The Road to State Begins
 

Jana Stolting, April 18, 2009

This past week marked the beginning of the post season for area 1A and 2A athletes. Runners, jumpers, and throwers competed for those coveted four spots, hoping to earn a berth to Regionals and beyond.

On Tuesday, Godby hosted the 2A District 2 Championships. As predicted, Florida High took the overall title on the girls’ side. They were led by a first through third sweep in the high jump by Dorian Corbett (5-02.00), Brittany Corbett (5-00.00), and Lauren Jones (4-08.00), a first place 4x800m relay team (10:39.16), first and second place finishes in the 100m hurdles by Ena Johnson (14.98) and LaKetra McGee (15.53), a first place finish in the 100m dash by Bianca Jackson (12.51), a first through third sweep in the 1600m run by Allison Murray (5:56.17), Langlee Toothman (5:57.49), and Sydney Earp (5:58.68), a first place 4x100m relay team (49.75), a second place finish in the 400m dash by Elizabeth Ichite (57.13), a first place finish in the 300m hurdles by Ena Johnson (44.82), and first through fourth place sweeps of both the 800m run and 3200m run. Godby’s girls finished second, led by some strong throws, a first place finish in the 400m dash by Christine Poole (56.49), and a first place 4x400m relay team (4:12.60).

On the boys’ side, Godby dominated. They were led by a first through third sweep in the high jump by Dennis Andrews (6-00.00), Jamar Cull (6-00.00), and Chris St. Hilaire (6-00.00), a first place vault by Allen Starke (12-09.00), a first place long jump by Lavorrie Johnson (22-11.00), a first place triple jump by Quayshun Smith (48-01.00), a first place 4x800m relay team (8:11.12), a first and second place sweep in the 1600m run by Terrell Bryant (4:39.01) and Dieumy Duclos (4:41.53), a first place finish in the 400m dash by JeRohn Barber (50.73), a first through fourth sweep in the 800m run by Terrell Bryant (2:00.03), Brandon Alexander (2:00.70), Johnnie Walters (2:06.58), and Arthur Williams (2:07.87), a first place finish in the 3200m run by Dieumy Duclos (10:28.29), and a first place 4x400m relay team (3:29.76). Florida High finished second overall.

On Saturday, athletes from 1A District 3 gathered at Maclay for their first, and hopefully not last, post season meet. Maclay took both the girls’ and boys’ titles, with strong depth shown in both the field events and track races. North Florida Christian’s Whitney Strickland led his team to second place overall with his double first place finishes in both the 1600m run (4:34.15) and the 800m run (1:59.81).

With less than two weeks until many of the Big Bend’s best will head to Winter Park for the State Finals, the excitement is palpable. Local 1A and 2A athletes will soon be competing in their respective Region Meets, while 3A harriers will begin their District contests. To paraphrase the atrociously addictive Europe anthem, “It’s the final countdown!”