Port Arthur Memorial Makes History

By John R. Posey, USN

The Golden Triangle has produced a long line of great track athletes and sprint relay teams. The Port Arthur Memorial sprint relay teams just blazed into the national record books with a pair of epic performances at the Texas State Meet as 22,954 witnessed two historic performances,

The Port Arthur Titans, were just that, setting a national record in the 4x200 relay (1:23.52) and just missing breaking Fort Worth O.D. Wyatt’s 4x100 national record blazing to a 39.80 time which broke the Class 5A record. The Titans were just the third HS team to break 40 seconds edging Manvel (40.08). The Titans were just .04 seconds off Wyatt’s 19-year old record of 39.76.

Port Arthur broke Fort Bend Hightower’s 10-year old National Record in the 4x200 (1:23.92). Manvel finished second in 1:24.05. The record-breaking quartet of Kary Vincent (LSU football signee), De’Andre Angelle (Texas Southern football signee), junior Xavier Hull, and freshman Ireon Brown battled rival Manvel in both relays and the 4x400 that Manvel finished second and the Titans third.

The Titan sprint relay teams now also own school records in both events. “We wanted to be the fastest ever and that’s what we did,” said Vincent. “We’ve been working really hard and our goal was to focus on each race.”

Manvel won the 5A title with 85 points and Port Arthur grabbed runner-up honors with 63 points. Vincent won the 200-meter title (20.77) and Hull finished seventh in the long jump with a leap of 22’7 ¾”. Ja’Quan Francois finished eighth in the 800-meter run in 1:57.73.