Regional Track, Day 2...

The second day of regional track started early. I had to shoot a couple of the early field events before the running started in the afternoon. The good part about this was I'd be able to edit all the field event photos before the running got started, less to do after the meet ended. And since I had a 150 mile drive home afterwards everything I could do to save time was a good thing.

Normally there is a little bit of emotion at the end of some of the races, but the people who are expected to win their races aren't much for celebration. Either they were expecting to win anyway or have been to state already, etc. So, the few times there are nice celebrations at the end of races I make sure not to miss the shot. When it's a local kid doing the celebration I get pretty excited, mostly because I have the chance to make a nice image. So, when the Abilene High kid in the 800m made up a lot of ground after getting boxed in and moved from 7th place to 2nd in the last 300 meters there was a great celebration after he qualified for state for the first time.

Regional Track, Day 1...

I covered the Region I-3A and 5A track meets in Lubbock for the last couple of years now. It's a lot different from the state track meet in a lot of different ways. The biggest is there are both prelims and finals races over two days, at state, it's just finals. So, the first days is pretty nuts and bolts. There isn't a whole lot of emotions, mostly because even if you win your prelim race you still have to come back tomorrow and race again to make it to state. It often is time spent trying to figure out ways to make nice photos and stay creative. The one nice thing that I did have added over the last few track meets I shot, were field events. So, that was a nice change.

Another difference from past years is both the 3A and 5A meets were being combined instead of afternoon and evening sessions. This made things a lot easier for the deadlines since by the late session I was usually trying to edit from the earlier session and the late session both at the same time and send photos all at once. It made for a late night followed by an early morning. This time, though, I was finished and had everything sent by 9pm. In years past the late session was just getting finished at that time and made it for only a 12 hour day instead of 16. That helped a lot the next day.

The Negative Image of Each Other...

My playoff trip this particular week took a different path than the last couple of weeks of going to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. This week I was going to Lubbock to cover Stamford and Stratford. The games was being played at Lubbock-Cooper High School Pirate Stadium, which I have to give huge props to, this is by far the best lit high school football stadium I've even shot it. It was so bright I could even use a teleconverter without pushing my ISO to too crazy a level, and there was no light falloff in the end zones like pretty much every other place I've shot. Now, back to the game, in particular the teams' names... Stmaford and Stratford, as if there names being close wasn't hard enough to deal with, the two teams wore exactly the same uniforms! Right down to having the same "S" logo on their helmets.

There was glaring difference between the two teams though. Stamford runs a spread out, run-n-gun offense, while Stratford was a lot more old school, running two tight ends, two back sets taking advantage of a lot of fullback dives and misdirection. It's not uncommon for Stratford's drives to last 6+ minutes. Stamford on the other hand can score quickly from anywhere on the field.

The game started out with Stratford slowly and methodically moving the ball down the field taking 6+ minutes for a 55-yard drive. Stamford then got the ball and quickly got the ball down the field to score. After that it kind of set the tone for the game. Stratford would get the ball and move it slowly, but after scoring on the first drive of the game their drives would stall, including a really nice interception in the end zone by Stamford defensive back Dalton Mathis. Stamford won the game 27-7 scoring on four of its six possessions, one of which was the end of the first half. The defense looked really great in this game and they proved that they could beat the tough physical game with a strong defense and now were only two wins away from a state title.

Regional Track, the "Short Day"...

So, Saturday was the "shorter" day of the regional track meet. I say "short" because it's still a 16+ hour day between getting there early shooting field events and two full track meets, then editing, sending and driving home and squeezing in a slideshow to boot. The only big difference is all the running events were squeezed together and thank to some weeding out I didn't have nearly as many runners. However, there still were more than enough to keep me busy... plus the light was pretty nice for most of the day.

One thing that was still missing was a lot of really good emotion. There were a couple of good moments, but still, usually those who won were the favorites and usually had their sights set on the state meet anyways. But still, there was more than the previous day. I ended up getting a nice remote shot from the hurdles that I was nervous about sending given the extreme crop, but at that point you just send it in and hope the page designer does a decent enough job to make it work. After two long days I was semi-happy with what I had but am still hoping for more at the state meet.

Regional Track, the Long Day...

Last week was the regional track meet. It's a fun event to cover, but an incredibly long day. On Friday is both the 3A and 5A preliminary races. Which means that there are three races for both the boys and girls in both classes. And, since the 3A district that we cover is all local teams, that pretty much mean during the 3A meet, I'm covering nearly every race (some races have more than one runner from the same district). So, like I said, it's an incredibly long day on Friday. We left Abilene at 8am and got done around 11pm.
One thing about shooting many of the same races over and over is it starts to get rather redundant. With that usually starts to make for some boredom. Especially given the lack of emotions in these races. Most of the winner expect to be the winners, plus the winners still have to race another race the next day. So, other than just the norm I tried a few extra things. One thing I will say, is the officials at this meet are really cool to work with and give you plenty of leeway to work. I'm guessing part of it is because there aren't a whole lot of photographers to corral like there are at the state meet. So, setting up remotes wasn't a problem at all to do... other than the occasional explaining how the camera worked. I ended up making a few nice frames with the remote, but since the running events were all prelims, I ended up using a shot from the long jump instead, since like I said earlier, winning the running event only got you better position on the track the following day.

Two Games, Two Towns, Again, Game 2...

Well, after finishing and posting the Jim Ned slideshow literally minutes before the start of the Wylie game, it was time for the start of game 2. Wylie was playing Kennedale in a rematch of last year's region I-3A championship game. Wylie was ranked #1 in the state and Kennedale #2. I'd already seen Kennedale beat Wylie's district mate, Brownood a week earlier, and the time that I was there Kennedale looked a lot faster than I had remembered them the year before. I wasn't real sure Wylie was going to be making another trip to Austin, one thing I was pretty sure of, though, was whoever won this game was most-likely going to win its next two games the following week in Austin. This game might have been called the regional championship game, but these were the best two teams in the state. Last year this was the state championship game, and it's going to be the same thing this year.

After watching Peyton Little play the worst game of the year the night before, I just had a gut feeling she was going to go nuts in this game. And honestly, the only way Wylie was going to win this game is if she had a big night. She did exactly that, a lot like what she did in the state championship game last year, Little put the team on her back and
I don't want to take anything away from the rest of the team, Wylie has some very good high school basketball players, but Little is hands-down the best girls basketball player I've ever seen play the game. For someone who is six-feet tall she handles the ball as good as anyone I've ever seen, and finishes plays and draws contact as well. She's a very good shooter who can make a shot from anywhere on the court, she may not be the best shooter I've ever seen, but when the game is on the line, she's money. And that's exactly what she did against Kennedale.

For the most part of the year, I had been conscious about how many photos of Little we ran. Yes, she is the best player on the team, but there are others on the team. She got plenty of play in our slideshows, but for print I made sure that we ran photos of all the girls on the team. Tonight though, I kind of knew if they were winning the game Little would play big.

In the first quarter Kennedale looked way too athletic for Wylie, they totally controlled the boards, getting 2-3 shots every time they went down the floor, Wylie could barely get a rebound on either end of the floor. Fouls were playing heavy into the game early, one of Wylie's better defensive players picked up a couple of quick fouls early and spent most of the first half on the bench, however, Kennedale's best shooter also got into foul trouble pretty quick and also watched a lot of the game from the sidelines. Normally, I bitch a lot about refs who spent a lot of time with their whistles, but I thought this game was really called well, both teams were just playing really physical and there were a lot of calls that could have been made on both sides that weren't.

Kennedale controlled most of the first half, but Wylie ended up going in at halftime with the scored tied at 25-25. With Little leading the way in scoring. In the third quarter though, was when things changed for Wylie. It was like they came out of the locker rooms on a mission. Led by their start, it was almost like watching Peyton put the team on her back and taking over the game. It wasn't just the scoring, though she finished the game with 41 of Wylie's 63 points. But, she was also taking the ball down the court, breaking Kennedale's press and making some great passes to teammates for open shots since she was taking double-teams most of the night. In addition to her great scoring performance she added eight rebounds and four assists, it was just a great performance to watch.

One of the biggest reasons I love about covering girls sports is the raw emotion of the players. And there was no shortage of emotion in this game. As close as this game was and as physical as it was, it was obvious by the fourth quarter the only thing keeping these girls going was pure adrenaline. And it was flowing through not only just the players on the court, but the bench too, the game was a lot if fun to shoot. I do have to say, while I was there to cover Wylie, Kenndale has no reason to hang their heads, they have a great young team and some really great players. I'm going to go ahead and say, with the graduation of Peyton Little, Kennedale should the the favorite to win the Class 3A state title next year. This was a great game between two really great teams, it's too bad this game couldn't be the state championship game, I just can't see how there could be a better team in Class 3A than these two teams. I guess I'll find out soon.