Russell Shepard didn't compete in the long jump at the 57th Annual Texas Southern University Relays until after 5 p.m. Friday, well after the event's posted time.

But the Cypress Ridge junior, who is as adept in four track events as he is being the Rams' football team's multi-faceted quarterback, was prepared - as were the other 71 long jumpers.

"This is the way it always is here," Shepard said. "The top come here. When you have 11, 12, 13 heats of an event, that's the meet I want to be at.

"This is really where the track season starts."

As always, the Relays were packed Friday - it concludes Saturday - with college, high school and middle school teams. A total of 2,458 athletes competed and 27 colleges and universities were present, as were 144 middle and high school teams and 16 professionals.

But this meet took on added importance this year for high schoolers when it became the final full tune-up before University Interscholastic League district meets in two weeks. The usual lead-in, the Texas Relays, will be run this year as little as three days before district meets begin.

The Texas Relays are scheduled for April 2-5.

Several area districts, including 18-5A and 19-5A and any schools belonging to Houston ISD, are holding their district meets the same weekend.

Shepard still plans to run in Austin, but on a limited schedule.

"I'll probably only run one or two events," said Shepard, who recently committed to play college football at LSU. He is the consensus top quarterback in Texas and rated one of the top five in the country by both Scout.com and Rivals.com. "You're gonna have nine or 10 guys up there who signed to play (Football Bowl Subdivision) football and probably as many who are playing Division I basketball."

Shepard is competing this weekend in the long jump, open 100 and the 4-by-100 and 4-by-200 relays. This is only his second weekend running; he spent many weekends making official visits for football but worked out with the track team.

The groundswell of athletes Friday was impressive. Among the events with the most participation were the girls 400-meter dash (96), girls 100-meter dash (85), boys shot put (71), girls high jump (63) and girls discus (58).

The 100 arguably was Friday's most exciting race.

Lamar's A team entered boasting the nation's fastest time (1:38.15), but that mark was summarily threatened by Westbury (1:38.39) and Dallas Skyline (1:38.35).

The Athlete's Connection's coverage of the relays continues Saturday. Several field event finals are scheduled for the morning at Rice Stadium, with running finals taking the rest of the day at TSU.

For full up-to-date results, visit www.deltatiming.com.

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