Clockwise from bottom left: Bobby Hamilton attempts the high jump. Angelica Sanchez streaks down the track. Josh Barbero clears a hurdle. The 7th-grade boys' undefeated 1600 relay team. The 7th-grade Lady Badger record breakers: Angelica Argo, Faith Veroneau, Sierra Rash, Morgan Rogers, Angelica Sanchez, Catherine Bloomfield and Kassidy Mason. Julie Mize in midair as she bolts through the hurdles. With the home stands full of fans, the Lampasas Middle School track program put on a show for the whole district to see.

In their own town, Lampasas was the only team at the Highland Lakes District Meet to score over 100 points with all four of their teams. LMS was led by the eighthgrade girls, who won first place.

The eighth-grade boys took second, and the seventh-grade girls' and boys' teams both finished third.

In all, the Lampasas squads accumulated more total points than any other school and broke eight LMS records in the process.

"I couldn't be happier," LMS athletic director Jim Burks said. "It shows a lot of depth.

PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE "We came in with a lot of confidence and expecting to win."

The local athletes did just that.

And they did a lot of it.

In addition to the eighth-grade girls' championship performance, Lampasas earned 13 gold medals and had 48 top-three showings.

Some individual highlights from the two-day meet held at Lampasas High School included Esidro Arce's 8:19.17 record-breaking performance in the 2400-meter run and the seventh-grade boys' new benchmark in the 400 relay.

Rickie Keese, Chism Carpenter, Avery Gary and Marco Munoz rewrote the record book with a 4:06.17 relay run. Even more impressive than the spurts of speed displayed by the team in the 400 relay was the consistency by the same group in the 1600 relay.

The group won gold in the event to finish the season undefeated.

"It was just a bountiful year," Burks said. "We broke eight records, and that was without hosting the Badger Relays."

Lampasas' regular-season home meet was canceled due to weather.

Joining Arce in the LMS record books for the eighth-grade boys was Kleg Kennedy, who cleared 3- 8 in the high jump. The leap earned him gold in the event.

Cody Crofoot (134-7 discus) and Beau Webb (9-6 pole vault) both won gold medals. Crofoot also posted a first-place finish in the 300 hurdles with a time of 45.40.

For the third-place seventhgrade boys, Rickie Keese broke the 400 record, clearing the stretch in 59.06. Chism Carpenter (8-6), Cutter Estep (7-6) and Steven Jazdyk (7-6) finished first, third and fourth, respectively, in the pole vault.

The district champion eighthgrade Lady Badgers won gold in the discus (Kelsi Gilseth), 100 hurdles (Julie Mize) and the 800 relay (Jeweliane Bienbenu, Mercedes Murphy, Miranda Maceyra and Kailey Davis).

Not to be overlooked, the seventh-grade girls made some history of their own, breaking four school records.

Catherine Bloomfield won gold with her 15.84 time in the 100 hurdles, and Kassidy Mason posted a 5:51.32 in the 1600.

A pair of Lady Badgers now share the record in the pole vault, as Morgan Rogers and Sierra Rash each cleared 7-0.

The 4x100 relay team also set a new standard with a 54.33 performance.

Burks said much of the school's success is due to the support system around the program.

"I attribute a ton of it to [the fact] that I have a great group of people here at the middle school," Burks said. "We preach teamwork to the kids, and then our teachers and our administration back it up because we know we can count on them."

This marks the second year in a row Lampasas has broken out the eraser and wiped clean the record books. Last year, Lampasas broke 14 school records.

"You're either getting better every day or you're getting worse," Burks said. "You're never going to stay the same."

If the last two years are any indication, Lampasas is only going to get better from here on out.

For full results from the Highland Lakes district meet, please see Tuesday's edition of the Lampasas Dispatch Record.