Fast HSer

[JGNYC]

Ronald Arajs of El Paso has the 4th fastest HS 100 meter time in the country going into this weekend.
His time is 10.40.

 

[SteveB]

Ronalds is having a good year. He is a foreign exchange student from Latvia. I think that he has run as fast as 10.38 and has a number of times under 10.50.

I have been following the Texas HS track season, but I was going to wait to post until the state meet. Here are some notable performances from white HS sprinters in Texas at their district meets:

- Staton Jobe out of Austin Westlake ran a 10.49 at his district meet and has a PB of 10.35. He is a kid who was an All-State WR, but was snubbed by the Big 12 schools and will be playing WR for Virginia next year.
- Clint Renfro dominated the hurdles with a 13.67 in the 110mh and a 36.75 in the 300mh in his district meet, both ranked first in the state. He will be a WR for TCU next year.
- Colin Jones of Bridgeport won the 100m with a 10.39 at his district meet and was 2nd in the 200m with a 21.65. He will be playing DB for TCU next year.
- Clint Stubbs of Atlanta Tx won the 200m at his district meet with a 21.28 which is the 2nd fastest time in the state. Clint is the brother of UT star outfielder Drew Stubbs. He will be joining his brother next year on the UT baseball team.
- Blake Collier is a kid who is going to play linebacker for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. He is 6'2" 210 lbs and he placed 1st in the 100m (10.94) and 2nd in the 200m (22.09) in his district meet. He is going to be fun to watch next football season.Edited by: SteveB

 

[surfsider]

Great info SteveB. Sounds like all the white sprinting talent is being drawn off by other sports. Do you know if of these guys are planning to run track also?It seems to me if they don't run track that no matter how successful they are in their respective collegiate careers in other sports esp. football that by their senior year all will probably not have the requisite speed to be successful at the "next level".

 

[white is right]

Your right surfsider, to play football most players have to fillout and to fillout you lose speed in general. The only sprinters(I can think of) who remained world class near the end of his collegiate football career were Bob Hayes and OJ Simpson and both competed in the 60's before juicing added muscle mass to the average football players size....

 

[surfsider]

That is true enough but my thought was that the talent evaluators will generally overlook the obvious speed that white players may possess, especially at the skill positions, unless the player in question has currrent speed credentials.

 

[white is right]

Oh right "speed", timed fast but not game speed, right Bowden speak........

 

[JGNYC]

Thanks for the update on these speedy HSers from Texas.
I did a little investigating and found that Colin Jones ran a 10.39 this weekend at his district championship.
That is a smoking time for a HS sprinter.
Intersetingly, he is listed on Rivals.com as a football prospect with a 40 time of only 4.65.
There is no way that time can be right.

 

[SteveB]

Intersetingly, he is listed on Rivals.com as a football prospect with a 40 time of only 4.65. There is no way that time can be right.

Yes, I laughed when I saw that too. I saw an article in one of the papers about him. He said that he was running his 40's in the 4.38 sec range.

 

[surfsider]

I saw a good 400 performance from Lukas Hulett at the KU Relays. He did a 47.28 prelim and won the final in 47.39. Looked easy for him. He is from Bellevue East in Omaha and has signed with Nebraska.

 

[Freedom]

4.69 probably on grass. According to one article, top sprinters, on a bad day, will run the 40 in the 4.8 range!
40 times are easily doctored.

 

[SteveB]

Ronlads Arajs will be running this weekend at the TAPPS (TX private schools) State Meet. The TAPPS 100m record is 10.80 sec, so he should be able to destroy it.

This past weekend were the Texas Regional Meets and some of the guys mentioned above advanced on to the state meet. For some reason Staton Jobe did not run or was DQ'd. Too bad because he had a shot at the 5A state finals. I added a few more names that have a shot in their divisions.

Kyle Rash, Waxahachie, 100m, 10.83 sec.
Colin Jones, Bridgeport, 100m, 10.84 sec.
Clint Stubbs, Atlanta, 200m, 21.72 sec (Clint coasted in this race winning by over 0.5 sec)
Clay Waggoner, Palo Duro, 400m, 48.53 sec (ran a 48.35 in the prelims)
Justin Amos, Boerne, 400m, 48.58 sec
Jordan Traub, Boerne, 200m, 21.79 sec
Clint Renfro, SL Carroll, 110mH, 14.17 sec, 300mH, 37.20 sec (Clint coasted in the 300mH, winning by over 0.5 sec)

I can't to see how these guys do at the state meet in a couple of weeks. They all have a shot at winning their divisions.

 

[white lightning]

Thanks for the great updates guys.I haven't been following h.s. track as much lately.I need to try to go to Dyestat.com a little more to keep up.Then again,maybe not,you guys got it covered.

I'm curious to see how R.Arajs does.Do you guys know if he is getting any scholarship offers for track.I sure hope so.There are so many good athletes coming from Europe these days.Good luck to him.

 

[SteveB]

Ronalds Araj won the TAPPS 100m state championship today with a time of 10.84. Not a record, but he is the champ. Good job.

 

[white lightning]

I have a question for you SteveB.Isn't Ronald Arajs only a junior?I believe that is what Dyestat.com said but I could be wrong.If so,to be have a p.b. in the 10.4 range is outstanding for a junior.Good luck to him as he continues to improve.

 

[SteveB]

I believe that he is a senior.

Here is a good article on Ronalds Arajs. It says that he is getting offers from UTSA, Houston, UCLA, Florida St., Miami, Arkansas,etc. He is also on the verge of qualifying for the national team in Latvia.

http://www.cathedral-elpaso.org/athletics/track/Edited by: SteveB

 

[SteveB]

Here is article that lists Ronalds Arajs as a future walkon at WR for UTEP. I guess none of the track scholarship offers panned out. I can't believe that this kid can't get a scholarship to run track for a major university. He has run a FAT 10.40 and has a 10.38 (not sure if FAT) on his list of accomplishments. Here you go free_safety, another example of an accomplished white sprinter being snubbed.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/sports/ci_3907466

 

[bigman]

quite strange, but he is not interested in football. Football is not track... he has a college track future.Edited by: bigman

 

[jacknyc]

Ronalds Arajs representing UTEP, won the 100m this weekend at the New Mexico Invitational in a time of 10.29.
The wind was over the allowable, but still a very solid performance.
Glad to see that this speedster is still at it and making progress.