the boys 300 hurdles by three seconds at the 13-5A meet by running 37.18 — the second-best time in the nation, behind the 37.08 run by Bryce McCray of Richmond George Ranch, according to MileSplit.com. Smallwood won the 110 hurdles by more than a second, running 13.82 to rank among the top five in the nation.

Vanderbilt signee Cameron Fawcett of Highland Park won the girls 3,200 by one minute and ran 10:55.09, which ranks 17th in the state, and she won the 1,600 in 4:57.51 and ran on the winning 4x400 relay that ran 4:01.64 and won by 11 seconds. Highland Park’s girls won nine of the 11 running events, including all three relays, and won the team title by 140 points over Crandall. Highland Park’s Isabel Blaylock won the 400 (1:00.30) and 800 (2:17.35) and ran on the 4x400 relay that included Fawcett, Elle Thompson and Raina Pietrzak.

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