Boys Head Track Coach Trent Vest

Liberty’s boys and girls track team traveled to Waco last weekend to compete in the state meet. The girls had a strong showing, and for the 11^th time, the boys came home with the state championship.

As the state champions, the boys team finished with a score of 82 points; the next closest competitor was 25 points behind.

On the girls team, sophomore Sydney Brynn is the state champion in the 3200-meter and is the third place winner in the mile.

Boys Head Track Team Coach Trent Vest took six seniors, six juniors, two sophomores, and three freshmen, and in addition to being state champions, the 4×100-meter team of Christian Scofield, Brett Metzler, Jared Lawson, and Chad Corley are also state champions.

“Christian Scofield is also the state champion in the 300-meter hurdles, winning by .006 seconds … the closest race I have ever witnessed,” said Vest.

Vest said that Scofield had a scary hamstring injury on Friday in the long jump.

“We were not sure if he was going to be able to compete in the running portion of the meet on Saturday,” Vest said. “He was able to get some work done on his hamstring that allowed him to compete, and he finished the day with two gold medals – what a turnaround!”

Vest said that Connor Cullum had had a nagging back injury earlier in the week, and that Cullum thought that it might keep him from throwing the shot put.

“He had a therapeutic massage on Friday that allowed him to not only compete, but compete with no pain,” said Vest. “He finished third in the event.”

Below is a list of those boys who competed, their event, and if they placed:

Sophomore Ryan Leaverton – 3200-meter and 1600-meter
Senior Taylor Hollingshead – shot put – fourth place
Senior Connor Cullum – shot put – third place
Senior Chris Admire – high jump – fifth place; 110-meter hurdles – third place
Junior Lance Kay – discus – fourth place
Senior Christian Scofield – long jump – fourth place; 4×100-meter relay – first place; and 300-meter hurdles – first place
Junior Cameron Balkey – pole vault – fifth place
Junior Brett Metzler – 4×100-meter relay – first place; 4×200-meter relay – second place
Junior Jared Lawson – 4×100-meter relay – first place; 4×200-meter relay – second place
Senior Chad Corley – 4×100-meter relay – first place; 4×200-meter relay – second place; 300-meter relay – second place; and 300-meter hurdles – fourth place
Freshman Aaron Deaver – 110-meter hurdles
Freshman Matthew Jeffery – 4×200-meter relay – second place; 4×400-meter relay – fifth place
Sophomore Miles Smith – 4×400-meter relay – fifth place
Freshman Foster Ford – 4×400-meter relay – fifth place
Senior Hayden Anderson – 4×400-meter relay – fifth place
Junior Eric Watts – relay alternate
Junior Brent McQuirk – relay alternate

Congratulations Warriors!

“We are very excited once again to host the Warrior Relays here at Liberty Christian,” said Jamie Michalek, girls head track coach.

“We have become well known over the past several years by how well our meets are run,” Michalek added.

She gives thanks to the coaching staff who all work different aspects of the meet, and to the parents who volunteer their time. Michalek said that it is that winning team that “makes the Warrior Relays the best run meet in North Texas.”

“In addition, God has blessed us with amazing facilities, and this week gives us an opportunity to showcase them in these meets,” said Michalek.

The schedule of events is below.
Middle School Warrior Relays – Tuesday, April 13
Field events start at 3 p.m.

Group 1 – 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Boys – Long Jump, High Jump, and Discus
Girls – Triple Jump, Shot Put, and Pole Vault

At 4:30 p.m. is the 2400-meter run

Group 2 – 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Boys – Triple Jump, Shot Put, and Pole Vault
Girls – Long Jump, High Jump, and Discus

At 6 p.m., there will be “Shoot for the Gun” in the:
4×100-meter relay
800-meter run
100-meter dash
100-meter hurdles/110-meter hurdles
4×200 relay
400-meter dash
300-meter hurdles
200-meter dash
1600-meter run
4×400-meter relay

The schools participating in the Middle School Warrior Relays are:
Liberty Christian
Fort Worth Christian
Colleyville Covenant
Faith Christian
Bethesda Christian
Oakridge Academy
Immaculate Conception

Upper School Warrior Relays – Friday, April 16, and Saturday, April 17
Friday, April 16

Group 1 – 1:30 p.m.
Boys – Discus, Long Jump, and Pole Vault
Girls – Shot Put, Triple Jump, and High Jump

Group 2 – 4:30 p.m.
Boys – Shot Put, Triple Jump, and High Jump
Girls – Discus, Long Jump, and Pole Vault

At 7:30 p.m. will be the girls 3200-meter run and the boys 3200-meter run.
Saturday, April 17

10 a.m. – Begins prayer and the National Anthem, followed by the games:
4×100 relay (junior varsity girls, varsity girls, junior varsity boys, and varsity boys)
800-meter run
100 hurdles
110 hurdles
100-meter dash
4×200 relay
400-meter run
300 hurdles
200-meter dash
1600-meter run
4X400 relay

The schools participating in the Upper School Warrior Relays are:
Liberty Christian
Coram Deo
Grace Prep Academy
Austin Hill Country Christian School
Ursuline Academy
John Paul II
Nolan Catholic
Southwest Christian
Faith Christian
Cambridge School of Dallas
Trinity Christian Cedar Hill

Coach Bubba Joiner

Bubba Joiner touched a lot of lives in his 37 years in coaching, and now some of his former co-workers are paying him back.

Joiner, who coached football and track at Liberty Christian for six years until retiring in 2006, passed away in 2008 after a battle with cancer. Joiner spent three decades in the Austin ISD and coached one season at Ryan as the secondary coach in 1998.

Today will mark the first Bubba Joiner Invitational at Liberty Christian, which will host eight boys teams and seven girls teams from around the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including local schools Denton, Sanger and Lake Dallas. Greenhill, Cistercian, Arlington Oakridge and Plano Prestonwood will also be on hand.

The Warriors have hosted the Warrior Relays for the past four years, and will again on April 16-17. This year, boys coach Trent Vest and girls coach Jamie Michalek decided to host a second meet on their 5-year-old track and involve some public schools since the Warrior Relays fall on the same weekend as UIL district meets.

“Because of the date of the Warrior Relays, it was never open to public schools,” Vest said. “I wanted an opportunity to compete against some public schools at our place.”

So that’s when the plan got put in progress.

Vest and Michalek, along with athletic director Greg Price, decided to honor Joiner by naming the meet after him.

“After Bubba had died, we did an honor for him at the Warrior Relays, but we decided to name a meet after him because he was such a man of character and he did so much for the kids,” Michalek said.

Diane Joiner, who was married to Bubba for 35 years, will work in the press box at the meet today. She said the honor for her late husband is a special one for her and her entire family.

“I don’t have any words for it,” she said. “We have several friends from church coming to the meet, and there’s just so much going on. I don’t really know what to say. After his passing they’ve [Liberty] still kept me a part of everything. It means a lot to me and my family.”

Vest designed the meet T-shirts, and let Diane Joiner have input on the design. When she saw the initial mock-up, she couldn’t have been more pleased.

“I saw the prototype of the T-shirt, and it was kind of like a dream,” she said. “Liberty Christian was always such a loving family. Coach Price and Coach Vest let me have my input as far as the T-shirt goes. I e-mailed him [Vest] this [Thursday] morning and told him his love for my husband showed through on the design and creation of it. It’s a great group of coaches. It just really touched my heart.”

Vest said he learned a lot from Joiner in the time the two worked together on the track and on the football field.

Vest spoke fondly of his relationship with Joiner, and of Joiner’s relationship with his wife, with whom he celebrated their wedding anniversary every month.

“He was an older coach, and had a lot of experience,” Vest said. “He genuinely cared for everyone that was around him.”

Story courtesy from the Denton Record-Chronicle