Texas high school track champions, 1905-2012 Updated, April 22, 2012 by Dr. William (Billy) Wilbanks Self-Published by Dr. Wilbanks on Computer Disc in 2005 & 2006 Placed on Internet website in May

THE FIRST STATE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM CHAMPION
In 1909 Belton High School became the first high school to win a Texas state track championship as before that year academies and high schools competed in the same division and Allen Academy (1905-07) and Carlisle Academy (1908) won the first four (combined) state meets. In the 1909 “high school” division of the state track meet Belton defeated three teams (Dallas H.S., San Antonio H.S. and Austin H.S.) in a “final four” team format to become the first ever state high school track champions of Texas. Belton’s victory over the three “city” teams (each city had only one high school at that time) was a “Hoosiers” (the movie) type victory since tiny Belton won the state championship over all schools in the state regardless of size of school. Belton athletes were state champions in 7 of the 13 individual events and broke 8 of 13 state high school records in the state high school track meet on Fri-Sat. (May 7-8) and in the Monday duel meet with the academy champion, Allen Academy. Yet this remarkable athletic performance by the team was forgotten by Belton by the 1950's as the school declared that the 1958 Tiger basketball team had won the first state championship in school history.
Belton won the state meet by scoring 53 points to 28 for second place San Antonio, 20 points for third place Austin, and 16 points for fourth place Dallas. The UIL utilized a “final four” team format in 1909 so that only athletes from four high schools (the regional winning teams) participated in the 1909 state meet. Belton (the team was not called the “Tigers” in 1909 but was simply referred to as “the Belton team” or “Belton High School”) won the Central Texas regional with 42 points over Temple (31 points), Waco (15), McGregor (6), and Corsicana (0) and advanced to the state track meet along with the three other regional winners, Dallas High School, San Antonio High School, and Austin High School. Thus the 1909 track meet was an early example of “The Final Four” (teams) as applied to track and field.
Belton Senior Roy E. Holcomb scored 25 points (64 points by today’s point scale--still a state record) with four firsts, two seconds, and two thirds and broke four state records. He won first place in four events: the 100-yard dash at 10.8; the 220-yard dash at 23.4; the 440-yard dash at 56.4; and the 12-pound hammer throw at 111'. He was second in the 50-yard dash; ran on Belton’s second place 880-yard relay team; and was third in the 12-pound shotput and in the 120-yard low hurdles for a total point count (according to the newspapers--their point calculations are unclear) of 25. Holcomb’s 25 points was almost as many as the second place team. The second highest individual point total of 16 (58 by today’s point scale) was made by a second Belton athlete, Senior Pat H. Dougherty, who was first in the broad jump at 19'6" and first in the discus throw at 96'3"; second in the 100-yard dash, the 220-yard dash and the 120-yard low hurdles; and ran on the second place 880-yard relay team. Belton Senior Arthur O’Connor won first in the 880-yard dash at 2:12 & 2/5 and ran on the second place 880-yard relay team. A fourth Belton athlete, Lloyd Pope, was third in the 880-yard dash and ran on the second place 880-yard relay team. Other team members were Lee Hudson, Roe Wood, Shine and Coach/Principal Walton H. Hamilton.
Thus Belton athletes were state champions in 7 of the 13 individual events. The 1909 Belton annual reported that Belton “broke eight of thirteen State high school records” in the state high school track meet on Fri-Sat. and in the Monday duel meet with Academy champion Allen Academy which Belton lost 58-55. Holcomb broke state records in four events: the 100-yard dash (10.8), 220-yard dash (23.2), hammer throw (121'4'), and the 880-yard relay (1:40). Dougherty broke state records in three events: the broad jump (19'8"), discus (96'3) and 880-yard relay (1:40) and O’Connor in two events: the 880 yard dash (2:11.2) and the 880 yard relay (1:40). U.I.L. records in Austin still list “Holcomb of Belton’ as the “first record holder” in the 220-yard dash at 23.4 and O’Connor of Belton “as the first record holder” in the 880 yard dash.
Belton threw a huge party at the town square upon the return home of the triumphant State Champions and the yearbook (“The Broncho”) predicted that “gray haired men and women” would “remember forever how the Belton High School track team of 1909 carried off the state High School championship.” However, within 30 years the 1909 track team had been forgotten! In 1999 Dr. Billy Wilbanks “discovered” the story of the 1909 track team in the U.I.L. records in Austin and wrote an article about the 1909 “Forgotten Heroes” for the Belton Journal and Temple Daily Telegram. This research and article on the 1909 Belton team led to the book/disc, Texas H.S. Track Champions, 1905-2006. Three of the 1909 team members (Holcomb, Dougherty, and O’Connor) and the 1909 team are on the Belton H.S. Athletic Wall of Honor (see:BeltonWallofHonor.com.)
BOYS CHAMPIONS, 1905-2012
There have been 383 boys state high school (excluding the early academy champions) team champions from 1909-2012. High schools with the most boys state team championships are Refugio (10), Abilene (7), Andrews (6), and Galveston Ball (5) and Rule (5). Schools with 4 state championships are Houston Forest Brook, Jasper, Karnack, Lubbock Estacado, Odessa, Cuero and Snook. Seventeen schools have 3 state championships.
GIRLS CHAMPIONS, 1972-2012
There have been 224 girls state high school team champions since the first girls state meet in 1972 with 2 B and 2 1A champs in 1972-73; B, 1A & 2A champs in 1973; 6 B, 6 1A, 6 2A, 6 3A & 6 4A champs in 1975-80; and 28 1A, 29 2A, 28 3A, 29 4A & 29 5A champs in 1981-2010. High schools with the most girls state team champions are Lancaster (8), Dallas Skyline (8), Refugio (6); Ft Worth Trimble Tech (5), Canyon (5) and Munday (5); Brenham (4), Dallas Carter (4), Frisco (4), Houston Sterling (4), Houston Westbury (4), Karnack (4), Canyon (4) and Hamlin (4). There have been a total of 571 high school boys and girls team champions in the 106-year history of the state track meet. Refugio has won the most combined boys and girls team championships with 16.

SCHOOL RANKINGS FOR 100 YEARS
A rough measure of the relative success of Texas high schools at the state track meet over the past 104 years can be determined by a scoring system for individual, relay and team championships for boys (1905-2010) and girls (1972-2010). Awarding 4 points to a team championship, 2 points to a relay championship and 1 point to an individual championship produced a total score for each school. Utilizing this scoring system the most successful high schools in the boys division were Refugio (94 points), Abilene (70), Jasper (55), Andrews (54) and Galveston Ball (52).

	TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS & POINTS SCORED FOR
	BOYS BY SCHOOL, 1905-2010 not updated after 2010
					Ind	Rel	Ind+rel	Team	Points*
1	Refugio				48	3	51	10	94
2	Abilene				26	8	34	7	70
3	Jasper				19	10	29	4	55
4	Andrews				18	6	24	6	54
5	Galveston Ball				24	4	28	5	52
6	Austin				26	7	33	3	52
7	Atlanta				14	9	23	5	52
8	Alto				15	12	27	3	51
9	Marlin				26	7	33	2	48
10	Snook				16	6	22	4	44
11	Bangs				17	5	22	4	43
12	Celina				12	9	21	3	42
13	Brenham				18	6	24	3	42
14	Beaumont				29	1	30	2	39
15	Brady				14	6	20	3	38
16	Dallas S. Oak Cliff				16	5	21	3	38
17	Dallas Roosevelt				7	9	16	3	37
18	Lubbock Estacado				5	8	13	4	37
19	Timpson				15	5	20	3	37
20	Dallas Lincoln				10	9	19	2	36
21	Karnack				8	6	14	4	36
22	Odessa				13	3	16	4	35
23	Woodsboro				11	6	17	3	35
24	Mertzon Irion County				13	3	16	4	35
25	Daingerfield				9	5	14	4	34

The most successful high schools in the girls division were Lancaster (90), Dallas Skyline (81), Refugio (63), Munday (59), Hamlin (59), and Houston Sterling (56). Lancaster moved from 6^th to 1^st after the 2006 state meet after winning its sixth consecutive team championship and all three relays for the third consecutive year.

	TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS & POINTS SCORED FOR
	GIRLS BY SCHOOL, 1972-2010 not updated after 2010
					Ind		Rel		Ind+rel		Team		Points*
1	Lancaster				14		22		36		8		90
2	Dallas Skyline				9		18		27		9		81
3	Refugio				19		10		29		6		63
4	Munday				21		9		30		5		59
5	Hamlin				21		11		31		4		59
6	Houston Sterling				20	10		30			4	56
7	Canyon				21		7		28		5		55
8	Karnack				10		14		24		4		54
9 Dallas Madison 10 10 20 4 46 11	Brenham				11		11		22		3		45
12	Frisco				13		8		21		4		45
13	FW Trimble Tech				7		9		16		5		45
14	Dallas Carter				5		9		14		4		39
15	Celina				9		9		18		3		39
16	Alto				4		11		15		3		38
10	Houston Westbury				10		8		18		5		46
17	Cisco				21	3		24		2		35
18	Bellville				11	7		18		2		33
19	Alief Elsik				14	5		19		2		32
20	Groesbeck				12	2		15		1		25
21	West Columbia				7	7		14		1		25
22	Luling				20	0		20		1		24
23	FW Poly				7	4		11		2		23
24	Houston Smiley				3	6		9		2		23
26	Conroe				6	2		8		3		22
25	Daingerfield				3	8		10		1		23
27	Waco Midway				10	4		14		1		22

If the boys and girls scores are added together the high schools with the most successful overall (i.e., boys and girls) are Refugio (157 points), Lancaster (116); Munday (90), Karnack (90), Alto (89), and Brenham (86), See the table below ranking the overall High School scores for boys/girls in the 104-year history of the state track meet.

			TX TOP 25 TRACK SCHOOLS:
			TOTAL POINTS* FOR BOYS &
			GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIPS WON
			FROM 1905-2010 not updated after 2010
						Boys		Girls		Total
	1		Refugio			94		65		159
	2		Lancaster			36		90		126
	3		Munday			31		59		90
	4		Karnack			36		54		90
	5		Alto			51		38		89
	6		Brenham			42		45		87
	7		Celina			42		37		79
	8		Hamlin			17		58		75
	9		Abilene			70		4		74
	10		Houston Sterling			12		56		68
	11		Galveston Ball			52		15		67
	12		Jasper			55		10		65
	13		Atlanta			53		7		60
	15		Andrews			54		2		56
	16		Austin			52		1		53
	17		Marlin			48		5		53
	18		Dallas Lincoln			36		17		53
	14		Daingerfield			35		23		58
	19		Dallas Carter			11		39		50
	20		FW Trimb Tech			4		45		49
	21		Frisco			4		45		49
	22		Dallas S Oak Cl			38		10		48
	23		Woodsboro			34		13		47
	24		Snook			44		1		45
	25		Bellville			11		33		44
		*Total Scores for each school based on one point for each individual event; 2 points for each relay & 4 points for team championships. Ex: Refugio boys got 94 points from 48 individual events; 3 relays and 10 team titles (48+6+40’94)