Palestine 4x200-meter relay takes silver in state
May 3—AUSTIN- The Palestine Wildcats track season came to a glorious close Thursday, as the Wildcats 4x200-meter and 4x100 teams both finished strong at the University Interscholastic League's state track and field meet, with the 4x200 team earning a silver medal.
Jon Denman, Ja'ron Johnson, Reese Hargers and Dreylon Spurlock etched their names into the history books, not only as the state's runners up, but also setting the all-time mark for Palestine High School. The team posted a blistering 1 minute, 26.13 second time, besting the previous mark set in 2007 by .02 seconds.
Gilmer would take home the gold in the 4x200 with a time of 1:24.71, and Iowa Colony would round out the podium, finishing third with a time of 1:26.51.
The 4x200 was not the only record breaking performance by this year's group of Wildcats, also setting a new record in the 4x100. Denman, Spurlock and Hargers were also part of the record breaking 4x100 team, which was rounded out by sophomore S'Viorean Martin. The previous record for the Wildcats had stood for over 45 years, coming all the way back in 1978, with a time of 41.4 seconds. This year's squad eclipsed that mark with a time of 41.34s, and finished fourth in the state.
The Wildcats and LadyCats proved themselves to be one of the fastest squads in East Texas this year, and put the rest of the state on notice going into next year, as Hargers will be the lone graduate off the state qualifying relay teams in 2024.
