AUSTIN — Mike A. Myers Stadium had the feel of a Lubbock-Cooper practice on Friday.
Like their training in Woodrow, Niomi Wines and Brentley Preston went jump for jump during the Class 5A state meet. The result was a pair of Pirates on the podium.
Wines cleared 5-foot-7 to win the girls high jump, with Preston nabbing bronze at 5-6. Preston won the Region I title just ahead of Wines, and the teammates almost went 1-2 in Austin as well.
Throw in sophomore Sara Goltz, the fourth-place finisher at regionals, and it’s easy to see how the Cooper competition breeds success.
“It makes practice outstanding every day,” Pirates jumps coach Taylor Read said. “We’ve got two state-champion caliber girls jumping against each other, and then we’ve got a third one that’s just as good. So practice is at a high level, and you see that come meet day because they see that competition on a daily basis.”
It was Wines’ second time to compete in high jump at the state level. The outcome was much better than her debut as a freshman at Big Spring. In fact, shortly after she was still processing her championship.