Eldorado's Logan Prater closes brilliant career with last-attempt title in triple jump

AUSTIN — For four years, Eldorado's Logan Prater has made the UIL Class 2A state championships and Mike Myers Stadium her May home.

On the final triple jump of her remarkable high school career , with an eighth state medal already secured, her legacy seemed complete. Her tale of glory and triumph was secure.

Then Prater rewrote the ending.

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Sitting second place in the triple jump, two hours after striking gold in the long jump, Prater summoned up one more rally and authored the fairy tale. Needing a leap of 37-feet, 4 1/2 inches to win an event where she never led, Prater soared to a 38-7 1/4.

Her eighth and final career medal was golden.

"I'm jumping so bad, then, 'OK, I'm going to go win,'" Prater said of her mindset going into the final jump. "I just tried to jump as far as I could. My heart dropped, I felt this relief off my chest. It felt so much better.

"I'm so happy I could do that on my last jump, I'm so happy I got first place. In my head I was thinking, 'It doesn't matter because I'm going to go next year to college (Tarleton State) and jump better', but as a high schooler, that being my last jump, it hit my heart pretty hard. I'm proud of myself.

"I had the best four years, I progressed so much each year and I'm glad I ended on a good note."

The run-in to the ending started a few hours earlier when she led wire-to-wire in the long jump, as her first attempt of 17-5 1/2 stood up until she topped it with an 18-2 3/4 on her final jump.

A big first jump "does throw a lot of pressure off," Prater said. "This weather is so bad, I was like, 'I hope I do well.' It helped me calm down more."

On a wet day in Austin, Prater rode the rainbow. There was indeed a pot of gold at it's end.

Goldthwaite's Jernigan sweeps hurdles in three-gold day

Goldthwaite's Lainey Jernigan had unique reasons to be happy with her 100/300 hurdles sweep before capping it all off with a team victory in the 4x400 relay.

The 300 was notable because she set a Class 2A state record of 42.82. The 100 was especially fun for her because she shared the awards stand with her senior classmate Hope Hermesmeyer in a 1-3 Goldthwaite finish.

"That was definitely one of our goals, I wanted her to be up there with me," said Jernigan of the 100 hurdles, two hours before she lined up in the 300 hurdles. "It's exciting we got to do this together, we've been hurdling together our whole lives, this was a dream come true."

As for the 300s, "This is what I've been working for all year," she said. "I've put in a lot of work throughout the summer, throughout the year, it's been a life goal."

She finished her night anchoring her 4x400 team to a convincing win after Madison Wood, Hope Hermesmeyer and Rylie Hillis gifted her with a big lead. That was enough to lift her team to third place in those standings with 50 points behind co-champions Refugio and Panhandle (64 points).

Mason boys race to silver in 4x200 relay

The way Mason's Sutten Silerio saw it, his job in the Class 2A boys 4x200 relay was simple. The trio that preceded him, Hunter Bradley, Clancy Osbourn and Carlton Schmidt, gave him the baton in second behind Refugio, and he was entrusted to take that baton to the awards stand.

He did, as the Punchers charged home in 1:28.72, .50 behind Refugio but ahead of everyone else.

"Those guys did all the work, I just held it," Silerio said.

Sonora's Lux snags 300 hurdles bronze

Sonora's Kasey Lux ran a mistake-free race in finishing a comfortable third place in 39.48. He spent most of the race dueling Gruver's Michael McCloy and Centerville's Amarius Phillips for second behind eventual winner Adam Hill of Albany, and Lux eventually finished between those two to take bronze.

He finished his day by adding a silver medal as the 4x400 team of Robert Rodriguez, Lux, Justin Gonzalez and Kam Aguero had a late lead, then held off late-closing Falls City for second, 3:22.46-3:22.48. Refugio closed even harder to win in 3:21.69.

Sterling City's River Kinsey gets surprising bronze

As the ninth-seeded Class 2A long jumper jumper in a nine-person field, Sterling City's River Kinsey didn't have much in the way of outside expectations on him. He didn't seem to much care, as he spent six rounds in a duel at the top of the leader board.

Kinsey, who was sixth in this event last season, eventually claimed the bronze medal with a jump of 21-7 3/4 on his final attempt.

"It was an awesome experience," Kinsey said. "I did all right, I did well compared to last year. The experience is once in a lifetime so I'm glad to be here."

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Eldorado's Logan Prater closes brilliant career with last-attempt title in triple jump