Published: May 17, 2009 12:03 am      

Commerce, Farmersville athletes advance to state meet

COMMERCE — Last year Charla Craddock of Farmersville and Terrance Hawkins from Commerce just missed making it to the state track and field meet with third-place finishes at their region meets.

The two competitors took care of business this year at the Region II-3A meet at Texas A&M University-Commerce, winning events to advance to the University Interscholastic League’s state track and field championships on June 5-6 in Austin.

Craddock is advancing to state in three events after winning the triple jump and 100-meter dash on Saturday to go with Friday’s win in the long jump.

Craddock leaped 38 feet 1 inch in the triple jump to win by nearly two feet. Taylor Utsey of Liberty-Eylau was second at 36-5.

Craddock’s victory margin in the 100-meter dash was closer. She clocked a time of 12.05 seconds to win by .12 over Shanetria Thomas from Liberty-Eylau.

Craddock took the long jump event on Friday with a leap of 18-7 1/4.

Hawkins delighted a hometown crowd by winning the boys 400-meter dash with his time of 50.55. Justin Chambers of Kaufman was second at 50.80. Phillip McEntyre of Community wound up seventh with a 52.97.

“I felt good,” said Hawkins. “I was relaxed.”

Hawkins tried a tough double last year at regional in the 100 and 400, placing third in the 100 and fifth in the 400. He chose not to try that same double this year.

“I couldn’t do it,” he said.

Hawkins said his goal now is to “win state.”

The Commerce senior hasn’t picked out a university to attend yet but wants to run for Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Torie Talkington of Emory Rains wound up fourth in the girls 400-meter dash finals with her time of 1:01.86. Simone Brickley from Dallas Madison won the race at 58.08.

Michael Thompson from Farmersville finished fifth in the boys shot put with a heave of 47-2 1/2. Whitesboro’s Hayden Baillio, who ranks No. 2 in the nation behind a thrower from New Jersey, set a new regional record with his winning toss of 69-4 1/2. Baillio won the event by nearly 14 feet.

Community’s Olivia Williams, who was sixth in the girls discus on Friday (107-4), finished eighth in the shot put on Saturday with a throw of 34-1/2. Emily Atkins of Crandall set a new regional record in the shot put with her winning throw of 43-10 1/2.

Argyle captured the boys and girls team titles by only two points.

Argyle won the 4x400 relay at 4:02.72 to claim the girls team title by an 83-81 margin over Liberty-Eylau. Liberty-Eylau needed to finish second in the 4x400 to lock up the regional title but wound up third behind Prosper.

Argyle’s boys outpointed Kennedale 78-76 to claim the boys team title. Kennedale needed to win the 4x400 relay for the regional team championship but finished .04 behind Kaufman (3:24.10). Argyle needed a third-place finish in that final race to win the boys team championship and did just that by only .05 over Celina.

The meet director, Rich Lawrence, and starter, Jerry Cook, are both stepping down from their posts and were recognized by A&M-Commerce athletic director Carlton Cooper.