SportzBuzz - June 2025 | The Buzz Magazines

By Todd Freed, Staff writer | May 27, 2025

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STATE CHAMPIONS With its dramatic victory in the 4x400 meter relay on the final race of the meet, the Lamar Texans captured the UIL Boys 6A State Track & Field Championship.

With its dramatic victory in the final race of the state meet, the Lamar Texans captured the UIL 6A Boys State Track and Field Championship. The Texans claimed the championship by winning the 4x400 meter relay in a time of 3:11.94 to edge out Killeen Shoemaker by six points for the state title.

“Going into the mile relay (4x400 meters) we knew we had to win to get the state championship,” said Texans boys track and field coach Gerrick Green. “Our four runners had set the state record in the mile relay just a couple of weeks earlier at regionals so I simply told them that this is our event and to just go out there and take care of business.”

As it stood, the Texans foursome of Ryan Johnson, Bailey Hashmi, Devin Carpenter, and Jordan Godfrey had not only set a state record at regionals in the mile relay but also ran the nation’s fourth fastest time ever, setting the stage for even more heroics in an electrifying finale to the state meet.

“We were in front going into the final handoff but there was a bobble on the exchange and Jordan literally did a 360-spin as he took the baton and took off to pull out the win over the final 400 meters,” said Green. “It was pretty amazing.”

Earlier in the meet, Hashmi, Carpenter, and Godfrey teamed with Kayden Falls for a third-place finish in the 4x100 meter relay to also score valuable points for the Texans.

The state title was a half-century in the making, given Lamar hadn’t won a state championship in boys track and field since 1956. “We knew we had an outside chance of winning state, but it was going to be difficult. It was all pretty surreal. The support we had from a big following from Lamar, who came to Austin for the meet, was also amazing,” added Green.

PILE ON IN The Kinkaid Falcons celebrated the SPC Baseball Championship with a 4-1 victory over the Episcopal Knights in the SPC title game. (Photo: David Shutts Photography)

In baseball, the Kinkaid Falcons captured the SPC title with a 4-1 victory over rival Episcopal in the SPC Championship Final. “This was a senior-led team with a culture and camaraderie that was off the charts,” said Falcons head coach Steve Maas.

In the championship win over Episcopal, Falcons senior and Texas Longhorn signee Jack Paris fired a three-hitter with eight strikeouts to lead the way, while fellow senior and designated hitter Kristopher Carlson connected on a two-run single in the sixth inning to help propel the victory.

Along the way all season, Maas lauded the play of many other senior standouts, including catcher and Rice University signee Landon Layhew, who owned a .333 batting average with four home runs while playing outstanding defense behind the plate. In addition, shortstop Cooper Chambers, a two-sport athlete who will play both baseball and football at Trinity University, hit for a .300 average. “Cooper is the best defensive shortstop I’ve ever had the opportunity to coach,” said Maas. “He also stole 19 of 20 bases this season.”

In addition, senior first baseman Marcus Harris was a powerful force connecting on seven home runs this past season. Harris, Paris, Layhew, and Chambers were freshmen on the Falcons 2022 SPC Championship team.

Yet another senior who played a huge role all season, according to Maas, was pitcher Isaac Ly, who posted the victory in the Falcons SPC semifinal victory over Houston Christian. “Our senior class leaves a blueprint for success behind,” said Maas. “It’s going to be hard to replace, but it’s now the job of our underclassmen to follow their path.”

ON THE FAST TRACK The St. Thomas Eagles put forth a dominant performance to capture the TAPPS Division 1 State Track & Field Championship by a 61-point margin.

It was sheer dominance for the St. Thomas Eagles, who captured the TAPPS Division 1 State Track and Field Championship. The Eagles won the meet by a lofty 61 points for their ninth state championship in the last 20 years. “It was really exciting to see,” said Eagles head coach Nathan Labus. “We scored points in virtually every event across the meet.”

Scoring a remarkable number of points for St. Thomas was senior Edward Bocock, who was named the Athlete of the Meet. Along with running on the winning mile relay team, the Rice University signee also won the long jump while additionally finishing third in the 110-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles, plus taking second place in the triple jump.

The Eagles posted victories in all three relay races. Logan Branting, Derek Stevenson, Damarcus Batiste, and Blake Coogan teamed up to set a meet record in winning the 4x100 meter relay in 41.35 seconds, while the very same foursome finished first in the 4x200 meter relay. In the mile relay, Bocock, Caleb Soluren, Ryan Bordas, and Logan Debose captured the gold medal. Back in the field events, Elijah Henry also won gold for St. Thomas in the triple jump.

Editor’s note: Todd Freed is the host and executive producer of H-Town High School Sports, which airs Saturday at 10:30 p.m. on CW39 and Monday-Thursday on AT&T SportsNet SW. To submit high school sports news for possible inclusion in SportzBuzz, please email [email protected].