Florida Relays Day Three: US#1's Abound As South Florida Teams Sweep 4x1, 4x4, & 4x8 Titles

Pepsi Florida Relays
Todd Grasley



South Florida cleaned house on the final day of the 2014 Florida Relays producing several meet records, US#1's and nationally ranked performances. Miami Northwestern swept both the girls and boys 4x800m relays while the STA girls reeled in victories in the 4x4 and 4x1 with the Booker T. Washington boys accomplishing the same feat. Check out the full highlights as well as on-site coverage of photos, videos, and interviews from our team of Jeff Adams, Darrell Laxton, Dean Headley, and our friends at Flotrack.

On-Site Coverage

DAY THREE TRACK HIGHLIGHTS:

Boys 4x400m Relay

Booker T. Washington senior and Texas Tech football signee Nigel Bethel lets me know on a daily basis how dominant his team has been this year. He even told me "Todd, you guys give us no love." Well, Nigel this ones for you. The Tornadoes put on a show in the sprint relays at this year's Florida Relays starting with the 4x100m relay and closed the meet in style. Bethel kicked off the party as the first leg with Krondis Larry, Terrawn McPhee, and Vaquan Small to follow. The group picked up their second win of the day with a blistering time of 3:13.73, an improvement of their season best 3:14.00, and a state leading and US#1 mark.  Miami Northwestern who looked very strong overall in the meet as well finished second with the second fastest time in Florida and third fastest in the country of 3:14.25. Dr. Phillips and St. Thomas Aquinas who came in third and fourth posted US#3 and US#5 times of 3:14.85 and 3:15.91 respectively.

Girls 4x400m Relay

100,200,400 for the ladies of STA distance doesn't really matter (they also have the reigning 4A cross country team champions). The team swept all three sprint relays on the weekend including the 4x400 meter relay. Krystal Sparling, Diamond Spaulding, Narinah Jean-Baptiste, and Kendall Ellis posted a new meet record time of 3:40.10, beating the old best of 3:41.40 set by Roosevelt High School in 2004. Fast? Yes, but it wasn't even their fastest on the year. That mark was set at the Texas Relays when they went 3:38.26.  Miami Northwestern ran a US#4 time of 3:43.16 with Timetria Mitchell, Lenneshia Gilbert, Charlease Rodgers, and DeAndreah Young.

Boys 4x100m Relay

There was a tornado watch in Gainesville Friday afternoon. A Booker T. Tornado watch. The quartet of Krondis Larry, Deltron Hopkins, Terrawn McPhee and Nigel Bethel on the anchor leg clocked a national leading time of 40.57. The scary thing is that nobody else was really even close! The look on Bethel's face in the photo of the article says it all. Dr. Phillip's was second in 41.20, a tie for the second fastest in Florida and third fastest in the country. St. Thomas Aquinas beat out The First Academy for third place 41.47 to 41.49.

Girls 4x100m Relay

The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders were without Khalifa St. Fort, who ran in the team's runner-up 4x100m team at Texas Relays, but it didn't seem to matter. One of the deepest sprint squads in the country hands down, Aryian Herring joined the group running in the third leg. Krystal Sparling and Diamond Spaulding kicked off the race with Narinah Jean-Baptiste bringing it home in 45.53. Their time was two-tenths faster than their time in Texas and a new state leading and national leading mark. Miami Northwestern's 45.66 is the second fastest in Florida and the second fastest in the country for 2014.

Boys 4x800m Relay



Miami Northwestern and St. Thomas Aquinas go head to head week in and week out in South Florida and the Florida Relays was no different. The Bulls won the 4x8 girls and followed that up with the sweep taking the boys title as well. Cordell Lamb, Christopher Othelot, Tiondre Toomer, and Jeffery Green clocked a 7:49.09 the fastest time in Florida and a US#4 performance. St. Thomas Aquinas edged out Bloomingdale in the final meters for seconds with a FL#2 and US#5 mark of 7:51.56. Bloomingdale's time of 7:51.88 was good enough for fourth fastest in Florida and seventh fastest in the country for 2014.

Girls 4x800m Relay

The meet record for the girls 4x800m relay was 9:06.89 set back in 2008 by Miami Nortwestern. Fast forward six years and the Lady Bulls re-wrote the record books with a 9:06.76, a US#1 by nearly ten seconds! The four-some of Asja Baker, Ricardia Cooper, Lenneshia Gilbert, and DeAndreah Young dominated the competition beating second place St. Thomas Aquinas by nearly 15 seconds. The Raiders finished with a FL#2 and US#7 time of 9:21.58. Estero was third in 9:25.57.


Elite Performances

Girls Highlights

Boys Highlights