Excitement filled the air as 48 relay teams prepared to compete for one of nine final spots. The Kinkaid boys 4×400-meter relay team—freshman Robert Lee, sophomore Wayne Shanks, junior Andrew Wright, and senior Darnell Joseph—was ready to take on the challenge.
They ran in the first out of seven heats. After watching the girls 4×400 meter relay, the boys were eager to take the stage.
Boys head track coach John Beckwith looked forward to seeing this group compete.
“All four runners are competitive and look forward to internal and external challenges,” Coach Beckwith said. “They all push each other to be better.”
Before the race, the team huddled for a quick prayer, which Lee said “helped ease his nerves and focus.” They also made a promise: they were going to break the school record.
Wright led off the relay. As he stepped into the blocks, he said a prayer to calm his nerves. When the gun went off, he exploded forward.
“During the race, I told myself to run, use my arms, and run through the line,” Wright said.
Fatigue set in as he hit the final 100 meters, but he pushed through.
“When I gave the baton to Wayne, I was exhausted, but I had to get through the line to put him in a good position,” Wright said. “Once I handed it off, I had complete trust in my teammates to go out and compete their hardest.”
Shanks took off. Kinkaid was trailing by about 50 meters.
“I just knew I had to catch him, and that’s what I did,” Shanks said. “During the race, I had a clear mind. I’m running against myself.”
Lee, the third leg, admitted he felt “a little bit of pressure” competing alongside faster peers. He battled the Lago Vista relay team throughout his leg.
When Lee passed the baton to Joseph, there was a slight bobble, briefly dropping Kinkaid into second place. Joseph, a four-year varsity athlete, had been eyeing this record since his freshman year.
With 200 meters to go, he surged past his competitor and sealed the victory.
“As soon as Darnell hit that last 300-meter mark, I knew. I was super hype and excited,” Shanks said.
Crossing the finish line, Joseph immediately shouted, “That’s the school record.”
He described the moment as euphoric but also bittersweet.
“One part of me is happy to have broken it, but the other part wants more time to break it again so that no one else will,” Joseph said.
With Joseph’s 48-second split, the Kinkaid relay team toppled a school record that had stood since 1976.
While some runners knew immediately that they had set a record, others were unaware.
“I didn’t realize we broke the record. I was so focused on qualifying,” Wright said. “I didn’t know how to react—I just felt incredibly blessed to accomplish something this huge.”
“I couldn’t believe we shaved six seconds off our original time and broke the school record,” Lee said.
Beckwith emphasized the significance of the achievement.
“I didn’t think about the record until it was posted on the scoreboard,” Beckwith said. “I was looking at the individual split times and knew we would have a bunch of new PRs. Knowing how long the record stood adds even more meaning to the outstanding effort.”
