Gaither Cowboys Track Team Sends Six Athletes to Regionals

On a day when all eyes were going to be on sophomore Kiana Bryant, junior Paul Barrett stole the show. Barrett qualified in all four events he was entered in, winning the district championship in three of them and playing a vital role in the boys 4x400m miraculous comeback.

The Cowboys had solid team performances. The boys improved from a 30-point, 5th place finish to a 4th place 77.5-point performance; better than doubling their point total. The girls went from a 51-point 5th place finish to an 87-point 4th place finish. 

It was a fateful day for Gaither. Gigi Petion of Alonso, the reigning district champion in high jump, sprained his knee doing triple jump and was scratched from the high jump. Petion would have easily repeated as district champ, but his injury opened the door for Barrett and Alonso teammate Brandon Holloway.

Holloway and Barrett were both very busy with their other events, so high jump lasted well into the afternoon as the bar kept getting higher and higher.

Barrett was jumping out of his mind. His best jump last year at districts was 5 feet 10 inches. With just Barrett and Holloway remaining, the bar was set at 6 feet. Barrett was working very hard at it. It took him three jumps to clear 5 foot 10 inches, it took him three jumps to clear 6 feet.

Finally, Holloway could not clear the 6 foot 2 inch bar and it was up to Barrett. Barrett would need to clear 6 foot 2 inches because he would lose the tiebreaker by virtue of his number of scratches.

He got an unexpected hand from Alonso's Petion who was watching on crutches nearby, shouting out pointers to Barrett. When Barrett lined up for his third jump at 6'2", Pition came hobbling down to the field, despite protestations from his coaches. Pition huddled up with Barrett and gave him some last minute advice, even though Barrett stood to supplant his teammate for the district title. 

It worked. Barrett lined up an cleared the 6'2" bar by a leg hair, claiming the district crown. Then it was on to the hurldes.

Barrett and teammmate Carson Baker owned the hurdles at districts. Barrett took the district championship in both the 110m high hurdles and the 300m hurdles, while Baker took 3rd in the 110m hurdles and 2nd in the 300m hurdles.

The highlight of the night was the boys 4x400m relay. 

The boys team consisting of: Paul Barrett, Carson Baker, Jamari Cord, and Daniel Blanco stood no chance of qualifying after the second leg.

Alonso's Franklin Mosely blew away the field in the first leg and Gaither was behind Plant, Wharton and Chamberlain. However, a good run by Blanco got some time back, Carson Baker ran his butt off and got Gaither into 4th place going into the final leg. Somehow, Barrett still had gas left in the tank as he turned down the last straight away, still in fourth place. Barrett hit another gear and passed Wharton and Plant down the home stretch to grab second place for the boys relay team. 

There were a host of other memorable performances as well.

Sophomore Kiana Bryant took 1st place in the 100m for the second year in a row. She was edged out by Alonso's Quatasia Fantroy for the 200m crown, taking second place. Fantroy and Bryant are two of the fastest girls in the state and have a very good shot at making the state finals.

Senior Nikki Perrini got through with a second place finish in girls pole vault, while senior Chad Paquin claimed the fourth spot in boys pole vault.

Freshman Rachel Cazares came through big-time, claiming the district crown in the 800m.

The regional meet is next Wednesday at Leto High School.

Check Carrollwood Patch for continued coverage of regional action.