Hey, it's Denise and I'm back with the finale to my previous Middle School Track blog. If any how this meet had a virtual meet, only 25% of it would be correct. There were so many upsets I can't even describe how surprised I was about the team turn out.
The meet kicked off with field events promptly at 4 p.m. Some stand outs on the field event side were Carshalya Harrison of Pompano Beach Middle, clearing 4'10 in the high jump for the win only as a 7th grader. Then we also have Germey Taylor of Lauderdale Lakes, Tajue Williams of William Dandy and Jerry Jeudy of Coral Springs all cleared 5'8. But, Germey Taylor held on for the win. In the discus the middle school state champion, Sophia Gustley won with a tremendous throw of 124-02! (This would have one High School 4A State) Last outstanding field event was Boys Long Jump. Again it was Germey Taylor and Tajue Williams and Germey held on with a jump of 19-00.75 compared to Williams Jump of 18-11.50.
The running events left me in a total awe. It all started with the girls 100m hurdles, Marlisa Exceus of Lauderdale Lakes was the favorite to win after she just claimed the crown this past weekend at Middle School State in the 100m hurdles; not at all was this the case as the Middle School Long Jump Champion, Cadeebra Calcotte of William Dandy won with a time of 16.08. In the boys section, newly crowned Middle School State Champion for the 100m hurdles, Damion Thomas of Lauderdale Lakes won with ease in a time of :14.31. It didn't stop there for these two; they both ran the 400m dash a couple of races later. Cadeebra won the 400m last year with a sub :60 time, so of course she was the favorite to win; not to be left out the 8th grader, Taylor Smith of Rickards Middle stepped up to the challenge and won the 400m taking down the champion! It was a tight race all the way, Taylor ran a PR of 1:00.53 and Cadeebra ran 1:00.94. The boys 400m also was one to see, as the favorite to win was Deandre Miles, but again, winning on paper means nothing as his team mate, Damion Thomas clearly cam to run this meet and end his Middle School career on top claiming the 400m title with a time of :53.17 and his team mate Deandre finished with a close second (:53.44).
The girls and boys 100m dash was a huge surprise to me and most of the crowd. As for the girls 100 the favorite to win was Ariana Herring of William Dandy, but we also had the returning 2012 champion, Camryn Cross of Parkway. I am sure neither Ariana nor Camryn thought anything but 1st would be on their plate, but I am sure the same could be said for Essence Cooper of New Renaissance Middle as she stunned the crowd with the win. As for boys it was anyone's race because all of the boys qualified for this final with times between :11.4 to :11.8 and this race was claimed by Corey Pierson of Seminole Middle from an unconventional start, (two knees down) and extreme focus; coming in second was Trevon Grimes of Sawgrass.
Let's talk a little distance, the boys 1600m was a battle to the finish and a great watch as both Vanya Donaher of West Glades Middle and Deverans Valcin took to this race as if it was just the two of them and coming down the final home stretch going stride for stride, Donaher (4:59.40) edged Valcin (5:00.01) to a victory by 6 tenths. Another good race to watch was the Girls 800m as we had the two six graders coming in with the two top times and that exactly how they finished. This past weekend at Middle School State, Daishon Spann of Pompano Beach Middle ran a spectacular PR of 2:22.64 and runner up in the Middle School State meet, she didn't go that fast yesterday, but it was awfully fast for a 6th grader. She ran a time of 2:26.08 only a second from breaking the middle school record, followed by Amaya Thomas of Lauderdale Lakes who ran a new personal best of 2:34.79, keeping this event on paper as is. Big Props to these 6th graders for not being phased by running with the bigger and older athletes, bright futures ahead for these little ones.
The relays might actually come as a shock when I tell you who placed where. As we have seen through numerous competitions the relay race should have been a battle between William Dandy, Lauderdale Lakes and the boys Sawgrass Middle. So much tool place in these relays, let’s start off with the best girls relay of the night, the 4x100m, it was definite who was going to win, Lauderdale Lakes but not without a fight as in the last exchange Walter C Young ran past William Dandy to be in second and was a stride away from stealing that Middle School relay crown. First and second place times were separated by .14 tenths of a second, :51.90, Lauderdale Lakes and :52.04, Walter C Young. For the boys to run after this nice girls race, I was not sure as much excitement would be matched, so instead on one best relay, I couldn't choose one, I chose two; the 4x100m and 4x200m; in both of these relays Lauderdale Lakes was in the lead the entire time, until the last leg when Trevon Grimes of Sawgrass came and walked down Lauderdale Lakes last legs on both occasions giving Sawgrass Middle both the 4x100m and 4x200m meter county titles.
As far as the team standings go, I would have thought both Lauderdale Lakes boys and girls would have won the title, but it was actually one of both. William Dandy girls won and Lauderdale Boys won. Some other team standouts were Pompano Beach Middle School girls got third place with only five girls. That's all for middle school track and field. Follow me on twitter @micheeellleeee and on Instagram @micheeeeellee!