A friendly sibling rivalry

Spearman's Garnetts to share goal in Austin

Greg Jaklewicz / Amarillo Globe-News

Spearman siblings Kegan Garnett, left, and Sutten Garnett good-naturedly tease each other. Kegan, a junior, is outspoken and likes to wear his track and field medals to school. The quieter Sutten, a sophomore, chooses to leave her medals at home.

The short of it is the District 1-2A meet was the first of the season - actually, the past two seasons - for Garnett, who triple-jumped 42 feet, ½ inch for first place. Then, at the Region I-2A meet, he went 45-8½ on his final attempt to leap over two opponents for first place.

"There are three 47s. Hopefully I can go 48, 49 feet," he said of his goal for the state meet.

Boasting? Nah, Garnett's cup runneth over with optimism.

He will be competing in Austin with his sister, sophomore Sutten, who qualified fourth in the 1600 meters. She also stepped up at the regional meet, knocking 20 seconds off her best time to finish two seconds behind district rival Kristen Crabtree of Stratford.

The Garnett siblings follow their brother, Brynr, to the state meet in Austin. Brynr Garnett last year was third in the pole vault.

They are three of seven Garnett kids, Nos. 2 and 3 behind Brynr. They good-naturedly kid each other. Named for a street in London, Sutten reminds her brother she is the youngest state track qualifier in family history. Kegan, whose name translates to "little fiery one" in Irish, said his chance to win a state medal comes a day before hers.

"Bragging rights will be on the line," Spearman girls coach Kenny Eudy said.

Brother certainly trumps sister in drama.

Kegan broke his right ankle during football his sophomore year. He missed most of the track season after hurting the ankle during a hurdles race and was put back into a boot. Then, the same ankle gave way in the same spot during the first football game of 2007. Bone from his hip was fused to ankle bone, and maybe it's finally fixed for good.

He'll show his scars without anyone asking.

According to his coach, Steve Rodman, Kegan wanted to compete in track this spring, but Walker was wary of injury.

He vetoed his athlete's request to compete in his main events, the pole vault and hurdles.

When Rodman's attention during practice was on his other athletes, Kegan threw the discus and shot and triple-jumped.

"I didn't want to take a chance. But he kept telling me, 'Coach, I want to do something. I can qualify in this.' When I saw him, I couldn't believe it," Rodman said. "After I saw him triple jump, I told him, 'That's enough.' "

Kegan's triple jump? Forty-one feet.

"My jaw dropped." said Rodman, who told Kegan he could throw the discus - his 112-foot throws were better than other Lynx athletes - and jump, but only twice, at the 1-2A meet.

Kegan didn't score in the discus but won the triple jump.

Between the district and regional meets, Rodman said Kegan improved from "horrible'' shape to ''bad'' shape.

"On the bus going down, I heard him tell the other guys, 'I'm going to win the triple jump.' I thought, 'OK, Kegan says stuff.' But that's the way to think when you want to finish first," Rodman said.

Apparently, the power of positive thinking had a part in a 45-foot jump, good for second place. Michael Powell of Ballinger then went 45-1, bumping Garnett to third.

What does Kegan do? After fouling on his second-to-last jump, he goes 48-8½ on his final jump.

"With two more weeks, there's no telling how he might do. He is intense and competes with emotion," Rodman said.

Said Kegan, "I really thought I could do it."

Sutten Garnett had to trim her athletic schedule during the spring. She was in other track events and also was playing tennis.

"The tennis cut into her running. There's not enough time in the day. Running had to be her main focus," Eudy said. "She has a lot of ability in everything she does. She's a lot like her brother in that. They both want to do a whole lot of things."

She covered the 1600 in 5 minutes, 44 seconds early in the season, then did not improve. She matched the time at the district meet, finishing second to Crabtree, before her time plummeted at the regional meet.

"I started working harder," she said.

"She finally started not being a baby," Kegan said.

"Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes.

Among the eight runners qualifying for state, Crabtree and Garnett are among the top four.

"We're all bunched up," she said.

How does the quieter Sutten put up with her brother's bluster?

"He's like that. He's on his own cloud," she said. "He wore his medal to school all week. I hung mine in my room."

"I like my cloud," he said. "And all my other medals are silver. When I was a freshman, I was second only to Brynr."