Noble, Reyes earn Athletes of the Week

For many of Graham’s track and field athletes, the season came to a close last week at the district competition. But a handful of individuals did enough to move forward to the area track meet and hopefully, many will continue on past that.

Lillian Noble and Zathin Reyes were two of Graham’s gold medal winners in their events — discus and 300-meter hurdles, respectively — and for their work, they have been named Athletes of the Week.

Lillian Noble, discus, Lady Blues track and field

To become a champion in anything it requires a lot of hard work, dedication and patience. As she finished her discus throwing performance at the district meet in Mineral Wells, everything Noble had done to get to that point paid off.

As a junior, Noble has only been throwing the discus since her freshman year. But as each year and meet have gone by, her progress has been steady and led to the gold medal finish she earned last week.

“She was actually late to the game; she had never even touched a discus until her freshman year,” discus coach Baylee Thompson said. “She just showed a lot of growth. She works really hard, she always shows up, shows up ready to learn, and is very open to learning, which is a big help. She's just done a great job with that and it's really starting to pay off for her.”

In her six throws in the discus finals, Noble recorded a distance of 109-7 in just her second throw of the event. The next closest thrower’s best throw was a 102-3, which demonstrates her distance above the rest of the competition.

While discus throwing does require strength, a lot of it is in the technique, something Noble has improved upon throughout this season. This year, she began spinning in the circle to build momentum before throwing and it’s paid off in a large way.

“A lot of (her success) has been just getting a lot more dynamic and comfortable with the throw; throwing itself takes lots of reps, just getting more comfortable” Thompson said. “... Even today, we had practice and then she came back after and we just worked steps.”

Noble will hope to build off the momentum of this season as this year wraps up but another one awaits. Her work has already paid off in a big way as she’s already come home with gold.

Zathin Reyes, hurdles, Steers track and field

Trying to compete while fighting off any sort of illness is never an easy task. But many athletes have to fight through it in every sport.

However, not many athletes deal with sickness and still finish first place in their event at a district competition against some of the other top athletes around the area. That’s what Reyes did last week at the district track and field competition when he took the gold medal in 300-meter hurdles.

“Zathin showed incredible toughness at the district meet,” head boys track coach Gregg Lee said. “He was sick, extremely sick with a stomach bug.  Yet he was able to perform at his best overcoming that illness.”

Reyes finished the race with a time of 40.86, one of his best performances in the event all season. He’s regularly put in extra time outside of practices to prove to his coaches and himself that he’s capable of reaching a high level in whatever event in which he participates.

“He has put in a lot of work this season to become the district champion, including running before school some days and doing workouts on Saturdays when needed,” Lee said.

In addition to his work in the hurdles, Reyes also ran in the 4x400 Relay with his other teammates. He showcased a team-first mentality that he will look to build on as he moves forward in sports and anything else he sets his mind to.

“I told him I'd take Zathin Reyes at 75% over a lot of guys at 100%,” Lee said. “That kind of toughness and dedication from a senior who has bought in is contagious. The younger ones on our team see it, they see what it means to be 'all in.'”