One Last Meet as a Lep

One of the most elite sprinters in La Grange High School’s history has one more track meet as a Leopard.

Austen Diggs is the defending state 4A champ in the 200 meters, the school record holder in the 200 and the 400 meters and has accepted a track scholarship to Baylor.

This Thursday Diggs will run his final two races in purple and gold at the state track meet at the University of Texas.

“I’ve actually thought about it a lot,” Diggs said of the ending of his high school career. “It’s crazy that it’s about to be all over for high school.”

But long before high school, Diggs said he was always considered a fast kid.

“Even back in tee ball I was kinda known for being fast. Back then it was hard to know how fast,” Diggs said.

La Grange head track coach Rusty Cauthern said the natural ability Diggs brings to the track is only a small part of his success.

“I don’t know if you can put into words how hard he works and he studies,” Cauthern said. “He’s a student of track.”

In addition to practicing year-round and traveling to indoor meets on his own prior to the high school outdoor season, Diggs studies videos of international greats.

Anything to get a fraction of a second faster.

“We were talking yesterday about running the curve and I was talking to him about a little head tilt I had seen, and he was like ‘yeah that’s the Blake guy from Jamaica.” Cauthern said. “He’s studying Noah Lyles (US Olympic 200 meter Olympic bronze medalist) right now.”

All that prep work had led to this. It’s fitting that Diggs’ career as a Leopard ends in Austin. Three short years ago, he said that’s where much of his love of track was taken to another level.

As a wide-eyed freshman Diggs was an alternate on the state runner-up 4x100 and 4x200 relays teams La Grange had in 2021.

Diggs had actually filled in as lead-off runner on those relays earlier in the season before senior Dana Baker returned from an injury.

“Dana was a little faster than Austen back then,” Cauthern said. “Not anymore.”

“Being an alternate my freshman year was one of the biggest things that fueled me,” Diggs said. “I got to watch them run in that environment and saw how great the environment was at state and at the Texas Relays, and it made me want to stick with track because that was the most fun I’d had in sports.”

Diggs, who had also played football and tennis as a freshman, made track his focus. But his planned breakout sophomore year was not to be.

He ran indoor track prior to the outdoor season, tweaked his hamstring and changed his running style to overcompensate for the injury.

He ended up having a stress fracture, ending his season after the district meet.

Diggs made up for lost time his junior year, winning titles in the 60 meters and the 200 meters at the Adidas Nationals in Virginia, before winning state in the 200 meters for the Leps.

That got him a lot of collegiate attention. He was courted by UT, the University of Houston and UTSA before picking Baylor prior to the season.

“There was definitely a lot pressure taken off,” Diggs said after choosing a college offer. “I could just run for fun instead of running for a scholarship – do my thing and have fun.”

In addition to the 100 and 200 meter races at most track meets this season, Diggs also ran the anchor leg of the 4x400 relay, where his comefrom- behind victories running down competitors became must-see-TV.

He also, for the first time since his sophomore year, ran the individual 400 meters this year, just once. He ran a new school record time of 48.33 at the Rice Meet. That time would have earned him a medal at state in most divisions last year.

Lots of 400 meters could be in Diggs’ future at Baylor.

“I would love to be just a short sprinter and maybe run the 4x400 every once in a while but the coach at Baylor is known for turning a lot of people into 400 meter runners,” Diggs said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if I run the 100, 200 and 400 (at Baylor).”

Diggs said he would love to continue to run professionally after college, and his love of the sport is so strong he said he might like to be a track coach in the future.

But there are more immediate goals. Like these last two high school races.

Diggs said his goal for the 200 meters is to break the 4A state record of 20.53. He ran a 20.82 to win state last season. In the 100 meters he wants to run a 10.3, which would match the school record mark La Grange’s Curtis Truesdale ran to win the state title in 1993. Diggs’personal best in the 100 is a 10.48 in the prelims at the Texas Relays a month ago.

“No matter what happens though (at state), I have four more years to keep getting better,” Diggs said.“I’m just going to try to have fun with it.”

When Diggs’ races Thursday are over, the long track coaching career of Cauthern will come to a close as well. He’s retiring.

“I’m so proud of him,” Cauthern said. “It makes coaching worthwhile when you have a young man like this that gives great effort, and is going to be a super husband and father some day. That makes me happy.”

A Sprinting Fraternity

La Grange state champion sprinters:

1969 Eddie Hubbard, 3A 100-yd dash, 9.6 1992 Curtis Truesdale, 3A 100-meter dash, 11.0 1993 Curtis Truesdale, 3A 100-meter dash, 10.3 (Conference 3A record, 1993-2002) 1998 Lawrence Dobbins, 3A 100-meter dash, 10.66 2023 Austen Diggs, 4A, 200 meters, 20.82