Carl Lewis Invitational sets the tone for upcoming season

Five Kempner athletes competed Saturday at the University of Houston's indoor track facility. The day began with the boys' distance medley relay consisting of Chris Pine (1200m), Elijah Theus (400m), Allen Livingston (800m) and Eric Sheppard (1600m). Pine kept the team in contention running a 3:30 leg then handing the baton to Theus who caught 4 runners with a 52.4 split for 400 meters, Allen Livingston tried to hold the position with a 2:24 800 meter split but was passed by several teams before handing off to Sheppard. Sheppard had a pretty good leg moving the team up to 6th place with a 4:41 effort. The team's total time was 11:29.

Veronica Rodriguez took to the track in the girls' mile with a 6:06 effort, then came back two hours later with a much better effort in the 800 meters of 2:40. Eric Sheppard also ran the mile in 4:45 with Chris Pine running 4:55. Sheppard came back to run the 800 in 2:11 and Pine ended the day in the 3000 meter run with a 9:55.12.

Overall, the meet was a good gauge of the teams' fitness level. These athletes know they have a lot of work to do to reach the goals they have set for themselves this season. The boys will compete in their first varsity meet on February 12th at Clear Brook High School in Friendswood.