Complete Results & Meet Coverage l Photo Album by Bill Fay
The Palm Beach County Championships is run as a two day meet. The first day is the 4x800m relay and all the jumps and throws. The second day is all the running events and hurdles. This meet is a showcase of the best talent from around the county. The four Conference Championships (North, South, West , and Central) each send two automatic qualifiers in each event to the meet, a non-conference qualifier sends two more athletes in each event, (one north, one south) and each of the remaining sux places in the 16-athlete field for each event is filled by the best remaining times or performances.
Due to weather, the running events (day two) were postponed from Thursday to Saturday due to dangerous weather. This caused some problems and frustration for some, and a few missed the meet due to other commitments (Fla. Relays), but in the end, the meet was well attended, well run and some great performances were given.
Day one started with the girls 4x800m relay. In the fast heat, Courteney Zboyan of Jupiter showed why she is the top distance runner in the county with a split in the low 2:20’s which gave Jupiter a lead of about 6 seconds over 2nd place Seminole Ridge. These two teams remained separated from the pack for the next two legs as Jupiter held onto the lead. But on the last leg, that 20 yd. lead quickly dissolved as Michelle Howell of Seminole Ridge used her 55 sec 400m speed to catch and pass the Jupiter runner in the next 200m and cruise relaxed to the win in 10:03.46.
The boys 4x800m developed into a three way shootout between host Park Vista, Royal Palm Beach, and Pahokee. For the first 3 legs, they were evenly matched, running in a pack, in one of the closest 4x8 races I have seen, but Pahokee fell back on the 4th leg, That left Park Vista and Royal Palm beach to battle it out to the wire with Royal Palm Beach taking it by just over half a second, 8:16.45 to 8:16.97.
The field events also produced some great marks. In the girl’s high jump, Keyanna Harris of Dwyer took the tiebreaker to beat Ivanna Ford of Suncoast at 5’2”, while boys Champ Yephnick Adelphonse of Park Vista jumped 6’2” to take the title over a 4 way tie for second at 6’0” In the pole vault, Jenna Meyers-Sinnet of Dreyfoos at 10’9.5” and Benjamin Horowitz from (where else?) the Benjamin School at 14 feet even were clear winners with elite class performances. In the girls long jump, Danielle Livingstone of Seminole Ridge squeaked past Shakira Bartley with an outstanding 17’10”, while Chedlin Sagesse of Santaluces went 22’ to take the boys title. In the girls triple jump senior Morgan Campbell of Wellington clearly outclassed the competition with a 38’1.25” elite performance while Palm Beach Lakes boys went 1-2 with a pair of elite performances as Darius Hodges 47’1.5” overshadowed the 45’3” of Steven Louis. In the discus, the girls of Palm Beach lakes went 1-2, with sophomore Xana Dove over 13 feet ahead of everyone at 114’8”, While the boys closely contested event wound up with Evan Hartz of Jupiter winning in 138’8”. The girls shot put was won by Alexandria Jackson of Seminole ridge with a heave of 36’1” with second place going to Brandi Jones of Boynton Beach with 35 feet even. The Boys shot was dominated by Wally Aimes of Olympic Heights with a 48’7” effort, over 3 feet ahead of second place Tyler Mackey of Dwyer.
The first day went by quickly and all events were done before dark, a luxury track fans and athletes can appreciate.
Day two of the meet began well before the coaches meeting with severe weather reports from the national weather service. By mid-day, there was a warning for the area that included heavy thunderstorms, a tornado watch, possible golf ball size hail, wind gusts to 60 mph, flooding, etc. Sounds more like a mating between a winter storm and a hurricane than good weather to run a meet. (Unless you were looking for a wind-aided PR). Needless to say, after waiting to see if things would turn around, the meet was rescheduled to Saturday at 3 pm, and then again to 8 a.m. Saturday due to some conflicts with other sports in the stadium and proms in the evening for some schools.. Saturday dawned clear and cool with temps in the low 60’s and clear skies, with somewhat breezy NW winds at 15 knots. Not all were able to make the rescheduled meet, and a few lanes were empty for some races, but the majority of the athletes made it and we had a great meet.
Danielle Livingstone of Seminole Ridge started the day with another win and another elite level performance to add to her long jump performance, with a 14.63 in the girls 100m hurdles. Jonathan Hayden of Palm Beach Lakes’ 14.32 beat teammate Stephen Louis, and Park Vistas Christopher Grinley’s elite performances to take top honors in the boy’s 110m hurdles.
Events began to move quickly along as two close races in the 100m were contested with the girls race going to Dwyer’s Shanice Pettigrew’s 12.49 -- .02 seconds ahead of Markeria Brown of Palm Beach Central, with several others close behind. In the boy’s 100m, Eric Whipple of Palm Beach Lakes out leaned Dwyer’s Johnnie Dixon and Glades Central’s Ed’Treon Wilcox by .03 and .04 respectively to earn the title of “fastest man in the county”.
Gears shifted as the girls 1600 took off, with Courteney Zboyan of Jupiter leading the charge for a 5:28.18 win, and Catherine Vianale of Spanish River separating from the pack to finish second in 5:32.10. Fabiana Ingram of Suncoast took third, with Kaley Doyle of Park Vista 4th.
The boys 1600 stayed in a tight pack the first lap, with Pedro Fonseca of Pahokee leading. The second lap, Luis Nieves took over pacing duties and the pack began to string out, with Brian Vidal of Spanish River, Park Vistas’ Jonathan Kigel, and Tim Smale of Palm Beach Central within striking distance. Kigel tried to steal the race on lap 3, with only Nieves and Vidal able to close the gap. Coming off the last turn, the trio was bunched up, with Kigel on the inside, Vidal on the outside, and Nieves behind. As they kicked, Nieves swung wide, Vidal began to leave Kigel and Nieves and it looked like he might have it. But at the line, Brian Vidal had an 8 second PR, and second place, and Nieves had the win, 4:37.51 to 4:37.76. Nieves has kicked his way to a win every race this season that I know of, with a 4:30 PR. It will be interesting to see how he fares against stiffer competition as the season heats up.
Competition was tight in the 4x100m relay, with only about 3 tenth of a second separating first place girls Palm Beach Lakes (49.55) from Palm Beach Central, (49.83), But in the boy’s race four hundredths of a second made the difference between Champion Glades Central (42.60) and second place Dwyer, with Park Vista close behind.
In the 400 meters, Jo Marie Reid of Berean Christian ran 1:00.17 the win over Gardens Tashana Shields’ 1:01.19. Markieth Dokes of Jupiter took the boys title with a 50.51 effort.
Palm Beach County is a hotbed for elite hurdlers, and Palm Beach Lakes is the focal point, with both the girls and boys going 1-2-4 in their races to prove this point. Gina Louis won the girls race in an elite time of 45.37, and boys champion Jonathan Hayden (38.00) led teammate Darius Hodges (38.13) and Park Vistas Christopher Grinley (38.52) to national elite performances.
By 10:00, the winds began to shift to the NE, and the cool northwest breeze was replaced by a muggy sea breeze as temperatures quickly moved into the mid 70’s. Jackets and sweats came off, and clouds started to appear, but no rain.
In the Girls 800m, it was a display of talent as Seminole Ridge’s Michelle Howell ran away from the field in a PR of 2:17.22, making it look easy. The former county 400m champ (2010-2012) looked at ease after finishing, walking and talking while the rest of the field gasped for air. Maddie Beaubien took second with a 2:22.60
The boys 800 looked to be a repeat of the 1600, with most of the top runners doubling. But the kicking duel in the 1600 had gassed the guys, and their recovery was not sufficient to deal with fresh runners. At the finish it was Ramiz Kirmani of Seminole Ridge with a new PR of 2:03.03 taking charge in the last few yards to take the win over Cristian Acuna (2:03.23) of Jupiter Christian. Yephnick Adelphonse of Park Vista added a third place in the 800m to his high jump win, and 1600m winner and runner-up Luis Nieves and Brian Vidal had to settle for 4th and 5th.
In the girls 200, Shelby Rossier of Palm Beach Lakes (25.69) edged out Shanice Pettigrew of Dwyer by .05 seconds for the win, while in the boys 200, Eric Whipple of Palm Beach Lakes (21.38) continued his successful quest to be the fastest man as he pulled Ed’Treon Wilcox of Glades Central (21.83) and long jump champion Chedlin Sagesse of Santaluces to national elite times.
Just before noon, at the start of the girls 3200, temps were in the mid 70’s, and the humidity was up. Winds were still 15 knots from the northeast. Not ideal conditions, but Courteney Zboyan seemed to be back in form and ready to race. And ready she was as Morgan Hull of Palm Beach Central took out the first lap briskly, with Courteney on her shoulder. By the second lap, Courteney was leading Morgan and Spanish River’s Catherine Vianale away from the field as it became apparent that 4th place was now the only thing left for the rest of the field to fight over. By the mile, only Morgan Hull was near, and from then on, Courtenay pulled steadily away to finish first in 11:32.59 to Morgan Hull’s 11:46. Vianale faded to 12:22 but managed to hang on to third.
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Palm Beach Central’s Tim Smale took out the boys 3200 hard, trying to steal the race with a 65 second first 400m and a 2:22 800m for an early lead on the pack. Will Fay of Atlantic caught up at 500m and took over pacing duties at 800, with Smale in tow. Park Vista’s Trevor Sununu led the early chase group, which was somewhat strung out from the fast early pace. The next few laps went by a bit slower, and as the leaders went by the mile in 4:59, freshman Justin Levine of Olympic Heights took over the chase. He dragged along a couple of others and gained a little on the leaders, but with 800 to go, Fay put the hammer down and began moving away from Smale. With 500 to go and Smale 10 yards behind, he poured it on and by the bell lap he was in high gear, leaving Smale behind to look over his shoulder at Levine and others gaining ground. At the finish it was Will Fay of Atlantic winning in a PR of 10:09.89. Smale hung on for second place in a season best 10:18.46, and Sam Luttier (PR 10:21.84) of meet host Cardinal Newman just nipped a tired Olympic Heights freshman Justin Levine (PR 10:22.17) at the finish line. Fay makes it 3 for 3 in the 3200 this year with his other wins at Park Vista, and The Palm Beach County South Conference Championships.
There were no surprises in the 4x400m as 4x800 girls champ Seminole Ridge put on a fine performance with senior Michelle Howell anchoring in a time of 4:03.6 to Palm Beach Lakes 4:08.10 and sprinter-rich Palm Beach Lakes boys took the 4x400 title with a 3:26.61 to Boca Raton’s 3:31.86.
In the hunt for the team championship Palm beach Lakes’ incredible depth in the sprints, hurdles and field events paid off to win both the girls and boys titles. The Palm Beach Lakes girls team scored 123 points to a distant second of Seminole Ridge with 70 points, and the boys squad managed to hold off Park Vista, 100 to 89. Dwyer and Wellington finished third and fourth in both the girls and boys team standings.
Top individuals were Courteney Zboyan of Jupiter and Danielle Livingstone of Seminole Ridge with 20 points for the girls, while Palm Beach Lakes Darius Hodges with 23 points outshone his teammates Stephen Louis, Jonathan Hayden, and Eric Whipple with 21, 20, and 20 points respectively.
All in all, it was a great meet, and a good preview of talent for the upcoming district and regional meets.