This is "Double Duty" Della Rosa reporting to you from the state track meet in Austin. I'll be playing catch-up from Myers Stadium after covering the Celina softball team on the other side of I-35 but stay tuned throughout the evening -- the last event is the 2A boys 1,600 relay, scheduled for 9:15 p.m. -- as well as Saturday morning.

Okay, it's time to play catch-up now that I have made it over to the track meet. I had to go straight from the parking garage to the long jump pit to catch Sherman junior Ben Pressley in action, so this will be a big update on the morning events.

Howe's Brooke Farris started off the meet for the locals by capturing a bronze medal in the 2A 3,200 in the first action of the day with a time of 12:09.88. Farris will try for another top 3 finish in the 1,600 tonight.

Pottsboro's Nathan Collier did Farris two spots better by capturing the state title in the 2A 3,200. He won in a time of 9:31.60 -- nearly 13 seconds faster than second place and 27 seconds in front of third place. He will go for double gold in the 1,600 tonight.

Eric Bartels of S&S fouled three times in the 2A long jump and finished eighth with a leap of 19 feet, five inches.

Pilot Point's Hunter Svane was unable to add to the family's medal count with a sixth-place finish -- six feet, two inches -- in the 2A high jump.Svane's older sister, Audrey, won high jump titles in 2006 and 2007.

Ben Pressley of Sherman squeaked out a third-place spot in the 4A long jump, capturing the bronze medal with a leap of 22 feet, six and three quarters inches -- one inch ahead of fourth place.

Pottsboro's Taryl Farek placed sixth in the 2A girls discus throw with a toss of 112 feet, 11 inches.

I am almost done catching up -- two stories already in the can, hooray!! -- and ready for the afternoon/evening push. Among the storylines I am following: Collier going for double gold and Pottsboro trying to win the boys team title; Farris' shot at a second medal, Sherman's Alicia Peterson trying to win her fifth career medal and Myran Roundtree of Bonham will take flight in the long and triple jump with a chance to earn a medal in both events.

Melissa senior Krista Katterhenry was seventh in the 2A high jump after clearning five feet. She was sixth in the event last year.

Bonham's Myran Roundtree missed getting a bronze medal in the 3A long jump by no more than an inch and had to settle for fourth place. But the senior will have one more opportunity to claim some hardware when he competes in the triple jump later on tonight.

K.J. Finney of Honey Grove took sixth place in the triple jump at 43 feet, five and three quarters inches -- one inch ahead of Jacksboro's Logan Gunter.

Well we have hit the half-way point here at the track meet. The running events will kick off in a few hours and I would guess this place will start rocking as the temperatures go from blazing to moderately bearable. The crowd has been subdued for the most part so far but it's tough to get excited during field events since it is a drawn out process and sometimes tough to tell who is winning. Big props to the Killeen track team, which is lounging under the grandstand on a SpongeBob Squarepants blanket.

Back to the action and away we go! The locals kick off the night portion in a strong way as Gunter's 400 relay team of Nikki Mixon, Paul Nicholson, Leo Castorena and Chad Tucker claimed the bronze with a personal-best 42.61 in the 2A race by a razor-thin margin -- 0.01 seconds -- over Lubbock Roosevelt. Tucker had a great anchor leg to get the Tigers a medal. Gunter was less than one-tenth of a second from silver.

Tom Bean's Delaney Allison placed eighth in the 2A girls 100 hurdles with a time of 16.31.

Fast and furious my friends. Fast and furious. I had five events all in a row so I spent a majority of the last hour (it's now quarter past eight) down on the track. So here is a quick snapshot of where we stand:

A false start in the 2A boys 100 dash led to some slow times from a cautious field. Gunter's Chad Tucker couldn't keep the magic going, however, and took fifth.

After that Pottsboro put out the first of its two units in the 2A boys 800 relay. The Cardinals started strong but couldn't hold off a very strong field and slipped to fifth at 1:29.46. Corrigan-Camden won the race in a 2A state meet record 1:26.46. The points are nice but the chances of winning the team title took a serious hit.

Myran Roundtree closed out his high school career with a bronze medal in the 3A triple jump. Roundtree finished fourth in the long jump some six hours earlier but made the most of his second chance. After stepping down from the podium, he signed a letter of intent to compete for Wayland Baptist University.

As soon as Roundtree was done, Sherman senior Alicia Peterson closed out her stellar high school career with a sliver medal in the 4A 400 at 55 seconds flat. It was the fifth overall medal -- second silver -- and the future University of Texas athlete wasn't happy it wasn't gold. She led for almost three-quarters of the race before being passed about 20 meters from the finish. She also almost was clipped at the line for second but just got in 0.04 seconds before getting passed again.

Adrian Dabrio then took to the track for the 2A 400 and used a push towards the end to pick up some points in a fifth-place finish.

There are three events left for the locals -- Brooke Farris and Nathan Collier go for medals again, this time in the 1,600 while Pottsboro and Gunter will compete against each other in the 1,600 boys relay. Stay tuned.

A long day has come to an end. To wrap up the evening: Brooke Farris leaves with only a bronze after finishing sixth in the 1,600. But Nathan Collier completed the double gold by winning the 1,600.

Collier then turned around and ran on the Pottsboro 1,600 relay and the Cardinals claimed silver, taking second behind Corrigan-Camden, which ran another 2A state meet time. Gunter placed seventh in the event. The final overall standings looked the same -- Corrigan-Camden won the 2A boys team crown with Pottsboto finishing as the state runner-up.

That's all from Day 1 of this track extravaganza. Check in tommorow when Whitesboro's Hayden Baillio defends his 3A titles in the shot put and discus, a Purple Warrior duo tries to bring more hardware back to Bonham and Collinsville tries to win the 1A 1,600 boys relay.