See how Dallas area athletes fared in the Class 5A state track and field meet Friday.
SportsDay Staff
AUSTIN — Andrew Malan started running competitively because he had success in the mile in sixth-grade PE class.
It led him to give up soccer, a sport he had played for about nine years.
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“It was doing those miles every Monday in PE class,” Malan said. “I was always really competitive, and I ended up being really good at that. I was trying to be the fastest sixth-grader at my school, and I just kind of fell in love with it.”
The Frisco Lebanon Trail senior is now the best in the state in Class 5A, although at a longer distance.
Malan won the state title in the 3,200 meters Friday morning, running a personal best of 9:08.32. After being in sixth place through the first five laps of the eight-lap race, Malan won a sprint to the finish over the final 200 meters, outkicking Dayton’s Jaxon Asbill with a 58.12-second final lap.
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“I was hoping it would come down to a kick. That’s what I was setting up for,” Malan said. “This year I just focused a lot more on my speed and my mile pace work, so I did a lot of 400s in practice.”
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Malan has the speed to let the race come down to the final few laps, having run 1:53.98 in the 800. He won the 3,200 at every meet except the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays this year, and he won state after a fourth-place finish in the 3,200 last year with a time of 9:25.74.
No more fear
Prosper Walnut Grove junior Lauren Carrothers won a pair of medals at the state meet last year, finishing as the 5A runner-up in the triple jump and taking third in the long jump. It was a painful experience.
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Carrothers sprained her meniscus, and while she avoided a tear, it caused her to take several months off after competing at the Nike Outdoor Nationals last June.
“It was scary,” she said. “I’ve been trying to get back into jumping and getting over the fear of jumping.”
She showed no fear Friday, winning the 5A state title in the girls long jump with a wind-aided mark of 19 feet, 4 inches. She held off Mansfield Timberview’s Alexandria Drummond, who took second at 18-11.
“It felt like a good day,” Carrothers said. “It was a bummer that last jump was a scratch, but technically it felt good.”
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She still has another year of high school remaining but has already started the recruiting process, talking to Kentucky and Princeton. She still has to decide on her college home, but she knows that she wants to major in economics and psychology, with the goal to someday work as a financial advisor.
Dallas-area athletes swept the 5A titles in the long jump. Mansfield Summit senior Domonique Young won the boys competition with a wind-aided mark of 24-0.25 on his next-to-last attempt.
Carrothers won the state title in the triple jump later Friday with a personal-best mark of 41-1, completing an undefeated season in the event. She came into state ranked 22nd nationally with a previous PR of 40-11.25.
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First state title
Red Oak junior Briana Davis came into the state meet ranked fifth in the nation in the girls shot put with a personal-best throw of 51 feet, 3 inches. That was the best mark in Texas, and she was undefeated in the event.
She had to battle to win her first state title Friday.
Davis fouled on her first two throws and was in last place after a mark of 37-8.25 on her third attempt. But on throw No. 5, she produced a state championship-winning mark of 46 feet, 3.25 inches.
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She just didn’t realize she was in first after Plainview’s Ava Rushing threw 46-0 on her fifth attempt.
“I knew I threw 46, but then somebody else threw 46,” Davis said. “I thought I was in second. I didn’t even know I won.”
She had qualified for state the last two years, finishing fourth each time. She didn’t panic after trailing the other eight competitors through three throws Friday.
“I was worried, but I know the type of thrower that I am,” Davis said. “I know that I’m good, but not every day is going to be a 50-plus throwing day. I knew I just had to fight through it.”
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Davis came back later in the day and finished a heartbreaking second in the discus with a throw of 156-2. She was leading going into the sixth and final round of throws, but Rosenberg Lamar Consolidated’s Brielle Lawson denied her the state title by throwing 157-10 on her final attempt.
Nearly another Argyle win
Zack Holt was trying to give Argyle its third state champion in the boys pole vault in four years. He nearly accomplished that.
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Holt cleared 16 feet, 6 inches, as did Gregory-Portland’s Ryder Harrison. Harrison won the state title on fewer misses earlier in the competition after both missed all three attempts at 16-9.
Holt was nearly out of the competition at 16-0 but cleared the height on his third and last attempt.
Argyle’s Gator Young won in 2023 with a mark of 16-0, and he cleared 16-6 last year to win another 5A state title. Argyle has been one of the best pole vaulting schools in Texas, as Eli Barnes finished fourth at state in 2022.
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