Duncanville smashes national record in 4x200 relay, just misses state title in 4x100

AUSTIN — Duncanville just missed breaking a national record in the most anticipated 4x100-meter relay race in U.S. history Saturday night.

A little over an hour later, with two runners battling cramps, Duncanville got a second shot at history and destroyed the national record in the 4x200 relay.

After running in the open 100 meters one event earlier, Brayden Williams and Caden Durham turned right around and teamed up with Ayson Theus and Dakorien Moore to stun the packed house at Mike A. Myers Stadium by winning the Class 6A state title in 1:22.25. That was more than a second faster than the previous national record of 1:23.25 that was run by The Woodlands at the state meet in 2018.

“We practice for it every day,” said Durham, a four-star running back who has signed with LSU for football and track. “Coach told us we were going to have to do it in back-to-back races, so we just kept preparing for it, and at the meet, the moment was natural for us. It feels amazing to come out on top and break the record.”

After finishing third in the 100 meters in 10.46, and after running the anchor leg on Duncanville’s state runner-up 4x100 relay team, Durham said his legs “were cramping the whole race” in the 4x200. But you wouldn’t have known it from the celebration at the end of the race.

As Moore crossed the finish line, he raised his arm in celebration and then gave Durham a chest-bump. Moore, a five-star wide receiver who is the state’s No. 1 recruit in football for the Class of 2025, then blew kisses to the crowd as Durham yelled “Let’s go, let’s go,” over and over.

“My legs were cramping up when I was in the blocks for the 4x200, but I knew I had to push through it for the team,” said Williams, who ran the leadoff leg on the 4x200 after running third leg on the 4x100 and taking sixth in the open 100. “We had something special coming, and I had to fight through it and just run. We’ve been working since January, December, and it feels great to have all of that work pay off for us.”

Duncanville had to break the national record to win its second straight state title in the 4x200. Katy Tompkins was the runner-up in 1:22.72, also running faster than the previous national record.

That victory helped Duncanville finish second in the team standings with 61 points. Humble Atascocita won the meet’s final event, the 4x400 relay, with the nation’s second-best time (3:10.26) and won the team title with 70 points. Duncanville was third in the team standings going into the 4x400 relay, but it finished second in the event in 3:11.51 (third-best in the nation for 2024) and passed Katy Tompkins in the team standings.

Conditions were perfect for a national record in the 4x100 relay earlier in the night, with the fastest field in U.S. history and perfect weather that included no wind and temperatures in the high 70s on a cloudy day. Six of the top 17 times in national history had been run earlier this season by teams in Saturday’s race, with Humble Atascocita setting the national record with a 38.92 and also running 39.68, Duncanville having run 39.65 and 39.73, Galena Park North Shore having run 39.96 and Katy Tompkins having run 40.01.

They put on a show, with the top four teams all breaking 40 seconds Saturday night. Atascocita’s team of Oklahoma football pledge Tory Blaylock, Iowa track signee Landon Fontenot, TCU track signee Jordan Parker and LSU football/track signee Jelani Watkins won in 39.14, now the second-best time in national history.

Theus, Moore, Williams and Durham ran the third-best time on the all-time national list, 39.47, but had to settle for a second straight state runner-up finish in the event. And to think, the national record going into 2024 was 39.76 by Fort Worth O.D. Wyatt in 1998, a time that is now seventh-best all-time, with Atascocita and Duncanville each having run faster than that three times this season.

“Coach told us whatever happens, happens [in the 4x100],” Durham said. “Don’t get down on yourself and just run fast [in the 4x200].”

It has been quite a year for Durham, Moore and Theus. They were all standouts on Duncanville’s football team that won a second straight Class 6A Division I state title this fall.

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