It was a Long Day’s Journey into a Third night, but Llano head track coach Dan Hughes was more than a bit pleased with the boys and girls who both finished second to Bandera in the district 25-3A meet, April 5 and 7 at Wimberley.

“We’ve come a long way,” Hughes said, “and we’ve had to patch things together with a young team, but these kids ran their hearts out. I don’t think they could have done any better.”

Cole Hoffman, Lauren Parker, and Amber Wisdom came away with double victories while Shelbi King, Olivia Hutto, Caitlin Coffey, Andrew Ratliff and Sam Whitaker were among those who also claimed gold medals. The top three in each event won a place at regionals, April 25 and April 26 in Kingsville.

Hoffman and King got things off on the right foot (or the right feet) with triumphs in the 3,200-meter runs, Saturday, April 5.

Shelbi, the sensational freshman, held off Aimee Denham of Bandera. Her time was 12 minutes, 15.54 seconds. “I was pysched out a little at first, but I knew I could go faster. Coach Hughes urged me on,” King related. Yes, he did, with shouts like this with two laps to go in the eight-lap challenge: “Don’t save anything, you gotta go hard now!”

Alycia Fowler, fourth in state last year in the 3200 and 1600, was third at Wimberley in both events. King was superb in that Monday-night metric mile, too, but was runnerup by a few strides to the Texans’ Eryn Barroso.

Oh, that Cole! All he did was run his best of the year in the 3,200 meters: nine minutes, 48.10 seconds. “He’s way ahead of 2007 when he hadn’t broken ten minutes at this point,” Hughes disclosed. Hoffman, the Region IV champion in this race in ‘07, is running about 30 seconds faster than anyone in the region in '08.

From Saturday morning to Monday night, Cole, under the lights at Texans Stadium, ran a brilliant 1,600: 4 minutes, 29.99 seconds. “YES!”, he cried following his first-ever official crack of the four and a half minute barrier. “He’s got a lot of heart,” second finisher Dylan Stevens of Bandera said, “and I’ve never seen a kick like his.” Hoffman, like Fowler, was fourth in state a year ago in the 3200 and 1600-meter contests.

Erik Forrister won an impressive silver medal in the 32 in the 25-3A competition. This was after he had played district tennis Friday night. And, don’t forget he’ll be at state for piano next month. Well, at least that gives his legs a rest.

In the rings, Amber Wisdom threw the shot put, 37 feet, eight inches to win gold, and her 116-foot, four-inch heave in the discus beat all comers.

Kallie Johanson was second in the discus. Andrew Ratliff also was first in the shot with an aerial of 49 feet, five and a half inches. Sam Whitaker, third in the shot, continued his discus dominance with a throw of 140 feet, six inches. He won the bronze medal in the shot put; Ratliff took home silver in the discus.

Back on the track, Lauren Parker's return from injuries in 2007 is not only complete, it gets better and better. She is simply dynamite on the back stretch of the second and final lap in the 800 meters.

The talented, all-around athlete, Eryn Barroso, running in front of the home crowd, was in front, until Parker blitzed past her en route to a two and a half second win. Her time was just over two minutes and 24 seconds.

Lauren, who won district in the 800 and 400-meter races in 2006, did it again at Wimberley. At the top of deep stretch in the 400, she took the lead away from Lady Texan Anna Marie Puckorius and finished in a superb time of just under a minute. “You just have to know when to make your move after you shadow the leader,” Parker declared. She was also third in the shot put and on the mile-relay team which finished as a regional qualifier. (She has now put the shot twice in the last couple of weeks--for the first time in five years!)

Olivia Hutto fashioned an excellent sprint in the 100-meter dash. Her winning time was 13.18 seconds. Caitlin Coffey was second in the 100-meter hurdles, and she was gold medalist in the high jump with a flight of five feet across the bar.

Geoffrey Sanders was second in the 800 meters and third in the 400; Austin Freeman was runnerup in the 200.

The Llano boys’ mile relay team won silver while the 800-meter and 400-meter foursomes got the bronze. The Lady Jackets matched that performance in the 400-meter and mile relays.

Returning to the pits, Brady Vestal was second in the high jump; Jeffrey McLerran, third in the pole vault; and the ubiquitous, Lenzy Lewis, was third on the girls side.

“The kids really stepped it up,” coach Hughes said late Monday night. “We had personal records across the board.”

The opposition strengthens in Kingsville, but that makes the rewards greater, too; then, premier theater: the state championships in Austin, May 9 and May 10.

It’s another month of a difficult climb, with the podium at Mike Myers Stadium the ultimate goal.