Bracken Christian Track Team Aims to Run

Distance Runner Barrett Corey

Not to take anything away from Senior Kevin Knapick, but Bracken Christian will be concentrating more on the Track than the Field part at the State Meet starting this Friday and Saturday in Waco.

Bracken will be competing in the 2A Division and the top four finishers qualified for the right to represent their school before the school year closes.

BCS will have 12 students vying for the chance to bring home more hardware from this track season.

Katy Wilmotte finished first in the 3200 Meter Run at the Regional Meet. Her second place finish in the 1600 Meter Run will also allow her to garner more points for the Team.

Wilmotte finished with a time of 13:09 last year competing as a Sophomore at the State Meet and she qualified two weeks ago with a best time of 12:53 for this season.

The good news is that the 3200 and 1600 Meter Runs will be run on two different days giving those runners time to recoup from that draining race.

“Katy finished third at State last year,” Head Coach Terri Sanders started. “She knows what she is capable of doing and with the right stride and with her confidence will allow her to finish strong.”

Wilmotte was one of the major contributors for the State Champion Cross Country team earlier this Fall Season.

“She will know the field and who the rabbits are and the 2A South Region is strong,” Coach Sanders continued. “Katy trains hard and never loses control.”

Barrett Corey will also be running the 3200 and 1600 meter runs in the meet. Corey finished second and third respectfully at the South Region Meet.

“This is very good distances for Barrett,” Coach Sanders noted. “He is practicing well and he is healthy and once again the South Region is tougher giving him a good chance for a good showing.”

Corey has run a five minute 1600 and 11:18 for the 3200 Meter Run this season.

Kevin Knapick will be representing BCS as the only Field event participant. Kevin finished second at the South Region in the Discus and has a best throw of 120 feet this year.

Coach Sanders was complimentary of Kevin, “He has great form and technique, he has been much more consistent with his throws this year…last year the winner had a throw of 142 feet and the second place finisher had 117 feet….this should help give him a chance to make All State.”

Senior Grady Achilles is not a stranger to this venue, this young man is the defending State Champion in both the 100 and 200 Meter Dash.

With that being said, Grady’s third place finish in the 200 Meter Dash at the Regional Meet might give other runners a sense of this being his waterloo.

“He (Grady) felt tight and he knew to go to State he would just have to finish in the top four runners to advance,” Coach Sanders said. “He played it wise not to chance an injury so now he can concentrate for this week.”

Grady has a best of 10.80 in the 100 Meter and 23.20 for the 200 Meter Dash this season.

Those two runs would put Mr. Achillies in the UIL 3A State Meet giving you a good indication of where he wants to finish his Senior year….on the Medal Stand.

Grady will also have another chance for Gold running in the 4×100 Meter Relay.

Austin Wilkinson, Davis Scott, Eli Achilles, and Grady Achilles will be trying to improve on there 45.6 best this campaign.

“We had ugly hand offs so it was huge to make it,” Coach Sanders said in commenting on the Relay team finishing in third place at the Regional Meet. “Austin (Wilkinson) had issues with his knee right before District, but if our hand offs are as they should be then we will have a chance to win.”

Coach Sanders has changed the order of the Relay Team and hopes that might help improve on their time.

Eli Achilles is coming off shoulder surgery and Davis Scott is replacing Knapick after he had hamstring problems and now you can see how this team will need to be clicking on all cylinders to reel the other schools in for a chance to place and/or win this event.

The Girls 4×200 Relay team of Sierra Rayl, Kimmie Burbank, Hannah Moore, and Karagan Day ran a season best of 1:55.50 and finished third at the Regional Meet.

Rayl and Moore are Freshman and the youth continues with Day finishing her Sophomore year, while Burbank is the elder statesman as a Junior.

“I will be amazed when I see the results from this group of girls,” Coach Sanders said excitedly. “I changed the order of this foursome by bringing Burbank out of the blocks and finishing with Moore on the anchor.”

“They have not been as consistent on the hand offs and experience will make them better…Sierra is a good runner and Hannah, you don’t want to get in her way…she has a lot of perseverance and will do whatever she can to finish strong….All these girls will fight.”

Erin Brownlee finished fourth in the 800 Meter Run in her last meet and will look for finishing strong this weekend.

“Erin is a fighter and if she gets within reach of the pack, then she will get it,” Coach Sanders said confidently. “She knows her competition and she has great determination and will get the job done….she is just a good athlete and she trains hard.”

Brownlee ran a 2:33.00 at her qualifying meet and based on what Coach said above, her fourth place finish could just be as easy with a higher finish.

Bracken Christian takes the cinders starting this Friday and The ReSporter can hardly wait to report on how these athletes performed next week.

Good Luck Bracken Warriors!!