Lady Eagles win 4x200 relay again, set school record

Lady Eagles win 4x200 relay again, set school record Jason Chlapek Wed, 05/08/2024 - 14:54 Image

• Lady Eagles win 4x200 relay again, set school record
• LEFT: Blayke Brackens (left) hands the baton off to Avery Thaler during the 4x200-meter relay last Thursday in Austin. RIGHT: NaKayla Conner (center) crosses the finish line for the Fairfield Lady Eagles during the 4x200. Brackens, Conner, Thaler and Madox Mitchael won the event and set a school record in the process with a time of 1:40.48. Photos by Jason Chlapek/Fairfield Recorder

Body

AUSTIN - The quartet of Blake Brackens, NaKayla Conner, Madox Mitchael and Avery Thaler will forever be etched into the legacy of Fairfield girls track and field.

The four athletes not only won the Class 3A girls 4x200-meter relay at last Thursday’s state track and field meet, they also did so in record fashion. Brackens, Conner, Mitchael and Thaler set a school record in the race with a time of 1 minute, 40.48 seconds at the state meet at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin.

This marked the second time in as many years that the Lady Eagles won the 4x200. Last year’s quartet featured Conner, Mitchael and Thaler, and another Brackens - Shadasia.

“This was a great way to cap my high school career,” Mitchael said. “It’ll give me something positive to go to U of H with.”

Mitchael and Thaler each participated in their final track and field meet last Thursday. The duo combined for seven state meet appearances and seven medals three each for Mitchael, four each for Thaler - throughout their high school careers.

“It’s surreal that this was my last meet,” Thaler said. “I wanted to make this year count knowing that this was my senior year. I knew I had to give my all because this was my last meet.”

Mitchael and Thaler each ran legs on the silver-medal 4x400 relay team in 2022 and the gold-medal 4x200 relay team in 2023 in addition to this year’s gold-medal 4x200 relay team. Thaler also won the triple jump in 2023, and ran a leg on the fifthplace 4x200 relay team in 2021.

Brackens, Mitchael and Thaler also ran legs on the eighthplace 4x400 relay team alongside senior Lillian McBean. While this was the only year that Brackens was able to run on relays with Mitchael and Thaler, she wanted to make the most of it.

“We didn’t have our 4x100 so we really wanted to win in the 4x200,” Brackens said. “We also broke the school record. It means a lot to do this with these girls. I wanted to run hard for them, especially since Avery and Madox are seniors.”

Brackens had another motivating factor. Her parents, Tony and Candice, both attended UT.

Conner also finished fourth in the 100-meter run. The format was switched during the event because of fatigue on the part of some of the 3A girls competitors.

The order of 3A girls, 3A boys, 4A girls, 4A boys was switched to 3A boys, 4A girls, 4A boys, 3A girls to allow for more recovery time for runners who participated in previous races - 4x100, 800 or 100 hurdles. This put Conner in a position where she had to run races back-to-back - the 100 then the 4x200.

“I’ve never had that happen to me before,” Conner said.

Conner didn’t seem to be bothered by it too much. She still ran the anchor leg on the 4x200 and contributed to the gold medal and school record.

“It means a lot to me,” Conner said. “I wanted it for Madox and Avery because I wanted them to leave for college with another medal.”

In addition to the 4x200 and 4x400 relays, Thaler also participated in the triple jump (sixth) and long jump (eighth). It marked the second year in a row that the senior competed in four events.

A year ago, Thaler ran legs on the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relays, and competed in the triple jump. The senior will play volleyball at Abilene Christian, and ends her track and field career with three gold medals (2024 4x200, 2023 4x200, 2023 triple jump) and one silver medal (2022 4x400).

Like Thaler, Mitchael will play at the next level. The twotime gold medalist (2024 4x200, 2023 4x200) and one-time silver medalist (2022 4x400) will play softball at Houston.

“I did distance my freshman and sophomore years, but I switched to all three relays last year and this year,” Mitchael said. “I love relays.”