'You let it fly': Junction's Brylee Stewart wins gold in memory of her late brother

AUSTIN — Heading into the fourth throw of a tight Class 2A discus competition, Junction's Brylee Stewart needed something special to tighten her grip on the gold medal.

Indeed, something special was what her morning in Austin was all about. Drawing on the inspiration of her late brother Zayne, who passed away last month at age 15, Stewart summoned up her winning throw of 135-feet, 2-inches that secured gold, a year after she struck bronze at state.

More: UIL State Championships results

"He was there with me," Stewart said of her brother. "I told him — on that fourth throw, actually — I told him, 'Bubba, you grab it, you let it fly.' I know he was there with me the whole way."

While Stewart led wire-to-wire, that fourth throw was essential, as Kiana Roberson of Albany, who had the best regional mark in the field, tossed the discus 134-5 on her fifth throw. Stewart had done enough to hold that off.

"I'm really excited, I came in a little nervous, there's a lot of great girls here so I knew I had to get out and fight," said Stewart, who will throw for Harding University next year. "I'm very blessed. My brother passed away less than a month ago, so I knew he was with me this whole day. I'm very, very blessed to be here."

Logan Prater takes silver in triple jump

Logan Prater's busy Friday at the UIL State Championships didn't begin the way she wanted it to, but she drew on her wealth of state meet experience to bounce back with a silver medal in the triple jump, the second of her four events.

The junior began her meet by finishing fifth in the long jump, where she was the defending champion, but mentally set that aside and got a big result in the triple jump.

"It felt really good," said Prater, who finished second in the triple to San Augustine's Jatoryia Barnes for the second year in a row. "I was thinking in my head, 'I did not do my best in the long jump, so triple jump I'm really going to kick it in.

"It was good. I know I could have done a little better, but with the weather conditions, I know I tried my hardest and did my best."

Prater, who scored 34 points in five events at last year's state meet, went on to finish fifth in the 100 hurdles and was part of an ninth-place 4x200 relay team.

She jumped 38-5 3/4 on her third triple jump attempt to take the briefest of leads, which Barnes immediately reclaimed with the winning 39-2 on her third attempt. Neither improved in the final three rounds.

Mason wins 800-meter relay for departing coach

Coby Owen's tenure as a coach at Mason is coming to an end as he deals with health problems, which left the Punchers 4x200 team desperately wanting to send him a parting gift.

Ryne Todd, Isaiah Bishop, Carlton Schmidt and Sutten Silerio delivered. Mason's 4x200 team pulled out a victory in the final steps of a race where four teams finished within 1.05 of each other, as Silerio was able to outlean Timpson 1:28.39-1:28.51.

"It means everything," Bishop said. "We know our coach is leaving after this year, he's been having health problems. We wanted to run for him and let him leave on a good note."

"This means a lot," Todd said. "All the hard work we put in and it pays off. We did it for coach Owens, his last year in Mason, we owe it all to him. And God."

The Puncher team of Silerio, Bishop, Hunter Bradley and Schmidt was a close second to Refugio in the 4x400 and took second in the team chase to Refugio with 42 points.

Mason girls win mile relay

The Punchers had a good day all around in the relays, as the girls team of Kamryn Loeffler, Brooklyn Gleghorn, Emma McCrea and Eliza Cope struck gold in the 1,600 relay. They trailed Panhandle almost throughout, but Cope closed with a split of 57.79 seconds to rally her team to victory in the final 100 meters.

Mason won in 3:58.74 to Panhandle's 4:01.07.

"I knew we had a really strong team and I thought we could do it," Cope said. "I did get a little scared when we were in second but I was pretty confident we could do it."

Junction's Caldwell finishes second

Aiden Caldwell's sister Alexis was a sophomore track athlete and cheerleader at Junction in 2017 when she was killed after being struck by a car.

Running for her, sophomore Aiden Caldwell took second at the line of the 300 hurdles, leaning past a falling Jkoby Williams of Beckville to claim silver in 39.92-39.94. Albany's Adam Hill won in 38.75.

"It means the world for me," Caldwell said. "I always wanted to make state since I saw my sister run and that was her dream. She couldn't do it. I always wanted to get to state for her. I'm glad I could."

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Junction's Brylee Stewart wins gold in memory of her late brother