The J. L. Long Buccaneers' qualified eight tracksters (seven girls and one boy) from the District meet to participate in the Dallas ISD City Track Championships held at the Jesse Owens track complex on Thursday night, April 5.

The Long girl qualifiers were Emma Pfundheller in the 1,600 and 2,400 meters, Maika Beckner in the 2,400 meters, Kaitlin Buie in the 300-meter hurdles, Ivy Smith in the discus and shot, Shekinah Green in the discus and Sydney Wright in the high jump.

The lone Buccaneer boy qualifier was Mike DeLaVega in the discus.

The Lady Buccaneers took third place overall in the Dallas ISD City Track Championships with an impressive showing. The Long Ladies started out strong in the very first event of the evening, having two runners qualifying in the 2,400 meter run (six laps).

In the 2,400 meter race, seventh grader Emma Pfundheller led from the start and picked up the gold medal winning comfortably with fellow seventh grader Maika Beckner and adding additional points for the Lady Bucs with a good fifth place finish.

This put the Lady Bucs in first place overall after the first event. The gold medals kept coming with eighth grader Ivy Smith throwing a personal best of over 80 feet in the discus (good for fifth in the state for Middle School girls). Ivy also picked up a sixth place finish in the shot put. Seventh grader Shekinah Green added additional points, throwing very well for the Lady Bucs and garnering a third place finish in the discus. More gold was added by eighth grader Jakkisha Smith who won decisively in the triple jump with an impressive leap of 30 feet, 10 inches.

Kaitlin Buie, a seventh grader, ran a personal best of 53.97 in the 300 meter hurdles to pick up additional gold for the Lady Buccaneers, winning by 15 yards. Eighth grader Sydney Wright showed well and placed eighth overall in the high jump event.

Emma Pfundheller provided the best performance of the meet in one of the last races of the evening, the 1,600 meter run. In the 1,600-meter race, Emma traded the lead with two Stockard girls through out the four-lap race. In the last 100 meters, both Stockard girls tried squeezing Emma out of position in a sprint down the straight-away toward the finish line. Emma, running third going into the last 50 meters, dug down deep and out kicked the two Stockard girls down the stretch to win her second gold medal by just 12/100th of a second in a photo finish that had the crowd on their feet.

The lone Buccaneer boy qualifier, Mike DeLaVega, showed very well placing fourth overall in the discus.

Congratulations to all of the J. L. Long track qualifiers who are among the best in the City of Dallas! Way to go!