Sheppard, Rodriguez win District Championships

HALL STADIUM - Seniors Eric Sheppard and Veronica Rodriguez were district champions in their events on Thursday. Rodriguez began the day by winning the girls pole vault with a jump of 10-0. Senior Tina Escobar will also be representing Kempner in the pole vault as she finished 2nd at 9-6. In the boys 1600m Kempner was able to pull off a 1-2 finish also. Sheppard won the mile with a 4:28 but the breakthrough performance came from Senior Chris Pine who PRed by 6 seconds to finish second by beating Eskender Abdalla from Bush 4:29 to 4:34. Pine and Sheppard both qualified for regionals in 2 events. Sheppard was edged at the tape in the boys 800 running 1:58.

In the girls 1600m Sophomore Elizabeth Westlake set a new school record with a 5:26 but it was not enough for the win. She finished second and teammate Amy Machemehl tied her PR but it wasn't good enough for a regional qualifier as she finished 4th.

The JV and Freshmen boys all set new PRs in the mile as well. Sophomore Allen Livingston was the district champ with a PR shattering 4:53. Junior Yuri Lozovenko PRed with a 5:11 and sophomore Bernardo Palomera set a new PR with a 5:13. More updates to come as results come in. Freshmen Errol Hampton and Jaun Trujillo also set new PRs in the 1600.