By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
St. Joseph Academy’s boys track & field relay teams all have a constant.
Cole Conner is the starting leg for each of the 400, 800 and 1,600 relay teams. The junior determines each team’s start and has been the stability that each squad needed to reach the TAPPS state meet Friday and Saturday at Baylor University’s Hart Patterson Track & Field Complex in Waco.
Teammate Kai Money, who runs with Conner in each of the three relays, also qualified for the state meet in the long jump after finishing second at regional.
“I told him I need someone stable at the start, that knows how to start, understands how to start and put us in a good position,” St. Joseph coach Meme Garza said of his talk with the junior before the season. “He’s a team player and said, ‘Wherever you want to put me, coach.’ I feel very comfortable when the gun goes off, I know that he’s there for us.”
Conner initially wanted to be the anchor — the last leg of the relay — but Garza knew he needed that consistent beginning.
“He told me he wanted me to be the starter because he trusted me more than anyone,” Conner said. “It was eye-opening to think he trusted so much of me to start.”
With a top four finishes in the three relays, Conner has led them to state. But he also is eyeing a different prize, the school record for each. The relay teams ran their best times of the season at the regional meet in the 400 (43.91), 800 (1:31.63) and 1,600 (3:30.16).
“It’s very humbling to go to state with all three relays and have an opportunity to (place) in all three,” he said. “But to break the record in all three, we’re right on the cusp.”
Indeed, the school record could fall in any one of the three, in the 400 (43.19), 800 (1:31.28) or 1,600 (3:26.00), the difference being mere seconds in most cases.
Conner runs with Money, Mario Garcia and Gerardo Moses in the 400 and 800, and with Money, Garcia and Miguel Guerra in the 1,600.
“We’ve worked hard all year together as a group,” Conner said. “We’ve progressed as a group from the beginning of the season. We’ve built up and have got a lot better from where we started.”
Conner has been the constant leader that has held the teams together.
“These guys are a team. They know each other, they work with each other, and it’s all because of Cole,” Garza said. “He’s kind of like the glue.”
Garza said the junior handles the pressure with a great sense of humor, and therefore helps everyone else, keeping it loose between events.
Conner is following in the footsteps of his father, Bill.
“Cole is special to me because I coached his dad, Bill Conner,” Garza said of the elder Conner, also known as the ‘Red Rocket.’ “I know he’s really proud of his son and so am I. He’s the spitting image of him, too.”
The elder Conner set several track records during his time at St. Joseph and competed in the long jump at Southern Methodist University.
“Sometimes it’s a little bit overwhelming because he left the bar so high,” the younger Conner said. “Then I think, all right let’s go get it and show him. I want to leave my legacy like he left his legacy here.”
Conner said he and his father have a friendly competition about the school records and who will finish with their name next to the most.
“My dad is one of my best friends,” the junior said. “He’s my biggest supporter, he comes to all the meets. He’s there, and I thank him for that.”
Conner said the credit also belongs to the rest of the team. The relay teams wouldn’t be headed to the state meet without them either.
“I thank our team, coming around the last curve of the mile relay, they’re always there cheering you on,” he said. “It makes you run faster. It’s awesome.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.