PHELAN IT!
Sophomore wins crown, leads LHS contingent to regional
BY JEREMY HEATH Staff Writer

Lampasas High School sophomore Tyler Phelan won the District 25-4A title with a triple jump of 43 feet, 8 1/2 inches Monday at Lake Travis High School.

LAKE TRAVIS - Five Lampasas High School track athletes finished in the top three in their respective events at the District 25-4A Meet at Lake Travis High School, earning the opportunity to compete at the Region 4-4A Meet in San Antonio on April 25-26.

Tyler Phelan, Clay Tyner and Kooper Liverman will represent the LHS boys' team, which finished fifth overall at the district meet, four points behind fourth-place Burnet. Jennifer Howard and Alma Sandoval will represent the girls, who finished seventh. Vista Ridge won the boys' meet, topping secondplace Connally, 180-158. Vista Ridge won the girls' meet, topping second-place Hendrickson 167-139.

Phelan, a sophomore, was the highlight of the meet for LHS, winning the triple jump with a personal-best jump of 43 feet, 81/2 inches. Pflugerville Connally's Jaceal Davis led the event at 43-6 heading into Phelan's final attempt.

"It was just one of those days," Phelan said. "It just felt so good, and turned out really well. Me and the Pflugerville Connally guy kept pushing each other, and at the end, I went out and jumped and had fun."

Tyner, a senior, finished second in the high jump at 6-4, two inches behind winner Keith Benford from Connally. Tyner had been stuck on 6-2 for more than a month before hitting 6-4 during Monday's field events. Head boys' coach Jimmy Randolph said Tyner could give himself a chance to advance to the state meet with a regional jump of 6-6.

Liverman, a junior, was the final LHS athlete to qualify. He placed third in the 300 hurdles on Wednesday night, running a time of 40.67 seconds.

"Kooper is very coachable, and he does what we ask him to do," Randolph said. "Tonight, he just dug down and competed. He showed a lot of heart, a lot of fight and a lot of want."

The boys' 400 and 800 relays finished fourth, and the 1600 relay finished sixth, but all three teams ran season best times, a theme that had the Badgers in position for a fourth-place team finish before Burnet nipped them with a fourth-place finish in the 1600 relay.

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"To a man, they got after it," Randolph said. "When every kid comes out and turns in his best performances at the district meet, you can't ask for anything else."

On the girls' side, Howard, a senior high jumper, cleared 5-2 to finish two inches behind Carrie Hahn of Vista Ridge. Howard has jumped 5-4 this season.

"It was a decent height, but I'm pretty sure I can hit 5-6 or 5-8," she said. "(For the next two weeks) I'll be building up my muscles and practicing my form."

Sandoval, a senior discus thrower, muscled up for a toss of 114-11, finishing second behind Burnet thrower Felecia Kennedy's 121-6.

The LHS girls appeared poised to send a third qualifier to the regional in the 300 hurdles. Senior Courtney Carpenter, a two-time qualifier, was fighting for second place down the back stretch before tripping on the final hurdle to finish seventh.

"I really didn't know if we'd get anyone out tonight because Courtney came in seeded fourth," LHS girls' coach Trent Lancaster said. "But Courtney was running a great race and was on her way to finishing a full second better than her best time. Courtney has some (college) coaches looking at her. She'll get a chance to run again."

LHS Regional Qualifiers

Boys
Tyler Phelan, won the triple jump
Clay Tyner, second in the high jump
Kooper Liverman, third in the 300 hurdles
Girls
Jennifer Howard, second in the high jump
Alma Sandoval, second in the discus

Junior Kooper Liverman finished third in the 300 hurdles to advance to the regional meet. Senior high jumper Clay Tyner cleared 6 feet, 4 inches to finish second in the district.