HOUSTON — Records are meant to be broken. This one just took a while, and then it fell twice in the same race.
Fort Worth Wyatt's longtime national record in the 4 x 100 boys relay was broken Saturday by Humble Atascocita and Duncanville, which both finished under the record mark of 39.76 seconds at the Victor Lopez Classic in Houston.
Running at the Rice University track, Atascocita won with a time of 38.92, while Duncanville finished in 39.65.
Wyatt's squad set the national mark in 1998, and it wasn't touched until Saturday.
Atascocita's winning relay was comprised of Tory Blaylock, Landon Fontenot, Jordan Parker and Jelani Watkins. Duncanville ran Ayson Theus, DaKorien Moore, Brayden Williams and Caden Durham.
Here's a video of the race, via Texas MileSplit:
Saturday's record-breaking performances brought an end to a rare run in track and field history. With advances in technology, training and dieting, track records have routinely been broken at all levels over the last 26 years.
Wyatt's never was.
The relay team of Milton Wesley, Monte Clopton, Michael Franklin and DeMario Wesley actually set the national record twice in 1998. During the regular season, they ran a 4 x 100 in 39.99 seconds. Then, at the state championship meet in Austin, the team ran their famous 39.76, a mark that wasn't bested until Saturday.
Texas MileSplit reports that several efforts had gotten close to breaking Wyatt's mark in recent years, including five sub-40-second times since 2017. Duncanville was one of those times with their state championship run of 39.98 in 2022.
But the record held on until Atascocita and Duncanville toed the line Saturday.
Last year, WFAA caught up with Wesley, Clopton, Franklin and Wesley, who are all in their 40s now.
"We're still holding," Franklin told us. "Every track season, when it comes around, it's like doing it all over again, man," Clopton added.
"To see our record still holding and standing this long is amazing," Franklin said.
They also had pride in knowing they set the record in the era they did.
"I'm looking at these kids now, and they're huge," Clopton said. "With their current technology and training, man, we would have put the record out of sight. It wouldn't even be close."
"I ran on McDonald's and Big Red," Clopton laughed.
Duncanville and Atascocita will have more chances to lower their latest marks, and likely go head to head again at the state meet, which starts May 2 in Austin.
