By David Yon
More high school track and field this weekend, although some of the most exciting stuff was at the FSU Twilight Meet. On Friday, Godby, led by Michael Williams, captured 14th place in the 3A state meet. Mark McCarty jumped 14 feet to finish third in the pole vault, while Williams triple jumped 47 feet to also claim third and long jumped 22’08” to take 7th. Rickards finished in 23rd place on the strength of their boys 4×800 relay team. The relay team finished fifth with a time of 8:07.97. Daniel Parrish was 5th in the shot put with a toss of 51’10.75″.
Kara Newell already owns the Maclay records for the 1600 (5:06) and the 3200 (10:58). On Saturday night at the Seminole Twilight Meet she decided to go after the 800 meter record. The old record was 2:24 and she blasted off with a 32 second first 200. She had wanted to go out much slower, but watching all of those college girls pull away was just too much and so she hung on for dear life. She did a great job and brought it home in 2:22.41, a new Maclay and Moore Otters Track Club record. In the boys 1500 race, Ryan Deak decided to go after the high school freshman record of 3:56.84. He took off with an almost all college field and held his own finishing fifth out of fifteen runners. He closed with a 1:00.75 last lap to destroy 4:00 minutes and finish just outside the record with a time of 3:58.59. Depending on what chart you use that converts to a 4:16.20 1600 (that would be a PR and the third fastest time in the state this year) and a 4:17.12 mile. Ryan does hold the two-mile indoor freshman record with a time of 9:29. Herbie Thiele, from Chiles, picked up an 800 meter PR with a 1:58.98.
On a more adult level, Lee Willis ran a 14:47.59 5000 meter race. Breeda ran a 9:03.12 3000 meter time trial in the same race. Both will be heading north later in search of fast times at major meets. Breeda will then head for Europe in search of qualifying times for the World Championships. Kim Batten began her climb back to elite form by running the 400 meter hurdles in a time of 55.49, still a long ways from her world record time of 52.61.
You will also find a story about the Relay Run and results from Gulf Coast Triathlon elsewhere on the news page. Congratulations to all participants. GWTC complete 397 laps to win the trophy for most laps again, but more importantly raised over $1500 for the American Cancer Society.
Till next weekend – watch out ’cause the deer flies are back!