Republic’s boys 4×100-meter relay shaved nearly half a second off its own school record Saturday at the Class 5 sectional in Waynesville, qualifying for state with a second-place finish in 42.17 seconds. It was the fourth time this year that the 4×100 record fell.
The previous mark of 42.66 was set earlier this season at the Bearcat Classic at Southwest Baptist University. The relay of Jacob Duran, Gavin Lawhon, Treyton Gray and Alex Johnson will run at the Class 5 state meet this weekend in Jefferson City.
The sectional race began with a false start that sent the field back to the blocks. Duran, who ran the leadoff leg, said he had to refocus quickly.
“I had a good start, my first one, but somebody false-started and they shot the gun,” Duran said. “I just had to reset completely… (I) caught Lebanon and then handed off to Gavin.”
Lawhon took the second leg.
“I didn’t run the best leg. I ran late off of my start and I slowed down to hand it off, but thankfully everyone around me ran with really good legs,” he said.
Gray ran the third leg and handed off to Johnson, who anchored. Gray said he was nervous that Duran had false-started, but realizing Ozark was the team disqualified helped ease his nerves.
“I saw it was Ozark, and that was a team we were in the mix with, so it kind of let some nerves go there,” Gray said. “Our handoff was a little shaky, but we’ll get that down. I just kept running my best and gave it to [Johnson] and knew he could seal the deal for us.”
Johnson knew as he watched Gray run his leg that it would be a good finish.
“I saw their handoff and we were up in the pack… and I was like, this is gonna be really good,” Johnson said. “[Gray] came around the corner. He was eating up the curve, catching guys. I was like, ‘Oh yeah, we got this.’ I got the baton and I see two people in front of me and I’m like, these are closest it’s ever been the entire year against these teams… I definitely can get these guys.”
Johnson passed one runner and closed out the race in second place. The team’s 42.17 record time is our Performance of the Week.
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