With high school track legend Roy Martin in attendance, there were sure to be fireworks at the UIL state track and field meet.

The air was thick weather-wise and the tension was even thicker in the packed stands of Myers Stadium Saturday.

Speed brings the crowds and nothing could stop Humble Atascocita from sprinting headlong to history.

Atascocita's Jelani Watkins, who will play football at LSU this fall, was at the center of one of the most electric state track Saturday afternoons in decades.

Teammates Tory Blaylock (a running back who signed with Oklahoma), Landon Fontenot (an Iowa track signee) and Jordan Parker set the table and Watkins finished it off on the anchor in the 400-meter relay, anchoring a 39.14 sprint that was the second fastest in the nation, second only to the record 38.92 these four ran earlier this season.

Watkins was part of Klein Forest’s gold-winning relay in 2023 before transferring. When he arrived, he told his new teammates that expectations had not changed for him.

“I told them we were going out there to win every meet,” Watkins said. “We put in the work and made it happen.”

Speed was on display at this year's state meet

The relay was one for the ages. An unprecedented four teams — Atascocita, Duncanville, Galena Park North Shore and Katy Tompkins — broke 40 seconds in the same race. Imagine running a 39.85 in a high school meet and not even making it to the medal stand. That was the reality of an amazing Tompkins team that would have been holding gold in most any other meet in the nation.

It should be noted that another relay team, Fort Bend Marshall, won the Class 5A sprint relay on Friday in 39.88, making it five teams at state to break 40 seconds. Marshall captured its third straight team title.

So much speed on one weekend.

“These guys are amazing,” remarked Martin, who set national records at Dallas Roosevelt in the 100 and 200 in 1985. His 20.13 destruction of the 200 remains the state's standard. “My relay team at Roosevelt never ran under 40. I know it’s  a different era, but these kids are making history. I came down here to watch the show and was so proud to see what these young athletes are doing. They’re incredible.”

Watkins won the 100 (10.19) and the 200 (20.60) to power Atascocita to the team title. Fontenot capped off the evening with a comeback win on the anchor leg of the 1,600-meter relay.

The Eagles captured team honors, but it also was a sterling day for Duncanville, which won the girls team title. The boys also set a national record in the 800-meter relay with a 1:22.25 effort. In any other year, the Panthers would have been in a double-team title celebration, but the Eagles were on another level.

“Honestly, this is all a blessing,” said Duncanville sophomore Ayson Theus, who ran on the 400- and 800-meter relay teams. “I love my brothers and we came out here and made history (in the 800-meter relay). We respect what Jelani and (Atascocita) did, but we’re a great team, too.”

Saturday was an ode to the greats of Texas high school track. People like Greenville’s Henry Neal, Lampasas’ Johnny “Lam” Jones  and Martin, who set old Royal-Memorial Stadium on fire with a scintillating performance three decades ago.

A legend returns to the state meet

Traditional robots weren’t built for speed, but I knew one back in my day that had jets attached to his sneakers. Roy Martin was a bona fide superstar before he learned to drive.

His mechanical, upright running style earned him the nickname “Robot,” a moniker he carries to this day.

People from my hometown of Tyler remember will never forget that day at the 1983 Earl Campbell Relays when the Roosevelt sophomore made up a 30-meter deficit on the final leg of the 1,600-meter relay to edge Dallas Lincoln, sending Rose Stadium into a frenzy. All these years later, I can still hear the “Robot” chants. The 3:12.11 clocking was a national best at the time.

“That was the meet that gave me my start,” Martin said Saturday. “It kind of put me on the map. People in Dallas knew me already, but it felt like the start of something for me outside of where I grew up."

Indeed it was.

Two years later, he set the national record in the 200 with a 20.13 blitz, a record that stood strong before current U.S. superstar Noah Lyles broke it in 2016.

Michael Johnson: 'You knew first place was gone'

Martin was a chief high school rival of Dallas Skyline’s Michael Johnson. Well, Johnson did the best he could. Long before he would capture gold medals in the 200 and the 400 at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics and then defend his 400 title at Sydney four years later, Johnson spent most of his high school career as a silver medalist when racing against Martin.

"You knew first place was gone,” Johnson told the Dallas Morning News in 2008. “You tried to beat out the other guys for second.”

After being named Track and Field News’ athlete of the year in 1984 and 1985, Martin went on help SMU win the NCAA 1986 outdoor title his freshman year. Two years later, he grabbed bronze in the 200 at the Olympic Trials behind Joe DeLoach and the legendary Carl Lewis before finishing sixth in his semifinal at the Seoul Summer Olympics.

Those were some great times, but they’re in the rear view now. Martin, now 57, is still a recognizable face at track meets in the Metroplex and here, as he tries to make it to Austin every few years. His running days are over, but Martin still has a dipped toe in the sport. He just restarted his old track club, aptly named Robots of Mesquite.

“I love to coach young athletes,” he said. “If a kid finishes fourth or fifth but shows the right effort, I can work with that. As long as a kid has dedication, they can make it in this sport.”

We saw as much Saturday.

“They run faster than we ever did,” Martin said.

Then he flashed a wry grin.

“But who knows?” he mused. “Ol’ Robot may have a figured out a way to get them back then.”

Once a sprinter, always a sprinter.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Track legend Roy Martin loved what he saw at this year's state meet