Out of Left Field: Reflecting on a fun — and humbling — weekend covering track

AUSTIN — I thought I was relatively athletic — until I covered this year’s state track and field meet.

As a 23-year-old guy, I have a leg up on many guys my age. I can run relatively fast, I’m decent at basketball and I don’t have a beer belly (yet).

But seeing athletes from all classes be so dominant in their respective track and field events really puts it into perspective.

For example, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I took up long distance running. Because of mandates, lockdowns and social distancing protocols, I had a lot of time to myself, and I found running to be therapeutic.

The best mile time I recorded during the pandemic was 5:56.69 — and I was proud of it. Most people never break six minutes.

At this year’s state track meet, every runner in the 1,600-meter run, boys and girls from all six classes, posted a better time than that.

And most of them didn’t just beat it: They crushed it.

On the boys' side, Houston Stratford’s Emanuel Galdino ran a 4:06.40, while Flower Mound’s Natalie Cook set a girls' state record, finishing in 4:40.29.

Cook’s time was more than a full minute better than mine, while Galdino’s was almost two minutes better.

For the journalist who previously thought he was sort of fast, it was humbling.

Of the many events at state, long-distance running was really the only one with which I had any experience. I was never a sprinter, hurdler, vaulter or jumper. And if you’ve seen me in person, you definitely know I wasn’t a thrower.

But if I did have experience, I know I wouldn’t be able to contend with the state qualifiers.

Even the last-place finishers at state are more athletic than 99.9% of other people, who never would be able to qualify for such an event.

For that, I can take comfort in knowing it’s not just me who would get smoked in every event by them — it’s probably you, too.

Braving the heat

Not only did the athletes’ stellar performances humble me, the Texas heat did, too.

Athletes, coaches, patrons and reporters were greeted with hellish temperatures on all three days. The worst was Saturday afternoon, when the temperature reached 100 degrees with significant humidity.

I’m an Austin native who went to college at Arizona State. Needless to say, I should be used to the heat.

But I struggled.

Those middle-of-afternoon field event sessions did a number on me, especially on Saturday. That day, I could only sit in the sun for, at most, 30 minutes before needing to cool off in the air-conditioned press box at Mike A. Myers Stadium. I was nauseous, had a pressure headache and thought I might pass out any given moment.

Part of it was sleep deprivation.

As the Reporter-News’ journalist at the meet, working with others in our network, I still worked 15-hour days three days in a row — I was very, very tired. By day three, I was in grave need of a nap, and I think that translated to an overall blah feeling that afternoon.

Also, I think my time in Wyoming took away some of my Texas toughness.

Before accepting the job at the Reporter-News, I worked at the Powell Tribune, a twice-weekly newspaper in northwest Wyoming, for 14 months. Summers there were much milder and, while I’m now much better-equipped to take on blizzards, I’ve sort of become a wimp to hot weather.

Memorable weekend

Aside from my ego dying and nearly having a heat stroke, they were an enjoyable three days.

I was treated to strong performances from Big Country athletes of every class.

Many of them played other sports that I covered earlier in the year, so it was cool to see them excel at track and field’s culminating event.

One of those was Harrison Foster. The Sweetwater senior progressively improved his times throughout the season and told me earlier in the spring that he hoped to make state in multiple events. Not only did he qualify in two events (110 hurdles, 300 hurdles), Foster was the silver medalist in the Class 4A 300 hurdles.

On the girls' side, Albany’s Sarah Cotter did something unthinkably impressive. Winning one state title is impressive enough, but Cotter won the Class 2A girls high jump only two weeks after winning the girls tennis singles championship.

It wasn’t just those two. I could list dozens of area athletes who excelled at state and showed humility while doing so.

For me, it was neat to gain more reps covering track, especially on the photography side.

I have significant experience covering football, basketball and baseball, but none of my other jobs or internships put a strong emphasis on track and field coverage. Because of this, I had to learn quickly how to shoot events and write about them.

Overall, I feel like I did a good job. I took dozens of quality action shots, my favorites coming from high jump and pole vault, and I produced multiple articles on each day of competition.

The photo of Robert Lee high jumper Noah Escamilla is one of my favorites I've ever taken in any sport.

I also enjoyed working alongside reporters from other publications. We had journalists and photographers from our sister newspapers present at state — Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Lubbock and Wichita Falls, to name a few. I hadn’t spent much time with any of their reporters, so it was nice to put faces to the names I recognized.

And I had the chance to reconnect with KXAN-Austin anchor Noah Gross, a former KTXS sports reporter and one of my best friends I’ve made in the Big Country. We spent much of Friday and Saturday sitting next to each other in the sun, complaining about the humidity.

Because of its grueling nature, state track isn’t something I’d want to happen several times a year.

As I write this column, I’m still behind on sleep and donning one of the most laughable farmer’s tans you’ll ever see.

That said, it was certainly a memorable experience in the state’s capital. I can only imagine future years covering the event will be just as special.

Carson Field is the area sports reporter for the Abilene Reporter-News. He covers primarily Big Country high school sports. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to reporternews.com.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Reflecting on a fun — and humbling — weekend covering track