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The day began in chilly conditions with no sun in view. It ended the same way with darkness making sure there’d be no sunshine.

Some nine hours passed, but no one passed Marcos Vallejo, who racked up his second straight double-gold performance. He captured the 3200-meter race, just after breakfast, March 6 in Fredericksburg, and after dinner that night, he walloped another talented field to claim the 1600 meters.

Llano enjoyed a triple: add to Marcos’s wins the runner-up performance of Erik Forrister. All he did in the nightcap was post a personal-best time of four minutes, 41 seconds. And, wow, how he stole that Silver Medal! More on that as our day progresses. Why, you may ask, did he not get some ink for the 3200? He was with the tennis team in San Marcos.

In the 32, that other Marcos was even for about a lap. Then it was no contest. He led for some 4600 of his 4800-meter day and finished the metric two miler in nine minutes, 55 seconds—15 seconds better than his winning time at Blanco, February 25.

“I set a pretty hard pace as it turned out,” the Jackets’ sophomore said. “No one could keep up. I think my speed controlled the run, and I had enough energy left for the last two laps (of eight) if I needed it.”

“He never let anyone in the race,” middle-distance coach Shaun Carter declared. “There were some good Class 3A and 4A runners against him, but Marcos dominated, and he has a lot of room for improvement.” I doubt his foes the last couple of years think that.

While Vallejo runs off and hides—not in competition till the 1600—we’ll check out some teammates in Fredericksburg.

Fellow soph Jackson Hutto cleared 11 feet, six inches, and was fifth in the pole vault. “He’s fine and getting better,” head boys’ coach Kelly Gilbert noted. Gilbert, who went to Llano High with Jackson’s dad, Terry, stated: “Jackson needs to continue working on his technique, and I know he’ll do that. Also, he’ll be using a bigger pole which is what vaulters do as the season progresses.”

Sterling Jameson had his second consecutive fine showing in the 200-meters. He was fourth after a second nine days ago. Sterling hit the wire in 23.9 seconds despite some trouble. “I stumbled going into the first turn, but I recovered from that, and I’m pleased because I’m still not in track shape,” and the coach added, “He’s going to do well, as he steps up his workouts.”

We’re just in time for the 1600, and just a lap and a half into this four-lap challenge, Marcos Vallejo was the shining jewel beneath the lights at Billies Stadium. His lead was 15 meters at the midway point and wound up being a 60-meter triumph.

“We wanted someone to be in front of Marcos, to fight the wind,” Carter explained, “but he just ran it on his own. I think he needs to be pushed pretty soon.”

“The other guys were slowing down early, and I just kept putting distance between myself and the rest of the field,” Vallejo advised. “It got to be where it would have been real tiring for anyone to catch me.” No one caught him or his time—four minutes, 34 seconds.

How about Erik? When our story was interrupted for a commercial break, he was spotted in town after a tennis match.

The senior has run races like this from autumn to spring: he was fifth or seventh or eighth or whatever. Then, in the final 30 meters, after he had taken care of other contenders, he burst past the runner-up hopeful and picked up a Silver Medal. His watch stopped at four minutes, 41 seconds.

“I’ve been working on my strides and my form,” Forrister pointed out, “and that really helped me with my kick.”

“Talk about dominance!” Carter exclaimed. “Erik ran a really smart race and to record his best time ever two weeks in a row is really impressive. I think our two guys are going to take care of business; both are on a mission.”