Benson punches ticket to state

By Sandy Anderberg

Clarendon senior Madi Benson stunned the field and brought home a regional track championship in the 800m race in Canyon last weekend.

Benson’s time of 2:20.65 was just over two seconds in front of the other runners.

Benson is not new to running in the state meet in Austin on the UT campus as this is her fourth year to compete. In previous years, Benson has run not only the 800m but also the 400m dash at the state level. Her debut at state in 2023 was in the 400m dash where she finished sixth with an impressive time of 1:00.50. In 2024 and 2025, Benson made a name for herself in the 800m as the seventh fastest runner in that event with times of 2:24.46 in ’24 and 2:23.55 in 2025.

You can bet Benson will state her case for one of the best 800m runners in Texas when she runs the state meet May 15.

Also running at the regional meet was fellow athlete Addy Havens who ran fourth in the 3200m run at a time of 12:27.41 which was just under a minute off the winning time of 11:42.13. Havens has run well all year and will be a force to reckon with next season.

Benson also ran in the 1600m run and finished third in the race with a time of 5:37.26. Brilyn Bruce was a contender in the 200m dash and finished eighth with a time of 26.72 behind the winning time of 25.54. Don ‘Jae Orr competed for the Broncos in the 100m dash and finished 15th with a time of 11:57 in a tight race. The Bronco sprint relay ran the distance in a time of 43.56 and placed sixth. Kaleb Mays, Mike Randall, Brice Wagner and Orr were members of that relay.

Benson will run at the State meet which is scheduled for Friday, May 15, at 5:00 p.m.