ORANGE PARK - Fleming Island High football sprinter Sebastian Cruz took the sting out of challenges in the 100 and 200 dashes with two wins in the two fastest races of the Don Hall Memorial Track Invitational at Orange Park High while Orange Park middle distance ace Keyleana Henry readied herself for another state meet ticket with impressive wins in the 400 and 800 meter runs.
For the girls, Ridgeview sprinter Oja Riggs was dominant with wins in the 100 and 200 to lead the Panthers team score to a 123-83.5 championship win over Fleming Island. Riggs finished ahead of Fleming Island's Kennedy Berkley, 12.60-13.00, with an even closer 26.02-26.35 win over Orange Park's Nevaeh Ambrose with Panther teammate Ann-gellica Taravine third in 26.70. Taravine also won the long jump at 17'4.75" with a second in triple jump.
Fleming Island, with a handful of runners competing at the Pepsi Relays in Gainesville on Friday, mustered up enough points with sterling performance from their distance team to beat Bartram Trail 113.5-88 with Oakleaf third at 84.
Top performer at the Pepsi Relays though was Orange Park hurdler and long jumper Nethan Verger who popped off a best-ever 25'-0.75" leap to best the very competitive field with second at 24'-6.5". Verger also finished seventh in the 110 high hurdles in 14.36 with the top four hurdles under 14 seconds; 13.21 to 13.94.
For Orange Park's Henry, her preparations are to get her on the podium in the 400 where she finished 18th in 3A last year. Henry already has a 57.61 split at the Clay County Championships in late March.
"I was at a 59 seconds at state last year and I worked hard all off season to get that down into the 55-56 second range," said Henry, who won the 400 in a windy 58.07 then returned to the track for a tough finish that got her a final sprint win in the 800 in 2:23.77. "The 800 I ran today is a just a strength run both physically and for mental toughness. My coaches want me to be stronger at the end of the 400s and the 800 helps with that."
In the 800, Henry led on lap one with Palatka's Ah'Tilah Dean leading for most of the second lap. Henry rolled up on Dean near the 300 meters to go mark then exacted a final 80 meter push to the finish for the win with Dean just .13 seconds behind Henry.
"I went out faster than I wanted in the first lap and caught the wind in my face in the second half of the first lap," said Henry. "I settled in behind her to get ready for the finish because I knew the wind was going to be there. She was tough though."
In the 400, Henry won decisively with a 58.07 split with Tocoi Creek's Kaitlyn Deitrick second in 1:01.26.
Cruz, who was looking to be challenged by Oakleaf's Devin Collins in the two sprints, was mentally prepared for a duel, but Collins was injured and not competing for Oakleaf.
"I know he is a low 11, high 10 second guy and wanted to see if I could stay with him," said Cruz, who recently signed and committed to play football at Rutgers University. "I'm a little stronger down the pike in the 200 I think and thought getting the double would be tough. The Palatka guy (Kedric Wright, Jr.) was right with me."
Cruz got a good start on Wright in the 100 and was able to surge in the final 10 yards for the 11.32-11.41 win.
In the 200, Cruz had a second Oakleaf runner in his sideview mirror with Emmanuel Souffrant creating a shoulder to shoulder battle with Cruz edging Souffrant, just a sophomore, 22.44-22.57. Souffrant also finished fifth in the 400 with a 51.98 split.
In the double duty department, Middleburg discus thrower Madison Underwood threw at the Pepsi Relays on Friday, then got to the Don Hall on Saturday to finish first. Madison Underwood was sixth at Pepsi Relays with a 143'-8" toss on Friday morning then a winning toss of 133'-10" at Don Hall. Annabelle Underwood added Middleburg team points with a fourth place toss of 104'-1' at Don Hall.
Fleming Island distance coach Dave Allen had high praise for two of his distance runners; Cole Atzert and Andrew Boyle who both won their respective events; 1600 and 3200 with personal best splits despite the windy conditions.
"Cole just dropped 10 seconds off his 1600 time to win (in 4:33.66) over our own Marcos Serrano," said Allen. "Andrew has been within an arms length of our top runner, Jacob Campbell, and today he stepped out of that shadow in the 3200 to win in 10:22.93 with Jacob Sanders also having a good 3200 in third at 10:35.33."
For Allen, senior Jacob Campbell was at the Pepsi Relays in the 1600 and 3200 events finishing 11th in 9:36.24 in the 3200 and 28th in the 1600 in 4:33.12.
From his girls team, Allen had junior Brooke Reynolds running the Don Hall 3200 and winning in a tough, hot race in 12:01.54 effort after running a 2:20.33 at the Pepsi Relay for 22nd, then 5:23.54 in Gainesville for 28th place.
"That's a tough double for Brooke, especially in this heat (at about 2 p.m.) at the Don Hall," said Allen. "The plan is to try to break 12 minutes."
Reynolds led the 3200 from the start, but her pace lost a few seconds for the 12 minute chase as she battled with St. Joseph Academy's Paige Brammer until the final two laps of the eight lap race where she had to run unaccompanied and got close with her 12:01.54 split.
"She was about six seconds down with two laps, so she ran tough and got some time back," said Allen.
For area girls, winners were:
100 hurdles MHS Mikayla Burns over FIHS Meadow Schubert 15.77-16.96
(Schubert was second by .02 in 400 hurdles to Bartram Trail's Amelia Kosiewska 1;07.76-1:07.78
4 x 100 RHS over FIHS 49.33-50.16
Shot Put Oakleaf's Rayna Autry over Oakleaf's Gloria Lewis 37'-11.25" - 33"3.25"
For area boys, winners were:
800 meters RHS Braidyn Matz over OPHS Anthony Ress 2:01.10-2:03.18
High jump RHS Steven Yamamoto-Henrichson 6'-1.50"
Long Jump OPHS Samir Bates over OHS Elijah Edwards 20'-7.75" - 20"-6.25"
Triple Jump OHS Nicholas Walker 43'-6.5"
Also at the Pepsi Relays, Fleming Island long and triple jumper Mikayla Shavers finished 14th in long jump at 17'-6" and third in triple jumper at 40'-1.25".
In the collegiate high jump, former Fleming Island state high jump champion Gabbi Flores, now a freshman at Florida International University, finished 15th at 5'-3.75".