Article about TrainWreck in our local paper

No school today! Going to the state track meet! I think I'll make some t-shirts with the boys' pictures on them.
This is a really good article about TrainWreck and his best friend in our local paper. I emailed it to all my relatives!

'One Last Jump'

TrainWreck will make his debut at the State Track and Field Meet

BY J F
Daily Tribune Staff

For PeytonPlace senior TrainWreck it always comes down to one last jump.

One last jump to win the long jump at the Region IV qualifiers meet.

One last jump to win the triple jump at the Region IV track and field meet.

One last jump to qualify for the UIL State Track and Field Meet. It's the culmination of a season of work, of hours in the training room getting bandaged from scrapes and falls, of enduring the hot Texas spring afternoons getting his steps correct before he sprints down the runway.

One last jump to make good on a promise to teammate and best friend Hercules, who gave up his spot at the Region IV meet for TrainWreck.

One last jump.

So before he took his attempt, he was stopped by Head Coach K F.
"He gets it in my head, 'You can do it. You can do it,'" TrainWreck said "And then it just happens."
TrainWreck sprints down the runway, gets his steps right and flings his body forward as far as he can.
As he's running, one thought continues to play in his mind:
"I've jumped that far before, so I can do it again."
"I don't know, it's just..." he said as his mind drifts back to his winning leap of 44 feet and one-half inch at the Region IV meet. Then he dropped his gaze, smiled and said, "Yeah...."
TrainWreck is a track and field athlete. He participates in AAU track that starts in January and goes into the summer track season. He participates in the decathlon, the 200-meter run, the long jump, triple jump and high jump.
TrainWreck said he watched the decathletes and decided it was something he wanted to try.
"It's a lot of fun and a lot of work," he said. "My favorite event is the javelin. I'm not very good at it, but it's fun."
For the PackMules, he is entered in as many as five events: the 400-meter dash, the 1600-meter relay, the high jump, triple jump, and long jump.
At the District 27-4A Meet, TrainWreck won the long jump with a leap of 21'6".
He finished third in the 400 meters with a time of 51.36 seconds. That qualified him for the Region IV meet.
TrainWreck finished fourth in the triple jump, behind his best friend, Hercules.
Hercules was having a fabulous day. He, too, was entered in five events. He qualified for regionals in four of them.
But after he and F talked, the two decided it might be best for Hercules to concentrate on three events instead of four. So he decided not to enter the triple jump at the Region IV meet.
TrainWreck said Hercules told him of his decision not to participate in the triple jump soon after the district meet.
"He told me he wanted to concentrate on the hurdles and high jump," TrainWreck said. "The high jump was the same time as the triple jump. He thought four events was going to be too much. I told him that was cool. I was pretty excited."
The senior vowed he would join his friend at the state meet, if Hercules qualified for state in the high jump.
TrainWreck has been triple jumping for three years. He and Hercules took an interest when they saw teammate E T doing it.
F showed them the steps of the triple jump, and they were hooked.
"We were pretty bad to begin with," he said. "And 40 feet was far away. Now if I'm not jumping 40 feet, I'm having a bad day."
Hercules took a seat near the pit and waited for TrainWreck to begin his sprint for his last attempt at the regional meet.
"I knew as I landed it was a good jump," TrainWreck said. "All the coaches and my parents went crazy. It was kind of like, 'all right - let's go to state now.'"
After his last jump, TrainWreck and Hercules went to the pit to measure. TrainWreck landed backward and had jumped into the wind.
"It would have been 46 feet or so," he siad. "I love doing it. It's fun."
The favorite going in to the triple jump at the regional meet was A K , of T. An athlete has six attempts but can choose to take as many as the want at once or one round at a time.
K chose to take five at once and save the last one for the final round. He took the lead after his second attempt. TrainWreck had already jumped 43'3-3/4".
TrainWreck and K are friends. TrainWreck told K he would jump 44 feet that day.
"If you get a 44, I'll just give up,"TrainWreck recalled K saying to him before the start of the competition.
Because he already had the lead, TrainWreck got the final attempt of the competition. K finished with a leap of 43'7".
F said he told TrainWreck he had already qualified for state before the triple jumper went for his last attempt. TrainWreck wanted to win the event.
The son of MyPoolBoy and TheWhiteTrashPrincess, TrainWreck will be attending the University of Texas-Poor Boys to study sports medicine or kinesiology. He will likely run track and play soccer.
Older brother Thunderduck plays soccer for UTPB.
TrainWreck will be making his state meet debut Friday. He said he was close last year but had a bad day at district.
"I think it's an honor to go there and work hard and compete," he said. "I think it's hard to get to state. Knowing I'll be going down in history is pretty cool."
TrainWreck is the first Packmule to go state in his event.
No matter the order he jumps in, TrainWreck said he will go to the state meet with the attitude of being crowned the state's best Class 4A triple jumper.
"It's never over," he said.
"You still have a chance even if you're in last place."
As long as he has one last jump.