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The Woodlands TX wins DyeStat 2017 Boys National Dual Meet ChampionshipPublished by
The Woodlands TX was the best boys track team of 2017 By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor It's almost difficult to fathom a high school track team with as much talent spread across the spectrum of events like The Woodlands of Conroe, Texas had this spring. The Highlanders had the greatest thrower in Texas history since Michael Carter in Adrian Piperi, a 75-foot shot put/199-foot discus guy. The team had a 10.32 100 man in junior KeSean Carter, who won the Class 6A UIL title. There was a 24-foot long jumper, a 14-foot pole vaulter, and three guys under 4:15 in the 1,600 meters. It all added up to the best track team in The Woodlands' history and the winner of DyeStat's second annual hypothetical dual meet national championship. The Woodlands beat Franklin of New Jersey 88-48 in the final. "We're not surprised, but really excited about it," The Woodlands head coach Juris Green said. "We knew we had the DNA for a pretty solid team." Pretty solid is an understatement. The Woodlands is a big school (enrollment 4,147) with a long history of successful cross country teams. But the effort to build a complete track and field program is also there. The Highlanders were strong across the board. "We want to be as successful in track as we are in cross," Green said. "We're always working on those other events." Perhaps the greatest achievement of the team's season was in the 4x200 relay, one of the marquee events at the UIL Texas state meet. The quartet of Ethan Bonner, Jacob Barrett, Jake Lanier and Carter ran 1:23.81 -- a stunning performance that put them at No. 3 all-time on the high school list. The Woodlands scored 60 points to win its state meet for the first time since 1999. But there is little doubt that the 2017 team is the best in school history and the best in the U.S. this year. "The makeup of our group was pretty unique," Green said. "We were A-typical in that we had field event guys, relays, distance and sprinters (at state)." The headliner of the group was Piperi, who recently qualified for the U.S. junior team that will compete at the Pan Am Juniors in Peru at the end of July. Piperi broke the school record in the shot put so often over four years that Green said he decided to not to update the record board at the school until he was finally done. "(Piperi) is that anomaly athlete you hope to get once in your career," Green said. In 2017, the entire team was something special.
The Woodlands TX 88, Franklin NJ 48 (by Mike Newman) The Woodlands showed that it could be the team to beat in this competition when it was the only school to score more than 100 points in the first round. The Highlanders showed in their convincing win in the finals over Franklin that they were the best all-around team in the nation with the ability to score big points in the throws, sprints and distances. The Highlanders strengths showed in winning five of the six field events contested. Cecil Gregg won the long jump, Joshua Hamilton won the triple jump and Brandon Wiley took the pole vault. All-American Adrian Piperi won both the shot put and the discus, leading sweeps for The Woodlands in both events. It was closer on the track with the Highlanders winning five of the nine events contested. Although the long hurdles races are different in each state (300s in Texas, 400s in New Jersey) it was pretty clear how to score it with a judgment call. The Woodlands winners included KeSean Carter in the 100-meter dash, Noah Wells in the 1,600, Jake Lanier in the 200 and William Hunsdale leading a sweep in the 3,200. The teams split the two relays contested. The Woodlands ran 41.23 to win the 4x100, ahead of Franklin (41.49). Franklin won the 4x400 in 3:13.38, just ahead of The Woodlands (3:15.95). Franklin’s lone field event win came from Chibundu Nwanonyiri and his victory in the high jump. Track wins for Franklin came from Christopher Jenkins in the hurdles races, Mario Heslpo in the 400 and William Hill in the 800.
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