This weekend, area runners once again made the trek one time zone west to Panama City. The North Florida Relays attracted athletes from both the Big Bend and surrounding areas, making for a day of fun in the sun for all.

Godby dominated the boys’ field, besting the second place team (Bay) by 74.5 points, a remarkable accomplishment. The Cougar men were led by a first place 4x800m relay team (8:24.04), a first place finish in the 100m dash (Lavorrie Johnson with an 11.27), a second place 4x100m relay team (43.60), a first place 4x400m relay team (3:27.44), a first place high jump by Chris St. Hilaire (5-10.00), a first place long jump by Lavorrie Johnson (22-07.50), a second place triple jump by Jamar Cull (42-06.00), and one-two sweeps in both the discus and the shot put (Devin Screen and Denzel Bonner in the discus, throwing 145-05.50 and 141-09 respectively, and John Coleman and Denzel Bonner in the shot put, throwing 45-05.00 and 45-03.00 respectively).

Not wanting to get shown up by their male teammates, the Godby women achieved second place overall, impressive considering last year’s 1A state champion team, Port St. Joe, was the only team ahead of them. They were led by a third place finish in the 300m hurdles by Quaniqua Hall (50.28), a third place performance in the pole vault (Briona Shuler with a vault of 7-06.00), and first place performances in both the discus (111-02) and shot put (42-00.00) by Michelle Edwards.

The men and women of Maclay finished tenth and ninth respectively. Performances of note from the Marauders include a third place boys’ 4x800m relay team (8:31.85), a first place girls’ distance medley team (12:52.98, a meet and school record), and a third place boys’ distance medley team (12:00.17).

Those of you who are in-the-know about area tracksters are probably scratching your heads right now, wondering where Chiles was this week. Have no fear, the Timberwolves did indeed represent Tallahassee in competition, and did so quite adeptly, or so I hear, at the Thomas County Central Invitational, just up the road in Georgia. Unfortunately, Gowan’s legions of competitors must have run so fast that the timing equipment could not even catch their splits, for the results of the meet seem to be M.I.A. I cannot tell you exact performances, but I do have it from a high authority that sophomore sensation, Lily Williams ran a 5:08 in the 1600m. It seems the Williams girls will undoubtedly follow in their mother’s (incredibly fast) footsteps and become part of the next generation of great American distance runners. After all, little sister, Cece Williams, ran a 5:17 1600m just this past Friday… and she is only in seventh grade! The future certainly looks bright for Timberwolf distance running.

The immediate future also looks bright for area athletes, as this coming Friday will mark the beginning of the highly anticipated FSU Relays. With runners from across the state flocking to Mike Long Track for two days of lactic acid fun, it is sure to be a weekend for the record books. I would encourage all those who are interested to come out and support your local high school and college harriers, vaulters, jumpers, and throwers. For more information, visit http://seminoles.cstv.com/sports/c-track/fsu-c-track-body.html.