MIDDLEBURG – Double gold medal performances from Oakleaf High sprinter Tahja Peoples and Oakleaf High jumper Melvin Briley pushed the Knights track teams to wins on both sides; girls and boys, at the Clay County Track and Field Championships held Friday at Middleburg High School.

Peoples, a junior, blasted the fields of the 100 and 200 meter dashes with splits of 13.15 over Crystal Hunter of Ridgeview and 27.14 over Haley Petrosky of Middleburg’s 27.38 in the 200. Petrosky also won the high jump with a 5’-.25” leap over Emma Shaw of Fleming Island.

In team scores, Fleming Island finished second in the womens with Orange Park finished second ahead of Ridgeview for the boys.

In the boys 400, Orange Park sophomore Alex Collier continued his winning of the event although his 51.19 split was nearly two seconds off of his previous best of 49.16, set a week ago at Bishop Snyder’s Danny Brown Invitational. Collier finished just ahead of Raider teammate Alex Meadows who continues to inch toward the 50 second mark.

Briley, the Class 4A triple jump champion last year, bestted the field in the long jump at with a 20’-10.50” leap over Denali Lindo of Ridgeview who hit 20’-.25”. In the triple jump, Briley’s 46’-1.25” winning leap was nearly four feet up on Marcus Floyd of Middleburg’s 42’-5.5” for second place.

For the girls, winners were Audrey Millican of Fleming Island in the 400 at 1:03.38 over Hannah Hart of Middleburg’s 1:04.31; Marisa Kortright of Ridgeview in the 800 in 2:33.77 over Fleming Island’s Grayson Iller’s 2:35.80; in the 1600, Keystone Heights freshman Camryn Williams’s 5:30.64 winning time to best Kortright’s 5:34.41 and former 1600 county champ Julie Franzoni at third and, at 3200, Williams again in 12:22.55 over freshman teammate Shelby Phillips in 13:29.15.

In the hurdles, Melina George of Oakleaf won the 100 meter hurdles in 18.15 over Kayla Armstrong of Fleming Island’s 18.46 with Oakleaf going 1-2 in the 300 hurdles behind Ta’Kayla Edwards’ 49.84 and Mikyla Pearson’s 51.81. Edwards also won the pole vault.

In the jumps, Ridgeview’s Jhatarra Sampson won the long jump at 15’-9” with Oakleaf’s Loren Johnson taking a six foot win in the triple jump at 36’-8.5” over Samantha Franco of Clay. Sampson was third. In field events, Destiny Basden of Orange Park won the shot put by just four inches over Clay’s Tiana Nichols, 32’-11” to 32”-7.5”. In discus, Middleburg went 1-2 with Dakota Peppard outdoing Paige Novatasky 106’-5” to 102’-11”.

Oakleaf won the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays with Middleburg’s girls winning the 4 x 800 relay.

For the boys, Lindo turned the tables on Collier in the 100 with his 11.42 to Collier’s 11.54. Collier out-leaned Clay’s Christian Swilley for second; Swilley in at 11.55.

In the 200 Floyd won with a 23.22 over Isaiah Gladden of Orange Park iwth Isiah Blair, also of Orange Park, in third.

In the distance runs, Elias Perez of Ridgeview won the 800 over Jerry Payne of Keystone Heights, 2:06.24-2:09.71. Ridgeview’s Joel Nesi bettered his best to win the 1600 with a 4:39.34 edging away from Fleming Island freshman Kameron Wallizada’s 4:39;97 and third placer Alex Guy’s 4:41.49. Oakleaf’s Dylan Nelson won the 3200 in 10:20.43 with Fleming Island’s Gage West at 10:23.48 for second.

In the hurdles, Oakleaf freshman Karey Henry Duncan won by a whisker over Ridgeview’s Joaquin Castro in the 110 hurdles 18.05-18.06. In the 300 hurdles, Orange Park hoops star John Abate won in 42.10 with Oakleaf’s Anthony Dickerson at 42.91.

In the relays, Orange Park won the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 with Oakleaf winning the 4 x 800.

In the field events, three high jumpers broke six feet with Middleburg’s Bryce Quiett tops at 6’-2.75”. Abate and Oakleaf’s Donovan Thomas both tied at 6’-75” with Abate getting the win on less misses.

Clay High’s Jacob Mancino won the pole vault at 10’-6”.

In the throws, Oakleaf’s sophomore giant Jalen Rivers won by three feet over David Araujo of Orange Park with his 44’-10.25” put. Middleburg’s Alex Barfield won by nearly 17 feet in the discus with a 142’-10” throw over Jeff Allen of Oakleaf.