JACKSONVILLE - Fleming Island High junior triple jumper Mikayla Shavers could measure between her forefinger and her thumb the distance that put her in second place twice in the last two years in her specialty.
"I knew that this year I was going to do whatever I needed to win this thing finally," said Shavers, who executed her plan off a first jump that put the rest of the field on their heels. "I was in first after the first jump, but I was ready to go bigger if I had to. The plan was to not leave without the gold medal."
In the field, Shavers, with a previous best of 40 feet, 1.25 inches, blasted off and sailed to her landing at just 39'-1/2".
"Nothing big, but enough to put down a spot that would make the other girls think about it," said Shavers. "I was ready to go bigger."
Almost equal to the chase, Hillsborough High's Jayce Miller landed a hair off at 38'-11" inches to kind of turn the tables on the Shavers jinx of less than half inch and quarter inch second place finishes.
"I try not to think about the how closes I have had and just work on getting better as an athlete and just compete," said Shavers, who was second in 2024 at 39'-5" by .75", and second in 2023 at 39'-6.5" by a half inch. Hillsborough's Miller was fourth in 2024 with Anya Carey of Somerset winning with a 39'-5.75" jump.
Shavers' gold was the lone state title for Clay County, but there was a handful of top eight medalists that came home from the University of North Florida track with Orange Park long jumper Nethan Verger taking silver in his Class 3A field, and a handful of thirds from Middleburg discus thrower Madison Underwood and Ridgeview long jumper Ann-gellica Taravine, both in Class 3A, and Oakleaf sprinter Rayna Lawson in the Class 4A 100 by a scant 0.002 of a second.
For Verger, his first jump like Shavers in triple jump was his best of the day with a 24'-1.5" leap that held for just about 10 minutes as Manatee's Candler Johnson lofted himself to a first place 24'-4.25" winning jump. Both jumpers equalled their best jumps in later jumps, but could not extend the distances.
"I got a little sideways on the second jump and the runway felt weird," said Verger, who had a nation leading 25 foot jump earlier in the season in Gainesville.
In the girls 3A long jump, Taravine used the energy from Shavers to pick up a third place finish ahead of Shavers in fourth with her 17'-11.75" jump. Shavers was fourth at 17'-8'75". Winner was Miami Northwestern's Nyla Christian at 19'-8".
"I wanted to get a medal this year after last year finishing out of the medals," said Taravine, who was also 13th in triple jump at 36'-7.5". "I had a good jump and improved to my best by almost five inches."
Shavers, who also competed as the anchor for the Fleming Island High 4 x 100 relay, took the baton from Juliannah Santana to outsprint a handful of runners to give Fleming Island an 11th place finish at 48.72 with Dillard winning at 45.85.
"The long jump and the sprints were all used to be better in the triple jump," said Shavers.
In the Class 3A girls discus, Middleburg senior Madison Underwood completed her steady improvement in her state finishes with her third place finish at 142'-7' behind first placer and defending champion Lauren Kirby of Somerset with a 161'-8" toss on her second to last throw and second placer Julia Lemmon of Fort Myers at 158'-3". Lemmon was second last year.
"I was 10th as a sophomore, fourth last year and now, I got a third," said Underwood, who had a best of 145'-6" in the Clay County Championships and threw 132'-1" for fourth last year with an injured shoulder hampering her throwing technique.

In the Class 4A 100 sprint, Oakleaf High sophomore Rayna Lawson got second in her heat 1 race with an 11.96 showing up on the clock, but with Winter Haven's Desirae Murray having the same time, 11.96, forcing officials to dig a little deeper. Lawson wound up third at 11.956 with Murray given an 11.954 for the silver. Gold went to Laiana McClinton of Largo in 11.75.
McClinton would double with gold in the 200 in 23.67 with Lawson ninth in 24.59. Murray wound up 16th.


In other races, in Class 1A, the St. Johns Country Day School girls and boys 4 x 800 relays both had top 20 finishes with the girls, led by senior leadoff Kaitlyn Sunderhaus and senior anchor Rebecca Stratton, plus eighth graders Kate Staten and Matilda Morris, finishing their high school track with a 13th place finish while the boys, all underclassmen including seventh grader Judson Myers, finished 17th in 8:42.69.


Also in Class 3A, Orange Park discus thrower Jeremiah Hamilton threw 172'-0" for his best throw to take a sixth place with Chiles thrower Jason Atwood, the national record holder heading to FSU, rocking a 218'-5" throw for gold.
"Everything felt good today," said Hamilton, who hit a 169'-3" toss to finish sixth in region 1-3A. "I was due to let a big one go."


Also from Orange Park, triple jumper Calder Datilus finished 11th with a 43'-3.25" leap.
Fleming Island got a ninth in the 110 high hurdles from Jarius Rodgers in 14.98 with sprinter Sebastian Cruz 12th in the 100 in 11.06 and 3200 runner Jacob Campbell 13th in 9:34.95. The Fleming Island boys 4 x 800 was 14th with long jumper Tysen Janda 12th in 21'-2" and discus thrower David Fuentes 15th in 136'-6". Fleming Island's 4 x 100 girls finsihed 11th in 48.72.
In Class 4A, with Lawson the top finisher, Oakleaf also got a seventh in shot put from sophomore Rayna Autry with Autry also finishing 18th in discus. Oakleaf teammate Gloria Lewis finished 14th in discus.
In the 400, Rodney Townsend, Jr., finished 12th with a 49.03 split with Devin Collins taking 18th in long jump at 20'-3.5".