Plano East senior Malachi Terry, left, broke the school record in the 200-meter dash at last week’s area meet and also qualified for the regional meet in the 100. Photo by Andy Redmond / C&S Media
By David Wolman
The Plano East track and field team advanced 10 entries from last Friday’s Area 5-6A/6-6A meet at Denton Braswell’s Carrico Stadium to the Region I-6A meet, and a school record also was broken.
For the second time this season, Malachi Terry broke the school record in the boys 200-meter dash. He placed second at Carrico Stadium with a time of 20.96 seconds. Terry added a regional qualification in the 100, placing third in 10.48.
Kourtney Houston led Plano East’s efforts in the field events. The sophomore qualified for regionals in the girls shot put and discus. Houston placed third in the shot put with a distance of 39 feet, 2.75 inches and fourth in the discus with a throw of 120-11.
Naomi Williams placed fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 36-5.
Liana Wright also qualified for regionals in two events. Fresh off winning the district title in the 100-meter dash, the Plano East sophomore placed second at the area meet in 11.59. She also teamed with Lauryn Bowen, Ce’Nyiah Brown and Simone Heard in the 4×100 relay, with Plano East placing second in 46.86.
The Lady Panthers will compete in two relays at the regional meet, set for May 1-2 at Maverick Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington. Plano East’s 4×200 relay of Bowen, Kosiso Ngadi, Brown and Sophia Sawyerr placed third at the area meet in 1:42.
Maya Shariff placed third in the 800-meter run in 2:17.72.
After an entertaining battle in the girls 100-meter hurdles at the previous week’s District 6-6A meet, Plano East senior Caitlyn Tran found herself in another close finish against Princeton junior Sydney Smith and Plano sophomore Morgan Olschewsky.
Smith won in 13.67 seconds, while Tran was second in 13.73 and Olschewsky third in 13.79.
All three hurdlers are ranked among the top in Region I-6A, with Tran owning the fastest time, Smith the second-fastest and Olschewsky the third-fastest.
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