The Lake Ridge Eagle boys track team competed in the Area Track Competition last Thursday afternoon, April 20th, 2017 at Tiger Stadium in Lancaster, TX.

Individuals, along with members of relay teams, had to qualify for the area meet; in hopes of qualifying for the regional meet taking place this upcoming Friday And Saturday.

The Eagles will take away some confidence as there hard work showed by taking second place in the boys team score.

Zion Smith, junior, was confident going into the meet and was very focused on his races.

Smith explained that his season has been going As planned. He is very excited for whats to come for the rest of the season.

“During the 800 my mindset going into the race was very confident. I knew I had a faster time than all my guys in my heat so I used that to my advantage,” Smith said.

Smith placed 1st in the 800m with a time of 1:57.8, and his 4 by 400 meter relay team (comprised of Jeremiah Curry, Zion Smith, Reese Bowman, and Chris Scott) placed 2nd with a new school record of 3:15.1.

Jason Bean, junior, was proud that he and his 4 by 200 meter relay team were able to place second and qualify for regionals. However, he felt that his last leg run could’ve been better toward getting the first place he wanted.

“I believe that we did well, but not as well as we’ve run in the past meets. I felt like I ran well, but I could’ve kicked sooner to get the first we were wanting,” Bean said.

Bean has high expectations for himself and his relay team as they approach the regional meet this upcoming weekend.

“My only goal for this week is for our relay team to qualify for the state track meet,” Bean said.

Coach Michael Pruitt, was very proud of what his athletes were able to accomplish at the area meet. He is just looking forward to whats to come as championship season continues these next couple of weeks.

“I was very pleased with how the area track meet went. We were able to duplicate what we did at area and for some they were able to better what they did at district the previous week in their events. Overall,  I think that this really gave the kids some confidence heading into the regional meet,” Pruitt said.

Pruitt has a simple goal in mind.

“My main goal for the boys this Saturday is to simply get as many athletes as we can to qualify for the state track meet,” Pruitt said.

The Lake Ridge Eagle boys track team will be competing Friday, April 28th and Saturday, April 29th at Maverick Stadium in the Region 2 – 5A Track Championships. This meet is a state qualifying meet.