Texas Relays Boys Recap: Boling And Carrozza Dominate


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This past weekend, everyone headed to the Capitol city for Texas Relays, one of the best mid-season talent shows in track and field.

Matthew Boling, naturally, stole the show in the long jump, the 4x100 meter finals, and the 100 meter finals over the course of the weekend.

On Friday night, Boling started us off in the long jump with a US #1 jump of 26-3.5; a leading jump birthed after only one previous attempt of 25-7.5. Safe to say he closed out the third day of the Relays with a lot to celebrate; however, he was far from finished.

Early Saturday afternoon, Boling anchored the Houston Strake Jesuit 4x1 team to a very tight win in the final against Duncanville, who was anchored by Illinois Football commit Marquez Beason. Both teams finished in 40.86- a finish that was left up to decision by the scoreboard.

A couple of hours later, Boling proved to everyone that he was certainly not done throwing down nation leading times, winning the 100 meter dash finals in a blazing 10.20, beating out his former US #1 10.22 effort.

Boling was not the only male athlete to give the rest of the country something to chase after. Austin St. Stephens senior Crayton Carrozza opened up his track season at his future home track with a 1:50.64 in the Invitational Boys 800 Meter Finals, finishing 5th in the collegiate field and good for a new US #1. It was the first time we have seen Carrozza on the track this season, crushing last year's season opener of 1:54 in the 800 by a landslide and nearly matching his 1:50.38 personal best from the 2018 season.

Meanwhile, the high school boys' pole vault pit also gave the Texas Relays crowd something to clap about. Jacob Herrscher of Greenhill vaulted a Texas #1 height of 17-0, the first jump to clear over the 17-foot mark in Texas so far this season. This is a personal best for Herrscher by nearly half of a foot, earning him accolades as one of the top vaulters in the nation at a US #3 mark.

There were several other season best marks in the pole vault, as well as some school records, in light of a huge tail wind that had an impact on the jumps. Several guys were able to use the wind to maximize their speed and use it to their advantage. Making necessary step and standard adjustments gave the boys a chance to get on some bigger poles and shoot for the big heights. That includes eventual winner Max Manson of Monarch High School (CO) who had to climb as high as 17-3 to get the win.

Overall, there were outstanding relay showings from the 4x100s all of the way to the DMRs. Among them were three sub-41 efforts in the 4x100, a throwback type Lancaster/DeSoto battle in the 4x200 and a new US #1 DeSoto win in the 4x400 to end the meet.

Texas leaves the weekend preparing to head into Districts next week, where we will begin to see the performances that will lead us into the championship season. If the marks are anything like what we saw at the University of Texas, then we are in for meets to look forward to.