Farmersville senior Ethan Stone raises his hands in the air after winning first place in the boys 400-meter dash at the area 13-4A/14-A track and field meet in Sunnyvale last week. Photo by Tina Lopez / C&S Media
By David Wolman
Photo gallery: https://www.dotphoto.com/viewalbum.asp?AID=6884896
SUNNYVALE – Ethan Stone came into senior season with a different mindset and a new diet.
The Farmersville senior has replaced eating cereal for breakfast with more eggs, taking creatine, eating whole fruits and drinking healthier beverages.
His commitment to healthier eating has paid off in a big way. Three weeks ago, he ran a time of 49.7 seconds in Decatur to break a longstanding school record in the 400-meter dash that dated back to 1998. Last Thursday at the area 13-4A/14-4A meet at Raiders Stadium, Stone improved on his school record, running a time of 48.62, good for first place.
“I’ve been working my butt off for the past four years,” Stone said. “I’m going to leave it all out. This is my last year. I’ve got to leave it all out on the track.”
In addition to winning the area title in the 400, Stone helped lead Farmersville’s 4×100 and 4×400 relays to qualifications in the Region II-4A meet.
The Farmers’ 4×100 of Sam Stone, Owen Gates, Amare Warren and Ethan Stone claimed second place with a new school record time of 42.07, while their 4×400 of Mathew Salvador, Markus Estala, Jaxson Ward and Ethan Stone captured second place in 3:29.82. Farmersville’s 4×200 of Owen Gates, RaJun Wilkes, Ward and Sam Stone took seventh in 1:34.38.
“I’ve been running with those guys since middle school,” Stone said. “We’ve built that connection.”
Warren rejoined the 4×100 last week after being held out of the event at the District 13-4A meet because of a knee injury. The injury was still lingering at the area meet. Farmersville’s coaching staff decided to hold Warren out of the long jump, but he still took aim in the 4×100 and jumped to gold in the triple jump. He posted a winning leap of 45 feet, 4.5 inches in the triple jump.
“That’s impressive,” boys head coach Brandon Powell said. “He is not jumping what he jumped last year, but he’s jumping just well enough to still advance. We’ve got two weeks going to regionals. Hopefully, we can fix and fine tune a few things to where he is jumping like he was last year.”
Gates is bound for the regional meet after he squeaked out a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter dash in a time of 10.98.
“I’m really proud of Owen,” Powell said. “He really wanted this. He’s another one that’s worked really hard since Day 1, and his time has continued to drop. He and Ethan are peaking at the right time.”
The Lady Farmers punched their ticket into the regional meet in four events.
Breelynn Pollard sparked the Lady Farmers by running to gold in the 3,200 with a time of 12:06.83 and added bronze in the 1,600 with a 5:42. She just missed out on qualifying for regionals in the 800, running to fifth place in 2:32.08.
Those two qualifications come less than a year after she earned a berth in the state cross country meet, and the Farmersville junior has carried over that confidence into the spring track season.
“It just showed me how fun running can be, because you get to go to state with your friends but also shows how much the hard work paid off,” she said.
Ameera Warren also qualified for regionals in two events, placing second in the 200 with a 26.88 and teamed with Syah Surles, Aaliya Corzine and Chloe Jones to earn third in the 4×100 in 50.0.
“We put her in the second leg in both of our relays, the 4×100 and 4×200, because that second leg she gives us such a good lead and makes the other girls feel confident,” girls head coach Michael Wall said. “She’s just the anchor of our sprints.”
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