Eastwood's Noah Garcia caps quick rise with bronze medal at UIL state
· Yahoo Sports
AUSTIN — Eastwood High's Noah Garcia does everything quickly, which is a prime trait for a runner of any sort.
A year ago as a freshman, he started running track seriously for the first time. As a sophomore, he became one of the better runners in the nation, one of the very best sophomores.
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His meteoric rise continued Saturday when he took bronze at the Class 6A UIL Track and Field Championships, repeating the 1-2-3 finish from the Region I-6A meet behind Southlake Carroll senior Caden Leonard and Denton Guyer sophomore Ruel Newberry.
His 8:53.74 was three seconds off the regional race from two weeks ago, but was still blazing fast and laid a trail to the future.
"My first time coming to state," Garcia said. "I remember watching it last year and I didn't think I'd be here this year, so it was pretty cool. It feels good, especially as a sophomore. I just started running track last year, taking it seriously, so this is a surprise."
While Garcia was third at regionals and came to Austin as a wild card, his seed time was 14 seconds faster than fourth in the field and form held in this race, as it often does in a 3,200. Garcia spent most of the race in third, surged to the lead to push the field on the fifth and sixth laps, then settled back into third.
"I like taking the lead for a little bit during races, it feels good," Garcia said.
He did stage a late charge to finish within a step of Newberry (8:53.23) and offer a glimpse of what the next two years could hold. Leonard set a new state record in 8:48.81.
The race started slow with the first lap in 68 seconds. But the second lap was a 65 and the pace stayed honest the rest of the way as the field slowly thinned to four, then strung out in the final 500 as Garcia wrapped up a medal.
"My legs felt tired so I was worried," Garcia said. "I knew if it wasn't fast I don't have a kick. So when it turned out to be fast and the competition dropped a little bit, I was happy and I was able to pick it up."
In the process, he set himself up for a bright future.
"It's going to be a lot of help next year returning," Garcia said. "Hopefully top two, maybe first, you never know."
Franklin's Emily Orr places fourth in 3,200
Franklin's Emily Orr's goals at the Class 6A UIL State Track and Field Championships were to run well and have fun. The senior accomplished all of that with a fourth-place finish that was a spot higher than her seed coming in.
In her final high school race, Orr was a wire-to-wire fourth with a time of 10:50.41.
"It was so much fun, I was so thankful to be out here, getting to compete and represent my team, so it was a fun time," Orr said. "I think I did pretty well. I was ranked fifth coming in, I got fourth so better than I was expecting.
"I just wanted to come out and have fun."
Bret Bloomquist can be reached, [email protected]; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Eastwood sophomore Noah Garcia races to bronze at UIL state track meet