Splendora's Jay Bradford wins state in both 100-meter dash and long jump

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas -- Jay Bradford, a sophomore from Splendora High School, put in a golden performance at the UIL Texas 3A State Track and Field Championships winning both the Class 3A 100-meter dash and the long jump.

In the 100-meter dash Bradford clocked 10.49 seconds to hold off Royce Caldwell (10.57) from Columbus. Bradford claimed the long jump by almost a foot with at 23 feet, 11½ inches. Teammate Kagan Angers finished fourth at 22 feet, 8¼. inches.

On the subject of top-seeded Emanuel Hicks of Mineral Wells being disqualified for a false start in the 100-meter, Bradford said, “As soon as he false-started, I felt a little bit of relief. But then again, I wish he would’ve run with me because it would’ve been more of a challenge and more fun to me.” Bradford has been working on improving his start in the 100-meter dash.

“I’ve been working on keeping my head down because I have a bad habit of just popping right up,” said Bradford. “We’ve been working on that, trying to get my head down. I felt like I had a pretty good start this time.”

Jay Bradford is just a sophomore at Splendora, with two more years of competition ahead of him.

Of his mental state during the state championships, Bradford said, “I have a chance to come back here two more years, so I’m just going to go out there and have fun with it.” Speaking of his Wildcat teammate, Kagan Angers, “It made it a lot more fun to have one of my own from Splendora make it here with me.”

Spoken like a true champion.

Splendora coaching staff contributors to article.