Chapin girls 4×100 meter relay State bound

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The Chapin girls track relay teams have established themselves as true state contenders, earning their second consecutive trip to the state meet.

Chapin's head track and field coach, Mario Gomez, has been at the helm for thirteen years and has led the girls 4x100 meter to the state meet for the first time since 2023.

"My job as a coach is to set up the best relay possible," Gomez said. "These are the best girls that we could ever have. We're going to bring back a gold medal."

The Huskies finished first in the Area round clocking in a time of 45.91 seconds. To put that in perspective, last year's class 5A state winning time was 45.46, meaning the Huskies would've been right in the mix for a state medal.

"We've been working really hard all season, we've been putting in so much work, there's been a lot of up and downs throughout the season so it's good to see that all the hard work is paying off," Chapin's fourth leg in the relay Laurin Gardner said. "This is our first year all running the 4x100 together, since last year we had a different girl, and to know that we came together and were able to win Regionals, I think we all feel pretty good."

Last year, Chapin qualifies for the 4x200 meter relay and brings back three runner from that squad, while Ambrielle Buckley joins the relay team as the newest addition.

"I was really honored to work with them," Buckley said. "Seeing how far they have come together as a whole, and being able to be part of that, I was very happy, very proud of myself and proud of them as well."

Although the girls have established themselves as a state contender, they don't take all the credit.

"Coach Gomez is a very good coach, he is very hard on us but he loves us," Chapin's third leg Aahniyah Clayton said. "We do what we do for him, as well as ourselves."

"No one has ever won the state meet in the 4x100, no one has ever done that," Gomez said.

"For us to come back and win state, it would be very emotional and we would be overcome with so many emotions," Chapin's second leg Sienna Butler said.

"Being from El Paso, I think it's very important to be able to come into that meet and be able to represent," Chapin's fourth leg Laurin Gardner said. "I feel like El Paso is not a place that's on a lot of people's radar, so being able to go out there and put ourselves on the map, it doesn't only represent us but it represents our city as well."