Robert Lee's Aden Burns rallies to claim UIL state shot put championship

The redeeming aspect of throwing events is that all struggles can be undone in one instant. "It only takes one" is a mantra, and Robert Lee's Aden Burns grabbed it and turned it into gold.

The favorite in the Class 1A shot put at the UIL state championships, Burns sat second through five rounds with a best of 47-feet, 8 1/2 inches that was two feet off his seed mark and almost four feet off his personal best.

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That still left him one final shot at redemption, which came in the form of a final toss of 50-2.25 that made all prior problems moot.

"It was a bit of a struggle," said Burns, who won Robert Lee's first state shot put title since current Steers football coach Lee McCown won one in 1995. "That past meets were good, it didn't get in my head. Today it got in my head, bad. ... I just had to relax and calm down."

As for his winner, when he needed to top 48-7 to win, "It was a lot of pressure," he said. "Everyone was telling me, 'Dig deep and you'll do good.' This means a lot. I'm the first in quite a long time to win shot put for the Robert Lee Steers."

In the final throw of his high school career, Burns dug deep enough to find gold.

Bronte's Jackson wins gold, bronze

Emily Jackson's busiest of days ended with two medals, as the Bronte senior dominated the 100-meter hurdles and finished third in the long jump.

She also finished fifth in the 300 hurdles, fourth in the long jump and was the first leg on a Bronte sprint relay that was fighting for a medal until a bad final handoff ended in disqualification.

"I'm a little tired, but I have to finish strong," Jackson said after her win in the 100 hurdles. "It's my last time to do it so you might as well give it all."

In the 100 hurdles, she was first out of the blocks, first over the first hurdle and all the other ones as she ran away from the field to win in 15.57, 0.36 ahead of second.

"I had to focus on my own race today because sometimes I get too worried about girls on either side," Jackson said. "It was taking each hurdle as fast as I can and focusing on sprinting through each of them made the difference."

Her day began in a happy way when Bronte's five-event star earned a bronze medal in the long jump. Her leap of 16-4 3/4 actually tied for the second best mark with Loop's Kamryn Dyck, but Dyck claimed silver on a second-best-jump tiebreaker.

That didn't dampen Jackson's elation with her medal.

"I'm so excited," Jackson said. "Even though it's bronze, I think it's beautiful anyway. I'm so excited about where I am."

Robert Lee's Immel grabs vault silver

Robert Lee's Natalie Immel had a perfect start in the pole vault, staying clean until she reached the winning height of 10-feet. That height didn't go particularly well for her, but the senior had done enough to claim a silver medal on her final trip to state.

"I came in strong, it was going good, but my last jump I wasn't thinking and I didn't do well," Immel said. "But it was fun, this was my last UIL meet and it was fun to compete."

Bronte's Bohensky wins triple jump bronze

Emalyn Bohensky had almost no time to recover after a sixth place finish in the high jump, as she had to head right over to the triple jump pit just as rain started falling. She fought through all that to grab a bronze medal with a leap of 35-2. That was one inch out of second and five inches from gold.

"Being in a lot of different events, my legs are very tired," said Bohensky, who was also set to run a leg on the 4x200 relay. "But it was fun. The rain was hitting me in the face when I was running, but other than that it was a good competition. All the other girls were good."

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Robert Lee's Aden Burns rallies to claim state shot put championship