Holy Trinity must have still been smarting from a runner-up finish at states last year; at least the girls team, the boys were already defending their state title coming in. Both teams cruised to dominant wins. The girls team scored 106 to second place Evangelical Christian with 66. On the boys side, Moore Haven scored 98 to give Holy Trinity a good run but as soon as it got to the 3200m, the bell had tolled for Moore Haven’s upset aims.
Holy Trinity took all four qualifying spots in the event. Seniors Tristan Kattenberg (9:50.36), and Alex Brown (9:51) got first and second, respectively. Then sophomore Andrew Cacciatore (10:04.64) and eighth grader Trevor Kattenberg (10:08.57) got third and fourth place. Brown and senior Oliver Cole topped out the 1600m with Cole winning it in 4:27.82. Sophomore Daniel Welch got second place in the 800m (2:00.03) to round out the Holy Trinity’s virtual coup of the boys distance events.
The individual standout of the day was Admiral Farragut sophomore Brittany McGee. McGee scored 40 of her teams 46 points in a fourth place team finish by winning the long jump (18-0.25), the high jump (5-2), the 100m hurdles (14.53) and the 300m hurdles (44.89). McGee is coming off a second place finish in the long jump at states and a third place finish in the 100m hurdles. She is already better than her time at states in the 100m hurdles and she set new meet marks in both hurdles events.
The Holy Trinity girls were dominant in the sprints. Freshman Alisha Pound won the 100m in 12.71 and helped the 4x100m team take first as well. Pound competed at regionals last year but finished fifth, just missing states.
“It’s amazing, such a good feeling to know I actually made it,” Pound said.
Holy Trinity junior Gabrielle Gayles scored wins in the girls 200m (25.77) and the 400m (55.29). Her scorching time in the 400m set a new meet record. Holy Trinity got another small measure of get-back on Moore Haven as they toppled Moore Haven’s boys 4x100m relay meet mark from 2011. The Holy Trinity boys ran a 42.39 to etch that record for at least one more year.
Other standouts included freshman Stephanie Paul of the Community School of Naples. The freshman took both throwing events with a 122-5.5 mark in the disc and a 34-11.5 mark in the shot. On the boys side of the throwing events, Canterbury junior Chris Olson threw a stout 155-10 in the discus.
A new standard has been set in boys pole vault.
Sophomore Drew McMichael of Evangelical Christian shattered the old meet record of 12 feet with a jump of 14 feet. McMichael waited until 13 feet to come in, a risk that has backfired on many a vaulter.
“I like to come in high, that way I can see everybody and how they do; I also have more energy,” McMichael said.
McMichael was still six inches off his personal record but looks like a favorite for the Class A meet next Friday. The top four pole vaulters past McMichael all went over the previous meet record as well. Senior Nick Muth of St. Petersburg Catholic went 13 feet, sophomore Tre Gregory of Out-of-Door Academy cleared 12-6 as well as senior Corey Smith of Holy Trinity.
“The caliber of pole-vaulting in this area has really gone up,” 727 Pole Vault Academy coach Dave Mason said.
St. Petersburg Catholic junior Michael Rusnak won first and broke the meet mark in the boys 400m (49.17). It was a personal record for the junior but he felt like he had more.
“If there were other people in front of me I probably would have run it even faster,” Rusnak said.
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