Each year as football season ends and spring comes around, track season finally begins. Nearly two months after that, the road to state starts. The Chaps are in the thick of it right now as they had an impressive showing in areas, and now head to regionals.

Boys 4×400

The Westlake Boys Varsity 4×400 relay team took 2nd place at the area track meet, breaking the school record. The relay team consists of Alejandro Philippart (first leg), Wylie Nichols (second leg), Nolan Bartley (third leg), and Thompson Bennett (fourth leg). They finished their relay in 3:17.83, the fastest split being Philippart’s 48.5.

“I was most nervous about not giving us a good lead in the beginning because I was the first leg for the first time, so there was a lot of pressure on me,” said Philippart.

Bennett went against one of the top runners in the nation, Abram Reagan from Lake Travis. Reagan split a 45, even after slowing down mid lap to talk to Bennett and brag about his speed.

The team originally knew that Lake Travis would be the biggest competition they would have going into the meet, as LT had previously beaten Westlake at the District Track meet as well. Ultimately, LT finished just barely ahead of Westlake with a 3:17.50. LT was the only real competition, as all the other schools finished 2 or more seconds behind.

“I felt good handing the baton to Wylie because I had a pretty big lead, and then when I found out my split I realized it was a PR,” said Philippart.

The relay team has been working on conditioning and handoffs in order to get ready for the upcoming Regional Meet in San Antonio. Going into regionals, they are currently seated in fifth, and .8 seconds away from first.

“I like the 4×4 because it’s the very last race of every meet and a lot of the times the meet is decided by winning or not,” said Bennett.

“At the beginning of the season, we started off with times around 3:20, so it’s really great to see how much we’ve improved throughout the season,” said Philippart.

As regionals quickly approaches, the team is excited and confident in their ability to perform and win some points for Westlake.

Girls 4×200

The girls 4×200 won second place at the area track meet and earned the school record with a time of 1:41.24, losing to just Lake Travis with a time of 1:41.22. They will move onto the regional track meet where they’ll have a chance to qualify for the state championship meet.

The team consists of Junior Presley Grewal (first leg), Freshman Elsa Harvey (second leg), Junior Chloe Peter (third leg), and Sophomore Blakely Goen (fourth leg)

The relay has let races in the past due to poor handoffs, losing multiple seconds, but at the area meet they didn’t let their past mistakes creep up on them again.

“We practiced 200 handoffs every morning that week at practice,” Grewal said. “We knew we couldn’t allow ourselves to give up another race”.

The 4×200 is seeded 4th at the regional meet, and will more than likely need to run another team best to qualify for the state championship meet.

“The 4×200 is one of our better relays and I think we will have a good chance of moving on if we run like how we did at area” the Junior first leg said.

Malaysia Shaw

Malaysia Shaw arrived at her track meet ready to break another school record. She slung her headphones on, her coach gave her the thumbs up, and she was set. The senior  finds herself in her favorite position for the shot put competition; placed first as the eighth thrower. Shaw, already having broken a school record,  broke another one. took

“I wind up in a tempo that is comfortable to me and let it rip” Shaw said.

As she gripped the shot, she steadied herself, as she knew that this was not just another throw but instead the culmination of hours upon hours of determination and practice.The crowd watched on anticipating another record attempt

“I let the shot fly” Shaw said.

The mark is measured and she’s done it; she’s broken another school record. Shaw breaks into a smile, and her coach cheers for her from the sideline. But for Shaw, it’s more than simply digits on a scoreboard. Instead, it’s another great step toward bigger records and bigger games.

Elijah Clark

Senior sprinter Eli Clark took first place at the area championship in the 100 meter race. Clark took home the new Westlake school record, finishing with a time of 10.17, and will move on to regionals.

“I want to take away the lessons and experience,” Clark said. “Going through districts and areas has taught me a lot about my character and how to refine my race model. Every meet has been a chance to grow.”

Clark improved upon a 2024 area championship where he ran a 10.51 and took home second place.

“Westlake track has changed me for the better,” Clark said. “If I hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t be the same person or the same sprinter. The environment pushed me to grow both on and off the track.”

In addition to his track success, Clark had a very impactful football season in which he ran for over 400 yards and seven touchdowns.

“Football taught me discipline and how to push through tough workouts,” Clark said. “Running every day and giving full effort every rep made the transition to track easier. I knew what to expect and what kind of work had to be done.”

Clark will run in the regional championship April 6 in both the 100 and 200 meter races.

“My goal is to advance and continue improving, Clark said. “All for the glory of God.”