The Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, one of the most anticipated events of the spring for any Texas high school track and field star. A showcase at Michael A. Myers Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas which will have many eyes upon it this week.
For Lake Creek senior sprinter Sydney Spikerman, it’s a special event where you never know who you might see (like Olympian sprinter Gabby Thomas last year!) and where you just take in the atmosphere and surroundings, like warming up on the turf of Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, where many legendary Longhorns have played football in front of packed houses on Saturdays in the fall.
With all the colleges there and some of the best high school track athletes in the country,, it’s the place to be over four days (the meet began Wednesday with portions of the college heptathlon and decathlon.
“The best of the best will be watching you there,” Spikerman said.
Spikerman has three events there on Friday – the 100-meter dash, the 4X200 relay and the 1,600 SMR (sprint medley relay). Junior Maggie Ogorchock is also qualified for the same three events.
Joining the pair in the 4X200 is junior Jade Oravainen and sophomore Ashlynn England. The SMR consists of Spikerman, Ogorchock, junior Addie Micklos and senior Hailey Johnson.
Senior Lucy DeWolf will pole vault on Friday as well.
“I’ve been there every year,” Johnson said when asked about her experience at the Texas Relays. “It’s really the funnest meet we have. Everyone gets to go that qualifies. And they have fun events like the SMR and the DMR that we run every year. It’s just really exciting, especially at UT with all the stands (full) and everything.”
Lake Creek head coach Kevin Spruill truly has a couple astonishing relays running in Austin.
Let’s start with the 4X200.
Every time the Lions have run a 4X200 this season, they have broken the school record.
“Three of them ran together last year, and with Jade coming in, it really just solidified them,” Spruill said. “(Jade joining the team) gave us another really solid 200 runner. Maggie and Sydney are very familiar with one another. They also hand off on the SMR. Then Ashlynn is one of the best we have coming off the blocks right now. It’s a really good group. They really bought into the handoffs and making sure that everything is perfect and they’re fast.”
At another elite meet with a captive crowd on hand two weeks ago, the quartet blazed a time of 1:40.22, the current school record, at the Texas A&M Bluebonnet Relays, an event similar to the Texas Relays.
That mark came after they ran a 1:43.21 in February at the Cypress Ranch Mustang Relays and a 1:40.30 at the College Station Cougar Relays in early March.
“Every time they’ve run it, they’ve broken the record,” Spruill said. “So that has become the expectation. It doesn’t happen very often. We’ve been blessed with some really good teams. We had a 4X800 that was really strong the last couple years, it seemed like everytime they were going out, they were breaking a record. 4X400 got really strong at the end of last year. But nothing where we would run it three times in-a-row and the time keeps dropping.”
Oravainen has been an interesting story in her own right. A foreign exchange student from Finland, the junior with a club background in her home country has made a massive impact.
“Our second leg, Jade, this is her first year, she’s an exchange student,” Spikerman said. “This is probably her only year here. So the four of us to be able to be as good as we are and to continue to be even better and get high in the rankings, that’s what makes this special. Just God being able to put us all in this place at once is amazing.”
Lake Creek knew it had three solid returnees in the 4X200 this year in Spikerman, Ogorchock and England. It was a question mark coming into the school year on who might fit with them.
“We had no idea,” Ogorchock said. “We have a few alternates. But when Jade came in, we’re like ‘Oh, this is perfect’. She’s the first person to fit in for it. It’s really worked out.”
The previous school record was 1:45 and this group is confident they go under 1:40.
“It feels great because we have the ability to go sub-1:40,” Spikerman said. “We are going to break it this week, I’m so confident in that. We didn’t run it last week at Magnolia because we kind of needed a little break to get some opens in. But I’m confident we can go sub-1:40. We have the girls to do it this year, which makes it even better.”
Added Ogorchock, “It just feels really good because we’re all really good at it. That’s all of our events. It just works out well and it’s really fun to run.”
The 4X200 is currently ranked No. 7 on TxMileSplit among the 5A schools.
“We’ve never been close to go sub-1:40,” Spuill said. “That’s a big deal to go sub-1:40. If you can go sub-1:40 at the 5A level, that’s a really, really good time. You’re amongst the state’s best.”
The SMR is a relay that is run only at particular meets. It is not a UIL event once the postseason starts next week.
Lake Creek runs a 1,600 SMR, which enters Texas Relays with the leading high school time in the country, set just two weeks ago.
“There’s different versions of it,” Spruill said. “We run the SMR 1,600. You’ve got two 200s, 400 and 800. My philosophy on that is I want to use our talent and use our strengths in an event and have success. Even though it’s not a UIL event, Hailey will run the 800. Addie will run the 400. Syd and Maggie will probably both run the 200 at district. It gives us a chance to make it a team thing instead of running it individually.”
As the anchor distance runner, Johnson loves this relay.
“Most of the time, we don’t get to run with the sprinters,” Johnson said. “So it’s really fun where you get to bring everyone to form our team. I really love this group of girls that we run with it. It’s just really fun to anchor it and finish for us.”
Micklos enjoys it as well.
“It’s probably my favorite relay, just because we don’t run it at every meet,” Micklos said. “It’s special whenever we get to run it at the few meets that we do. Starting off at College Station and running it for the first time this season, we took the national lead. It is so fun and we’re excited. Hopefully it will go well.”
The quartet ran a time of 3:57.50 at the Bluebonnet Relays, setting the school record.
“This gives us a chance not only to get better for our events, but it gives us a confidence builder going into district,” Spruill said. “It’s a chance to be successful. How many times can you say you stood on the medal stand at Texas Relays? They got second last year, so they are very hungry and the goal is to win it this year.”
Last year, the Lake Creek SMR 1,600 relay stood on that podium. Spikerman, Ogorchock, Nicole Smithers (2024 graduate) and Johnson went 4:04.50 for silver, just behind Long Beach Poly in 4:02.52.
Ogorchock, Spikerman, Micklos and Johnson traveled to the New Balance Nationals in Philadelphia this past summer and finished 12th in the nation (4:05.16).
Although it’s a great way to showcase his athletes, Spruill doesn’t foresee the UIL adding the event in the immediate future, although it’s brought up among his peers.
“I think they would bring on a 4X800 before they bring on an SMR,” Spruill said. “There’s always talks. We always talk about it at the convention every year at the TTFCA (Texas Track & Field Coaches Association). The 4X800 is in over 30 states. I would think that’s the next one they would bring on.”
With the marathon of meets (no pun intended) coming up in April – it’s time for district, area and regional – the goal is to get back to Austin the first weekend of May for the UIL State Championships.
But for now, the Lions will enjoy their surroundings of the Texas Relays and go as fast as they can.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Micklos said. “It’s my favorite meet. Just the atmosphere of it and the colleges running – it’s so fun seeing the next level running before you and you’re running on the same track. Athletes that we fan over, basically.”
Added Ogorchock, “That gives me a lot more motivation that I can do something even better than this.”
NOTE:Check SportCast next week for a feature story on Lake Creek’s school record pole vaulter Lucy DeWolf.
Lake Creek junior Addie Micklos hands the baton to Hailey Johnson during the Magnolia Dog Pound Invitational last week. (Chris Zorzi/SportCast Media)
