Lady Broncos win district track and field championship

April 10 2025

By Clay Whittington

The Belton Journal

The Lady Broncos won the District 16-5A championship but just barely.

Lake Belton kicked off its postseason run last week, traveling across town to Belton for the league meet, and the Lady Broncos were impressive, amassing 169 points to take the title.

The host Lady Tigers, however, posed a serious threat.

Competing inside its home stadium, Belton (2nd, 163) finished a mere six points shy of its rival, but the squads will have another opportunity to battle for supremacy today, when Lake Belton hosts the area meet, where the top four finishers in each event advance to the Region II meet.

Thanks to placing among the top four at district, multiple Lady Broncos and Lady Tigers will be in attendance today, including all three of Lake Belton’s relay teams.

The quartet of Aleya Russell, Nylah Berrian, Kennedy Hall and Bella Garcia posted a firstplace time of 48.24 seconds in the 400 relay, while Chelsie Miller, Audrey Mughelli, Garcia and Berrian won gold with a time of 4:05.58 in the 1,600 relay.

Additionally, the 800 relay team of Ty’anah Debose, Moriah Rydberg, Hall and Russell was fourth (1:46.09). 

The Lady Broncos experienced individual success as well.

Abigail Rydberg, a senior, cleared 11 feet, 3 inches to win the pole vault, while Berrian, a junior, was first in the 400, crossing the finish line in 58.04.

Also yielding area berths for Lake Belton was sophomore Dannika Kelley (2nd, high jump, 5-0; 2nd, 300 hurdles, 47.58), junior Kiely Camacho (2nd, 100 hurdles, 15.44), Miller (2nd, 800, 2:27.41; 3rd, 400, 1:01.52), Mughelli (2nd, triple jump, 35-9¾), Moriah Rydberg (3rd, 300 hurdles, 48.16), sophomore Alexa Harbour (3rd, 100 hurdles, 16.06), freshman Alexa King (3rd, 1,600, 5:37.56), freshman Camryn Mikulas (3rd, triple jump, 34-2¼), sophomore Sarah Gray (3rd, 3,200, 13:10.04), junior Rayne Cory (4tth, 100 hurdles, 16.89) and freshman Elizabeth Sandlin (4th, 3,200, 13:21.60).

The Lady Tigers were guided by sophomore Demauria Nolan-Hemphill, who was responsible for three gold medals, winning the long jump (18-9), 100 (12.13) and 200 (25.04).

She also made up one fourth of Belton’s second-place 1,600 relay team (4:09.70), joining teammates Laila Page, Isabella Warner and Gabrielle Lewis.

Senior distance runner Olivia Brillhart also emerged with three gold medals. She was first in the 800 (2:23.06), 1,600 (5:13.61) and 3,200 (11:13.10).

The Lady Tigers’ remaining event championships were generated by freshman Tara Stone (discus, 109-3), sophomore Melissa Farmer (shot put, 33-9) and Page (triple jump, 36-3).

Furthermore, Page was second in the 400 (58.95) and pole vault (10-0), and Stone was second in the shot put (33-1¼).

Belton’s third-place performers were senior Jane Gauntt (pole vault, 9-0), senior Annabella Pula (discus, 83-11½) and Warner (800, 2:28.53), while junior Delilah Hoffman (300 hurdles, 48.61) and Page (200, 25.59) qualified for the area meet with fourth-place outings.

Following the Belton ISD schools, Killeen Chaparral (3rd, 118), Killeen Ellison (4th, 101), Waco (5th, 37) and Waco University (6th, 26) completed the standings.