Aggie track signee Clay shines at Texas A&M High School Indoor Classic
Friday, September 18, 2015
by Brad Cox, Special to The Bryan Eagle
AggieSports.com Article | St. Paul Cardinal Sports
Shiner St. Paul senior Parker Clay played in a basketball game Friday night. In fact, she played in basketball games on Thursday and Tuesday night, too. At some point during that busy week, she also squeezed in a little time to practice her shot put at personal coach David Markert’s backyard throwing ring in nearby Concrete.
Shiner St. Paul's Parker Clay has signed to throw shot put and discus at Texas A&M next year.
[ NOTE: click any photo to enlarge ]
So goes the life of a small town multi-sport athlete, something Clay is pretty used to at this point. So used to it that she threw a personal record while winning the shot put event at the Texas A&M High School Classic indoor track and field meet Saturday afternoon at Gilliam Indoor Stadium.
Clay’s winning throw of 43 feet, 1/2 inch beat Conroe’s Jadyn Walden by a foot and a half and, according to Clay and Markert, the future Aggie still had plenty in the tank to do more.
“The potential is there to throw far this year,” Markert said. “She’s had some good practices, it’s just right now with playing basketball and her schedule isn’t really set to track. It kind of makes it tough. She’s three feet better here this year than she was last year. I think she was better than that. I think she’s five feet better. She’s got great potential.”
The A&M High School Classic featured 1,850 athletes over the last two days and is one of the earliest opportunities for high school track and field athletes to see where they stand against some tough competition from around the state.
It was also an opportunity for Clay to soak in the atmosphere of her future home track. Clay was one of 18 future Aggies who signed National Letters of Intent during the early signing period in November, committing to continue her athletic career at A&M.
Alongside future teammate and roommate Natalie Scheifele, a San Antonio St. Mary’s Hall senior who also signed a letter of intent to be a thrower for the Aggies and finished ninth on Saturday, Clay’s afternoon under the lights at the McFerrin Athletic Center was extra sweet.
“It’s exciting,” Clay said. “I got to throw with one of the girls that’s going to come throw javelin here and she’s going to be my roommate. It’s always good to be in Aggieland and be around these people.”
Clay has been one of the top throwers in the state ever since she started high school. She was third in shot put at the TAPPS 2A state meet as a freshman in 2015, won gold in 2016 and broke the 2A state meet record with a title-winning throw of 43 feet last year — the PR she broke on Saturday. She also won the discus gold medal last year.
Some of that improvement has come from training with Markert the last couple years. Clay first started working with the longtime Yoakum track and field coach the summer after her freshman year.
Markert’s daughter, Celine, had signed to be a thrower at A&M that year and David Markert said Clay’s mother had inquired about Celine providing some coaching during the break.
Celine Markert, now a junior thrower for the Aggies, told her father that Clay had some serious talent and the retired coach decided to start training her with a homebuilt circle in his backyard.
A few gold medals later and it seems to have worked out. The next time Clay competes at the McFerrin Athletic Center, she’ll be an Aggie.
“The prestige of the program, the facilities are second to none and the people here are outstanding,” Clay said. “I just can’t picture myself anywhere else.”
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