Bob Hayes Classic Lives Up to Legacy of Bullet Bob

"Bullet Bob" Hayes was a trackster turned footballer who was reknowned for his incredible speed. In keeping with his legacy, the Jacksonville meet named in his honor was the fastest collection of sprinters we've seen this year.

Todd Grasley was on site for flrunners.com and we will have lots of great video coverage.

Holy Smokes! Boys Sprinters Light the Track on Fire

 

It started off in the 100 meters where eight guys dipped under 11, with the top three under 10.6. Broderick Snoddy of Carrollton, Georgia got there first with a US #1 10.49 from the senior. Sophomore Levonte Whitfield of Jones sailed in for second (10.53)  just in front of Phillip Dorsett of St. Thomas Aquinas (10.57).

Then the fireworks really started in the 400 meter run. Lining up were the three top lappers in the state in junior and Warrior of the Week Arman Hall of St. Thomas Aquinas, Dedric Dukes of Miami Washington back and ready for action this year after a one year hiatus, and Hugh Graham Jr. of Miami Northwestern who is the number one returning 400 runner in the nation.

They wasted no time going at it and a little over 46 seconds later when it was all over... no one in the stands knew who won. After the roar and woots wore down some minutes later, then everyone began to reflect on what they just watched:  one of the greatest 400 meter battles in Florida history!  ALL THREE runners bolted into 46.6 range in a photo finish with less than a tenth separating them. After no doubt much booth review it was finally determined that Hall was the winner by the thousanths place over Dukes--both with 46.61 officially--and Graham was just eight hundreths back in 46.69. All three were faster than anyone else has run this year.

 

 

Want an encore? Hall, Dukes, Snoddy, and Whitfield lined up again in the 200 meters and finished in that order. Hall once again took it to the wire against Dukes... with one one hundreth of a second separating them in another photo finish!  20.87 to 20.88!  Only Hall himself has run faster this year, with his 20.82 at Sam Burley a couple of weeks ago. The wind was a tad over the legal limit though with a +2.3.

Octavious Freeman: Business as Usual

It almost gets boring it's so routine for her. Times that that would otherwise be considered blistering fast seem ho-hum with Lake Wales senior Octavious Freeman because she does it so regularly and with such ease. I'll go ahead and say it... she is hands-down the best 100/200 runner in the country. Never pushed, always on point. She is bound to break all kinds of records before this season is done.

She cruised to a legal 11.42 time in the 100 meters today at Bob Hayes, winning by .64 and matching her own US #1 time from last week that she ran over Tynia Gaither.  Shortly thereafter she helped her team nail down a US #1 46.62 in the 4x100... again improving only on their own time from last week.  Later in the night she was at it again with similar dominance. This time winning by 1.09 in the 200 meters and with US #2 time with a 23.42 (Tynia Gaither hit the new US #1 across the state in Tampa) that was fifth hundreths faster than her time at the Kowboy Invitational last week.

Oh magic eight ball, can Freeman be stopped? All signs point to no.

 

 

 

Artie Burns: Sophomore Sensation

Let us not get too carried away with the folks running flat and fast lest we forget about the ones with barries between themselves and the finish. Artie Burns is just a sophomore this year but he is sure running with the big boys.  After medaling in the flrunners.com Middle School Championship as a seventh grader, we heard little from Burns save a couple of post-season meets including a national championship in the Intermediate division of the USATF Youth Nationals in the 400 Hurdles of course.  But this year he has certainly made his presence known!

He had a little run for his money in the 110 Hurdles against Jonathan Jones of Carrollton, Georgia but got some breathing room over the last couple of hurdles to win with a 13.66 that improved upon his previous best by .11 and a US #2 ranking.

Over the lower, longer 300 hurdle event he had Jovan Davis of Wekiva in his peripheral and that helped propell him to a 36.96 victory. He is the only one in the nation so far this year to run faster at that event--he holds on to the #1 spot with a 36.87 from two weeks ago. Davis for his part held on for a 37.26 second place position that as of this moment is the third fastest in the US--we'll see if that holds out as the results continue to roll in this weekend.

Keisha Richburg:  As if Miami Northwestern needed anymore fire power

They sure know how to grow talent down there at Northwestern. Keisha Richburg has always been a solid contributor to their points total, with a 45.14 300 Hurdles best last year at the district meet. But it seems the senior has now gone full-blown superstar on us.  She won the 300 hurdles by almost two seconds today at Bob Hayes with a US #2 time of 43.66, which is a season best by almost two seconds.

Relays: Always fast at this meet

More than anything else, the crowd at Raines High School always loves the relays!  And the kids did not disappoint!

The Lake Wales girls started things off with a US #1 46.62 in the 4x1, lead by Freeman. Northwestern was next in a US #7 47.38. Then it was Jones turn and stars Levonte Whitefield and Clim Robbins helped them to a 41.74--a few ticks off their own US #1 time of 41.47 from last week.

Miami Northwestern lashed back in the 4x400, sweeping both boys and girls races. For the girls it was Richburg and friends racing to a 3:55.32 five seconds over Dr. Krop and St. Thomas Aquinas.  The boys race was much closer with only a second separating Northwestern (3:14.17) and St. Thomas Aquinas (3:15.04)... that is the new #1 and #2 times in the state and #3 and #4 in the country.

Scantling's Got Ups

Senior Garrett Scantling of Episcopal showed how much he yerns to fly, by pulling off a fairly rare double of the high jump and the pole vault. The bars were 6-6 and 14-6, respectively.

Karl Barr: #1 in first long jump?

Let me know if you guys know any more than this. Can this be for real?  We've seen Orange Park High School senior Karl Barr has wheels: he had several sub-11 100 meter times last year and two more at Bob Hayes.  But with his first long jump ever (at least in our records) did he really just hit a national leading 24-8? Wish their was a wind guage on that one, but either way... wow.

Marquis Noble of Buchholz was second, over a foot back in 23-5. Noble is #4 in the state rankings.

Yes, Distance Fans, There is a Fast Mile

Okay, Coach Raposo... it was a 1600, but mile sounds sexier. (Raposo always harasses me when I take literary license with the event)

The elite 1600 division is named for local businessman Lewis Siplin, who a quick Google search tells me is the owner of nine Church's Chicken franchises in Florida and Georgia with $11 Million in annual sales (impressive). He may have some competition for the best drumstick though because I hear the chicken they had cooking in booth #8 at the food court was pretty amazing.

The girls were first up and Emily Ahrens of Vero Beach kept state pride alive by holding off Dylan Hassett of Alpharetta, Georgia 5:06.38 to 5:08.66. Frsehman Destiny Johnson of Homestead of sophomore Amber Johnson of Dr. Phillips also had a nice battle going on for third with Johnson gutting it out to a half second victory 5:12.82 to 15:13.33.

Once the boys lined up it was all out war with five going under 4:30.  Daniel Millay of Dr. Phillips took the tape in 4:23.96, a little over a second better than Jake Dearmon of Ft. Walton Beach. Daniel Dey of Olympia, Bert Iriogyen of Ransom Everglades and Jose Perez of Haines City rounded out the top five.

More Highlights

  • Megan Walker of Port St. Joe cleared 11-0 in the pole vault, six inches better than Emily Smithwick of Episcopal.
  • Shannon Spence of Northwestern jumped 18-11.25 (NWI), grabbing the #2 spot in the Florida rankings. Niaja Griffin of Wekiva and sophomore Jazmine Bowser of Mandarin also jumped better than 18 feet.
  • Mia Mike of Miami Pace continued her impressive season with a win in the discus (129-3) runner-up in the shot (41-1). Pretty competitive meet for throws... five girls were better than 120 feet in the disc and three over 40 in the shot put.
  • Cody Horstman of Vero Beach tossed the discus a big new personal best of 167-4, which is the new #3 mark in the state.
  • Anastasi Gabor of Vero Beach created a five-way tie for the state lead in the high jump with her 5-6 clearance.
  • Ebony Rose of Dr. Krop helped her team to a FL #2 9:42.29 in the 4x800 over St. Thomas Aquinas and Jones (9:43, 9:47) and then took an easy 2:18 win in the 800, a second better than Bridget Blake of Dr. Phillips.
  • Isaiah Smith of Lake Weir and his teammates won the 4x8 in 8:07, Smith came back later to win the 800 an easy (for him) 1:58.