Akachukwu On Top Of Her Game At Kowboy Invitational

Mar 10, 2013

(Photos by Donald Lamb)

On-Site Coverage

It was a homecoming of sorts for me as I traveled this weekend to my alma mater Osceola High School for the Kowboy Invitational. Not only do the Kowboys have a beautiful new school, but also a new track and facilities as well. Tons of schools and athletes attended the event and produced some great times on the track and great marks in the field. Myself as well as photographer Donald Lamb were on-site to provide you with tons of coverage!

If there was a girl's MVP of the meet, my vote would go to Sandra Akachukwu, the senior from Freedom High School in Tampa. In the long jump, she unleashed the second longest mark of the year in both Florida and the U.S. when she went 19"08' for the win. The mark is second only to Darrielle McQueen's 19"-08'.5 she set las week. Next was a runner-up finish in the high jump to teammate Faith Woodard. Her mark of 5-06 is one of the top in the state for 2013. Only three girls have jumped higher. The senior continued her success into the finals of the sprints where she went 12.31 to place third in the 100 and 25.35 in the 200.

Olympia senior Ashley Lewis had a big day as well. After finishing second in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.28, Lewis went onto take the 300 hurdles with a state leading and US#3 time of 43.74. 2012 was a rough year for the then junior as she didn't make it out of the regional competition. This year she has her eyes set on states and after posting times like that in a very competitive meet, is well on her way to achieving those goals.

In the distance events, Nikita Shah of Wiregrass Ranch kicked off the party with her first of two wins. Shah, a Harvard signee led from the beginning in the 1600 meter run and won easily in a time of 5:12.28. Olympia sophomore Emily Headley finished second. Shah swept the distance events when she took the 3200 meters later in the night with a time of 11:12.10 beating her nearest competitor by over thirty seconds.

Other notable performances include Di'Kerria Wilson of Kathleen who won the 100 in 12.16 and finished third in the 200. Wilson took the SAT test at 7:00 a.m. and made it back to the track as they were calling her for the 100 meter prelims. She advanced to the finals and went onto win the race. Talk about cutting it close. Lake Mary's Domonique Turner was victorious in the 100 meter hurdles and placed third in the high jump. Senior Amber Jackson of Gateway also had a big day in the field. Jackson went 38-04.5 in the triple jump. That mark ranks her fourth in the state of Florida.

On the boys side, it was John Armstrong of Olympia taking the fastest race of the day the 100 meter dash with a time of 10.80. The senior two sport athlete has signed with Wake Forest and says he plans to decide whether he will do both sports in college at the end of his freshman football season. Following the 100, Armstrong had no rest because the "team player" also made the finals in the 4x100 meter relay and 400 meter dash. The three events went off in less than thirty minutes.

Speaking of Armstrong and the Titans, the best race of the night, the 4x100, came down to Olympia and St. Cloud. Running stride for stride after final hand off it looked like it might be too close to call and indeed it was. The Bulldogs edged out the win by "the puff of a chest" and two one-hundredths of a second 41.91 to 41.93. Great effort by both teams and two of the times in the state in the 4x100 for 2013. Trayvon Williams ran a fearless anchor leg and stepped up huge for STC scoring six points in the long jump, ten here as a memeber of the relay team, and then ten more later in the night by winning the 300 hurdles!

St. Cloud senior Ian McKenzie had a big day in the field events. McKenzie swept the throws by going 48-03 in the shot put and 143-0 in the discus. The Bulldog standout wasn't done scoring points though. His leap of 6-02 in the high jump gave his team six more points. Twenty-six point day for McKenzie, not too bad. Go ahead and flex your muscle big man.

Other notable performances include Celebration junior Jhonny Victor who cleared 6-6 in the high jump. Victor a standout on the Storm basketball team went straight from the hard wood to the track recently. His teamamte David Akins won the pole vault over Olympia's Clayton Washburn. Both vaulters cleared 14-0, but had a jump off to determine the winner. Olympia's Alex Gomez won the triple jump with a leap of 46-02.25.