Girls Pole Vault - Taylor Logue
Last week at the 2A State Meet in Jacksonville, Taylor Logue finsihed in fifth place with a ten foot clearance. This week she is hoping to do one better. The Pine Crest eighth-grader is the favorite to win the middle school state championship, with her 10-6 personal best.
The current state meet record was set in 2010 and is held by Lillian Van Winkle from Maclay, with an 10-7 clearance. Can Logue manage to hit a new best height and knock off the three year old record? We shall see!
Girls 3000 Meters - Rafaella Gibbons
The girls distance races are always highly competitive and knocking on the door of records year in and year out. The favorite this year is Rafaella Gibbons from Orlando, and she comes with good credentials headed in. She is the defending middle school cross country state champion, having won the 2012 3000 meter race at the difficult, hilly and sandy Holloway Park last November in 11:41.
This year on the track she nothced a time of 10:36.57 last week at the Central Florida Gliders Classic. And she'll have good company, with Katherine Javanovic of Pine Crest and Samantha Folio of Holy Trinity--both of whom showed their fitness impressively last weekend at the 1A/2A state championship.
Should the two work together and start pressing the pace, they might come close to the record. It will take at least an eight second PR though to beat Emma Rudman's recod from last year--an 11:28.65 for the current freshman at Ft. Walton Beach (then 8th grader from Liza Jackson).
Folio, along with Ally Hajda of Bolles and others, will be in the hunt for the 1,500 title as well. However, Daesha Rogers' 4:43.65 record will be tough to match.
Boys 3000 Meters - Trevor Kattenberg
Last week at the 1A State Championship, Holy Trinity eighth grader Trevor Kattenberg laid down an 11th place finish with a 10:16.62 in the 3200. And he's gone even faster this season with a 10:03.43 at districts early last month.
Though only in theory, that 10:03 translates to record pace for 3,000 meters... 9:22 according to our conversion calculator. That would put him under one of the meet's oldest records, that of Brian Atkinson. The former Melbourne great qualified for Foot Locker Nationals and Nike Cross Nationals during his decorated high school career. He now runs for Duke University. So those are quite big shoes to live up to. But if things go well, Kattenberg's name could be etched into the record books for years to come! Time to beat? 9:24.06.
Boys 400 Meters and 800 Meters - Jamal Walton
Jamal Walton of Miami Gardens Express actually has quite a few records he may take down! He is entered in the full range from 100 meters to 800 meters! And he is in the top one or two seeds in each!
His best event is the 400 meters. He has been busy this spring, competing in international competitions representing the Cayman Islands. In the CARIFTA Games in Nassau, Bahamas in early April, he finished in fourth place in the Under 17 division--he was the youngest entry in the finals--with a time of 49.08. He has gone under 50 seconds at least four other times this season! The meet record of 50.31 by Jabari Hill has stood sine 2010 and is looking extremely vulnerable to Walton. His teammate Emare Hogan of Orlando will also be right there to help push him and could be under the old meet record as well. Hogan ran a 50.07 at the Florida Elite Invitational last month.
Hogan could also be an outside threat in his other events as well. He made the finals in the 200 at the CARIFTA games also, finishing in 8th place with a time of 22.52. His season best of 22.17 is a little closer, but would need a really big day to get Amir Rasul's record from last year of 21.91.
Hogan also has a decent shot at taking down Joseph Franklin's 2004 800 meter record--one of the the old standing meet records--of 2:00.61, which has seemed untouchable in the past. Hogan's seed time is 2:04.21, but I have heard rumors he went sub-2 in a club meet that we do not have on file.
Walton and Hogan are also the top seeds in the 100 meters but at 11.30 and 11.15, respectively, they'd need a monster outing to get down to the 10.75 of Bennie Wesley from 2010.
Girls 4x800 Relay - MacRollers or Bulldog TC
Finally, the 4x800 looks very much in jeopardy this year. With the MacRollers, represented by athletes from Oak Hall School, and Bulldog Track club (made up of athletes from Bolles School) both having gone sub 10 with this group early in the season. They could be primed for a season best and in doing so would be a big time state meet record. The MacRollers set the current mark just last year with a 10:04.93. With the Eagles and Bulldogs going at it, I think this one is history!
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