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

Suzanne Snider, 1972-1973
Suzanne Snider won four gold medals at the 1972-1973 state track meets setting four state and one national record. She was an All-American basketball player at Baylor University from 1974-1977 where her 3,861 career points are the most in women’s collegiate history. She still holds most Baylor school records and is a member of the Baylor Hall of Fame and the TX Sports Hall of Fame. Suzanne Snider Eppers went on to teach and coach in high school.
Suzanne Snider was born in Waco TX on July 29, 1955, to James and Rita Snider. She and her siblings (Donnie, Russell, and Jenny) grew up in the Waco area. Her sports career began in the 6^th grade when her elementary principal, Billy Joe Oliver, put together a basketball team and taught her to throw the shot put.
Suzanne won three gold medals at the first Texas state track meet for girls in 1972 and thus her winning performances set state (first) records in each event. She scored 15 points by winning the shot put at 44' 04'; the discus at 135' 07"; and the high jump at 5' 5" helping her Waco Robinson team to 2nd place in the team competition to winner West Columbia. In 1973 Snider won the shot put with a state and national record 50' 05" and was 2^nd in the HJ at 5'4" and 2^nd in the discus at 135' 9" (beating her state record throw of 1972). Her state record of 50' 05" in the shot put held until 1980 when the 8 lb. shot put was replaced by a 4-kilo shot thus creating a new event with a new record of 44' 03" for the 4-kilo shot.
The 5'11" Snider also led her Waco Robinson team to the state basketball championship in 1970 as a freshman. Her Robinson team was a semi-finalist in 1971 in her soph year and a finalist in 1972 in her junior year. Suzie was Robinson’s leading scorer for 4 years and all-state tournament for her first three years (Robinson did not make the tournament in her senior year).

Snider attended Baylor University on a basketball scholarship playing on the varsity for four years in 1974-77. Her career 3,861 points, scored during the auspices of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) is an all-time women’s collegiate record and tops the 3,649 by Kansas’ Lynette Woodard from 1978-81 and the NCAA record of 3,393 held by Jackie Stiles of Southwest Missouri State from 1997-2000. Her Baylor school records include most points in a season (1,082); highest average per game (24.6); FG % (62); rebounds (676B15.4 per game); and steals (156B3.5 per game); points in a career (3,861); career points per game (22.0); career rebounds (2,176B13.4 per game); and steals (341B1.9 per game); freshman scoring average (23.4); and freshman rebounding average (11.4).

Baylor first achieved national prominence during the career of Suzanne Snider. The Lady Bears were 30-11 in 1975, 31-6 in 1976, and 33-11 in 1977. The team made the national AIAW tournament in 1976 and defeated Southern Connecticut and Delta State before losing to Tennessee Tech. In 1977 the team again made the national AIAW tournament and defeated St. Joseph, LSU, Missouri, and Utah before losing (71-69) to Southern Connecticut.
Suzanne Snider Eppers was named first-team Div. I All-American by Kodak in 1977 and her number (#23) was retired at the end of her career. She was elected to the Baylor Hall of Fame and to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame for basketball. She also excelled at track at Baylor. As a freshman her personal bests were 45' in the shot put, 144' 2" in the discus, and 5' 6" in the HJ. She won the national collegiate championship in the shot put while a junior at Baylor in 1976 at 48' 1". She also threw the discus (PB’154' 5") and the javelin (PB’143' 10") while at Baylor during a period when women’s track was in its beginning stages. Before entering Baylor in the fall of 1973 she won the National Junior shot put championship in CA and toured Russia, Germany and Poland with the National Junior Track Team.

In 2004 Suzanne Snider Eppers lived in Crosby TX with her husband, Danny, and two children, Brad and Angela. She has worked for the Deer Park I.S.D. for 18 years as a teacher (10 yrs), counselor (5 yrs) and coach (3 yrs).

Ychlindria Spears, 1999-2002
Ychlindria Spears won more career gold medals at the state track meet in Austin than any other athlete in the 101-year history of the state meet. Her 14 gold medals from 1999-2002 broke the girls state record of 12 held by Mary Bolden of Hamlin from 1980-83. Spears broke the state and national triple jump record in 2001 and broke the state long jump record three straight years (1999-2001). In 2004 she was competing for the U. of Texas.
As a freshman in 1999 Spears won four events: the LJ (20' 06"Bstate record); TJ (41' 08"Bconf. record); 100-meter dash (11.71); and 200-meter dash (23.99). As a soph in 2000 she won the LJ (21' 02"Bstate record); TJ (42' 01"Bconf record); and 100-meters (11.98); and was 2^nd in the 200-meters (24.5). As a junior in 2001 she won the LJ (21' 03"Bstate record & the 4^th best all-time in U.S. thru 2005); the TJ (44' 02"Bstate and national record); the 100-meters (11.88); and 200-meters (24.16). As a senior in 2002 she won the LJ (20' 06"); the TJ (43' 11"); 200-meters (24.2); and was 2^nd in the 100-meters in 11.63. In addition Ychlindria won a team gold medal for Luling’s state 3A championship in 2000; a team silver for Luling’s 2^nd place finish in 2002; and two bronze for Luling’s 3^rd place finishes in 1999 & 2001. She won 20 track medals in her 4-year career at the state track meetBa state record. By 2005 two athletes (Toya Jones of Refugio from 1992-95 and JimAnne Baker of Cisco from 2000-2003) had the 2^nd most career gold with 13. She also scored more points--154 (40 + 38 + 40 + 38)--- in her 4-year career at the TX state track meet than any other athlete in the past 101 years. Ychlindria won 14 of the 20 gold medals won by Luling since the girls track meet started in 1972Cfive of the other 6 were won by her older sister, Carla, in the TJ and LJ in 1990-92. The 19 gold medals by the Spears siblings at the state meet are second only to the 21 gold medals won by the Jones siblings of Frisco at the girls state meet.
Ychlindria was the “most decorated” female track and field athlete in Texas high school history as she was the state record holder in the LJ & TJ and the national record holder in the TJ. She was undefeated on the district and regional levels throughout her high school career. As a junior Ychlindria was named the 2001 National H.S. Girls’ Track and Field Athlete of the Year after setting the national record in the triple jump (44' 02") and recording the best long jump in the U.S. at 20' 9.2". She was the U.S. Junior Olympic champion in the LJ and TJ from 1998-2000. She also won the USATF Junior Nationals in the LJ at 20' 09.7" and finished 14^th in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials in the LJ at the age of 16. She won the LJ in 1999 (19' 7") and 2002 (19' 5.7") and the triple jump in 2002 (41' 1.2") at the Texas Relays.
Ychlindria was plagued by injuries in her UT track career with a pulled hamstring, stress fractures in her shin, etc. but did finish 9^th in the triple jump at the NCAA outdoor championships. In her sophomore year (2004) she had personal bests of 20’ 7.75” in the LJ and 43’ 7” in the TJ.
Ychlindria Leanne Spears was born on July 17, 1984, in Yoakum TX to Ronnell and Bernadette Spears. Her older sister, Carla, won 5 gold medals in the triple jump and long jump for Luling in 1990-92 and held the 2A triple jump record from 1992-95 at 40' 04.5".

Chapter Four: Track as a Family Affair
It is obvious from even a cursory glance at the list of Texas state track champions by school that track in Texas high schools is often “A Family Affair.” One cannot help but notice that the same last name often appears in a school’s listing of champions indicating that multiple members of the same family won championships. Most of the “same names” involve siblings but several involve father & son, father & daughter, mother & son, etc.
SIBLING CHAMPIONS
Perhaps the most outstanding example of the “family affair” phenomena is the listing of champions for Munday High School. From 1977-1999 Munday had an amazing “run” of state champions that involved several sets of siblings in the individual events and relays. The sets of siblings included Todd, Trey & Tyler Thompson; Perry and Terry (twins) Collier; Frankie and Anthony Stinnett; Jim Earl and Bobby Dockins; April, Angie (twins) and Dent Offutt; and Caroline, Julie and Mindy Myers. Likewise, Frisco in the 1980's had Cynthia, Brenda and Charlotte Jones and Debra & Beverly Petty and (half-sister) Alice Thompson and Karnack had Vance and Regina Vaughn; Celeria and Aquendolyn Washington and Amber, Shametra and Celeste Boykins. Three members of the Boykins family (sisters Celeste, Amber & Shametra) ran on two championship relays for Karnack in 2001. Three Morrison sisters (twins Jenada and Jenovia and Tamoya) ran on a gold relay for Randolph-Universal City in 2006. Sisters Candyce and Brandi Cross of Ft. Bend Marshall helped set a state record in the 1600 relay in 2005 (and won again in 2006).

Other examples (not a complete list) of sets of championship siblings were Mike, Ann and Sheila Quigley of Westlake; Jerry, Leslie, Larry & Stanley Kerr of Snook; Toya and Tanya Jones of Refugio; Tony and Donny Brooks of Rockdale; JoBeth and Deannie Palmer of Bryan; Andy & Van Taylor of Bremond; Frank and Tony Pollard of Meridian; Abdul and Ahmad Rasheed of Halletsville; Shifton, Milton and Rosa Baker of Elgin; Christina and Ashley McCarty of Sanger; Curry and Culley Jo Dawson of Water Valley; Trey and Rachel Runnels and Darlene Alexander of Forney; T.J. and Hali Henderson of Clifton; Earl and Oscar Frazier of Hillsboro; Carl and John Swierc of Falls City; Rick, Rob, Danny & Wes Kittley of Rule; Gene and Joe Pouncy of Dallas Lincoln; Claudell and Clynell Anderson of Jacksonville; Barbara and Beatrice Reese of Bellville; Earlene and Willene Williams of West Columbia; Roy and Rod Martin of Dallas Roosevelt; Kristy and Tommy Bond of Lockhart; Brad and Brit Pursley of Merkel; Herchel and Jerry Force of O’Brien Carney; Jimmy and David Lisle of Rule; Jay and Johnny Toliver of Columbus; Marshevet & Desinee Hooker of San Antonio SW; John and Jim Authenreith of Fredericksburg; Lee and Ron McCown of Robert Lee; Michael and Patrick Jessup of El Maton and William and Clifton Thomas of El Maton; Misti and Eboni Taylor of Bronte; Jason and Rachael Honea of Mertzon Irion County; John and Jim Wyatt of Rochester; H.K. and Terrell Allen of Austin; Mary and Tiwana Carey of Detroit; Kenneth and Glenn Hoffman of Somerset; Raymond and W. Pope of Grandview; Gary and Terry Fleming of Trinidad; Wade and Wes Richardson of Sonora; Larry and David Lee Morrison of Lometa; Ranessa and Glenda Crawford of Evant; DeMario & Milton Wesley of Ft Worth Wyatt; Brandi and Candyce Cross of Fort Bend Marshall; Bradley Dale and Gary Reveto of Orangefield; Drew and Clint Stubbs & Ashley and Keshima Starks of Atlanta; Amanda & Kimberly Alley of Crosbyton; Kelton and Kathy Jones of Baird; Jonathan and Ginger Dickerson of Refugio (who are first cousins to Toya & Tanya Jones); and Katy & Sarah Barkley of Llano.

PARENT-CHILD CHAMPIONS
Certainly the most prominent “parent-child” champions were Michael Carter of Dallas Jefferson (father); his daughters, Michelle and D’Andra Carter of Red Oak; and his son, Michael of Red Oak; who won multiple shotput and discus records (4 for Michael; 8 for Michelle & 4 for D’Andra; & 1 for his son, Michael) and set national marks in the process. Other known “cross generations”champions were Bruce (father) and Damion (son) Turner who both won the high jump for Rockdale; T.A. (father) and Ted Weems (son) who both won the discus for Rockdale; Billy Byrd won the HJ for Gladewater and his son,Terry Lynn Byrd, won the HJ for Texas City; Todd Harbour won the 880 for Post while his son, Jonathan Harbour, won the 1600 for Riesel; Leon Lepard won the 880 for Big Spring while his son, Robert, won the 880 for Brownfield; Jan Pearcy of Sundown won the 880 while his son, Van Pearcy, won the LJ for Andrews; Richard (Dick) Stafford won the discus for Matador while his son, Brett, won the 330-hurdles for Belton; and Lorri Hooker won the HJ for New Braunfels while her daughter, Jodi Anderson, was a relay champion for New Braunfels. Raymond Lanehart won the LJ for Iraan and his daughter, Brittany, won the same event for Iraan. Carl White of Hemphill won the 330 hurles in 1976 and his daughter, Kashonna White, won the 100-meter hurdles for Hemphill in 1997. Dudley Haas of Corpus Christi Ray held the state LJ record from 1959-1990 and his father of Corpus Christi won the 100-yd dash in 1935.
Richard Gallegos won gold and set a state record in the mile in 1962 for Crystal City and his son, Ricky, won four gold in the 1600/3200 in 1991 for the same school. Luther Poehlman of Burton won the shot put in 1974 and his son, Matthew, won the same event for the same school in 2000-01. Doris Ponder of Kerens was a relay champ in 1981 and her daughter, Rosalind Holmes, won 5 gold for Kerens in 1998-2001. Mona Kay Henkes of Hamilton won 440-yd dash in 1973 & 1974 and her son, Charles Johnson, of Hamilton won 800-meters in 1999.Also, Russell Urbantke, now Supt. of Schools in Riesel, won the shot put for Riesel and his son, Russell Urbantke, anchored the winning 400-meter relay team for Riesel in 1994. Douglas Cockerham won both sprints for Red Oak in 1963 and his daughter, Camille, won the HJ for Red Oak in 1980 & 1981. James Thurmond of Refugio won the 2A mile in 1965 and his daughter, Eleanor, won the 800 meters for Refugio in 1989-1990. DeeWayne Thompson won the discus for Winona in 1976 and his son, Buck Thompson, won the shot put for Winona in 2008. Alan Kassen won the 110 hurdles in 1982 and his son, A.J. Kassen, won the same event in 2011.
Also, Darlene Alexander won the 60-yd dash for Forney and her two children, Trey Runnels (in the 200) and Rachel Runnels (in the 100), won gold for Forney. Jackie Mays of Stamford won 7 gold and her daughter, Jordan Durham, anchored the winning 800 & 1600 relays for Kennedale in 2004. Two state champions married and produced a champion as Kyle Thompson and Andy Preas of Cooper both won gold in 1983 and their son, Kyle Thompson, won a relay gold for Cooper in 2004. Also, Olympic pole vault champion Bob Richards’ son, Brandon Richards, won the pole vault for Waco Midway. Likewise, Jimmy Hines, the son of 1968 Olympic Champion, Jim Hines, won a relay gold for Giddings in 1983. Also, Dale Simpson won the PV for White Flat (Trent) in 1936 and his grandson, Bo Simpson, won the 2002 long jump for Trent. Leonard Peters won both hurdles for Seymour in 1963 & 1964 while his daughter, Ami Peters, won the high hurdles for Syemour in 1993 & 1994 and his son, Mickey Peters, won the high hurdles for Holliday in 1998 and Weatherford in 1999. Benny Holik won the 330 hurdles for Wall in 1972 and his son, Brian, won the 300 hurdles for Wall in 2006. Allex Austin of San Marcos won the gold in the 5A High Jump in 2012 following in steps of his father, Charles Austin, of Van Vleck who was the 1996 Olympic Champion in the high jump.
One example of three generations of champions is the Hall family. Charlie Hall won the 1952 pole vault for Karnes City, his son Randy Hall won the 1977 pole vault for Port Lavaca Calhoun and his son Hunter Hall won the 2007 pole vault for Ft. Wayne IN. The threesome also had success beyond H.S. as the grandfather (Charlie) vaulted at SWT, the son (Randy) vaulted at TX A&M and was national champ and the grandson (Hunter) vaulted at Virginia Tech & was All-American in 2009.

LEADING TRACK FAMILIES
The “leading track family of Texas” according to gold medal counts is the Jones family of Frisco who hold the state record with 21 gold medals (12 by Cynthia, 6 by Brenda and 3 by Charlotte). Second place is a tie between the Kerr family of Snook and the Spears family of Luling. The four Kerr brothers won a total of 19 gold medals (8 by Jerry, 3 by Leslie, 3 by Larry & 5 by Stanley) and all later ran track at nearby Texas A&M. The Spears sisters of Luling also won 19 gold medals (14 by Ychlindria and 5 by Carla). The Offutt siblings of Munday won 18 gold (8 by April, 8 by Angie & 2 by Dent). Including first cousins a total of 26 gold medals were won by Refugio’s Toya and Tanya Jones (16) and their first cousins Ginger and Jonathan Dickerson (10).
Other prominent “gold medal families” were the three Myers sisters of Munday who won 17 gold medals (Carolyn, 4; Julie, 3, & Mindy,10); Toya and Tanya Jones of Refugio who won 16 gold (13 by Toya); Michael Carter (4) and his daughters Michelle (8) and D’Andra (4) & his son Michael (1) totaled 17 gold medals; the three Boykins sisters of Karnack who won 14 gold (Shametra, 7, Amber 5, and Celeste, 2); the Ketchum twins of Needville won 14 gold (9 by Anthony Raye & 5 by Dennis); the Petty/Thompson family of Frisco won 10 gold (3 by Debra Petty, 3 by Beverly Petty and 4 by (half-sister) Alice Thompson; Ginger Dickerson (9) and Jonathan Dickerson (1) won 10 gold for Refugio; the Mitchell brothers of Big Sandy won 9 gold medals (6 by Alfred and 3 by Bobby); Bellville twins Barbara and Beatrice Reese won 9 gold in relays; the Overall twins of Greenville won 8 gold medals (6 by Earl & 2 by Ernest); the Pouncy twins of Dallas Lincoln won 8 gold (4 by Gene and 4 by Joe); the Kittley brothers of Rule won 8 gold (Rick, 3; Rob, 3 and Danny, 1, Wes, 1); the Reina brothers of San Antonio Jay won 7 gold (6 by Reuben & 1 by Roland); the Willbanks sisters won 7 gold (4 by Whitney and 3 by Marianne); the Quigley siblings of Westlake won 6 gold (1 by Mike, 2 by Ann & 3 by Sheila); the Peters family of Seymour won 6 gold (2 each by father, Leonard, and children, Ami and Mickey; the Unberhagen siblings of Little River-Academy won 6 gold (3 by Sammy, 2 by Ronald & 1 by sister, Jesse); the Williams brothers of Milano won 5 gold (1 by Michael, 2 by Bruce and 2 by Erick); and the Page siblings of Eldorado won 5 gold (1 by Paul, 2 by Carolyn and 2 by Kathy).

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