JACKSONVILLE - Oakleaf High senior Devin Collins and Fleming Island High junior Mikayla Shavers were the two top double dippers over the weekend with both achieving outstanding track finishes at back-to-back track meets at Creekside High Friday night and at the Bob Hayes Invitational at the University of North Florida on Saturday afternoon.
Shavers, a twice triple jump state runnerup by less than an inch both times for the Golden Eagles in her short two years of track since dominating as a middle schooler at Green Cove Junior High, won her specialty by nearly three feet at the Bob Hayes Invite with a 39 foot, 3.25 inch landing ahead of her nearest challenger at 36'-9.75".
In the long jump at Bob Hayes, Shavers finished third with a 17'-10.75" leap while, on Friday, Shavers stretched out her legs with a fourth in the Creekside High Friday Night Lights Invitational 100 meters in 12.51 seconds just behind Ridgeview's Oja Riggs in third at 12.39. Riggs has become a noticable force in the sprints locally with her double win at the Panther Invite a few weeks ago on her home track at Ridgeview High.
For Devin Collins, a senior multi-event athlete for Oakleaf, his long jump was the top seeded length coming and the sprinter-flyer hit his first jump fast and at altitude to hit a 23'-2.75" leap to finish just behind Christian Langford of Hughes who won at 23'-9" winning jump. Hughes High athletes and Collins battled throughout the steamy morning at UNF.
Collins finished up his day at the Bob Hayes Invite with a third in the 200 meter final at 21.45 after qualifying with a 22.06. Hughes senior Maurice Gleaton won that event at 20.64.
Collins competed in the 100 meters, finishing with an 11.11 for 10th and out of the final round with teammate Malachi Warthen 25th in 11.41. Fleming Island's Sebastian Cruz hit 22.38 in the 200 for 11th and 11.29 in the 100 for 16th. The 100 was won in 10.01 by Gleaton of Hughes.
Highlights for the Bob Hayes Invite including two top 10 finishes in the elite 800 and the open 3200 from Fleming Island junior Brooke Reynolds; sixth in the 800 in 2:24.78 and second in the 3200 in 12:00.21 with Ridgeview junior Emily Turner fourth in 12:28.92.
Oakleaf sprinter Rayna Lawson was fifth in prelims of the 100 in 12.46, then sixth in the final in 11.93.
Oakleaf's Jelani Chester ran a fast 2:01.95 to take second in the open 800 at Bob Hayes, while, in the elite final, Chester's 2:01.95 would have finished sixth in the race won in 1:57.59.
At Creekside, top area 800 finishers were Jack Pugh of Fleming Island, sixth in 2:03.13 with Ridgeview's Braidyn Matz eighth in 2:04.41.
Orange Park hurdler Nethan Verger dropped a 14.27 for fourth in the 110 high hurdles after a 14.97 in prelims for fifth. Fleming Island Jarius Rodgers, a sub-15 finisher coming in to the meet, was 10th in 15.36.
In shot put, Oakleaf's Rayna Autry, a sophomore, finished sixth with a 35'-.25" put while teammate Mykel Mayo was 33rd in shot for the boys.
In javelin, Oakleaf's Emmett Eggert finished with a 135'-3" throw for 16th. At Creekside, Eggert hit a 144'-7' throw for seventh in javelin.
In the 100 at Creekside, Oakleaf's Malachi Warthen ran a 10.99 for seventh in the 100 then finished eighth in the 200 with teammate Rodney Townsend, Jr., third in the 200 in 221.6. Townsend also doubled up with a 52.20 split in At Creekside, Ridgeview high jumper Steven Yamamoto-Henrichs won the event with a 6'-1" leap.
Oakleaf's 4 x 100 boys relay posted a fast 42.88 split for second at Creekside, then posted a 42.39 at Bob Hayes for 10th.