(Photo by Donald Lamb)
This past Thursday the MSAA Championships were held at South Plantation. Going into this meet the apparent powerhouses were Lauderdale Lakes girls and boys, William Dandy girls and boys, and Pompano Beach girls. Pompano Beach girls have been fighting for that MSAA championship title, since I was there in the 7th grade. Every time we fell short to either William Dandy or Lauderdale Lakes, this year I know it’s the girl’s mission to win, not only for their coach, but their leaving 8th graders. In this MSAA Championships there were many upsets and people missing from their respective events. But, this MSAA Championships was definitely one for the books.
It all started with the girls 100m hurdles. This event was missing Jaesha Carter, who was the #1 middle school hurdler by far, was taken out of her respective event and was just put in two relays instead. That decision definitely opened up that first place spot for the girls who were running. Winning the 100mh was Marhsa Exceus with a time of 17.79, beating William Dandy’s, LaDasjah Brown who qualified with the fastest time of 17.10. For the boys to my shock, Lauderdale Lakes boys weren’t as dominant as they were in the previous years for the hurdles and in the qualifiers. Adrian Cole of Parkway ran away with the race with a time of 14.38 with second place being Rocky Shelton of Pembroke Pine Charter running 15.29. In the 100m the clear favorite, Shanna Francis won running a time of 13.19, 2nd place was Zoe Carter of WC Young running 13.37.
On the boys side, the race was super close between everyone in the field. The winner was Shaun Shivers of Lauderdale Lakes, but only by a 3rd digit as Levontae Decius of Sawgrass ran 11.63 as well. Shivers also was the winner of the 200m dash. The next standout race was the girls and boys 400m dash. For the girls the race was pretty close as the top 5 times were 1:02 and better. The winner of this girls race was Daneisha Woodside of New Renaissance with a time of 1:00.29, 2nd place was Imani Christian of William Dandy running 1:01.93, 3rd through 5th all ran 1:02 and were really close only separated by hundredths of a second. Third place was Taylor Dobles of Pembroke Pines charter running 1:02.32, 4th was Takiyah Johnson, Pompano Beach Middle running 1:02.36 and 5th was her teammate, Carshaylah Harrison with a time of 1:02.37. In the boys 400m, the winner was Robert Ramsay of Lauderdale Lakes running 52.57, 2nd place was William Dandy’s Lovensjky Demelien running 53.48. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a middle school record broken at an MSAA Championships. In the girls 800m, Daishon Spann was last year’s winner running 2:26, this year she stepped it up to a new level running 2:20.80 demolishing the record by 5 seconds and beating the competition by 13 seconds.
On the boys side, the race was super close between everyone in the field. The winner was Shaun Shivers of Lauderdale Lakes, but only by a 3rd digit as Levontae Decius of Sawgrass ran 11.63 as well. Shivers also was the winner of the 200m dash. The next standout race was the girls and boys 400m dash. For the girls the race was pretty close as the top 5 times were 1:02 and better. The winner of this girls race was Daneisha Woodside of New Renaissance with a time of 1:00.29, 2nd place was Imani Christian of William Dandy running 1:01.93, 3rd through 5th all ran 1:02 and were really close only separated by hundredths of a second. Third place was Taylor Dobles of Pembroke Pines charter running 1:02.32, 4th was Takiyah Johnson, Pompano Beach Middle running 1:02.36 and 5th was her teammate, Carshaylah Harrison with a time of 1:02.37. In the boys 400m, the winner was Robert Ramsay of Lauderdale Lakes running 52.57, 2nd place was William Dandy’s Lovensjky Demelien running 53.48. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a middle school record broken at an MSAA Championships. In the girls 800m, Daishon Spann was last year’s winner running 2:26, this year she stepped it up to a new level running 2:20.80 demolishing the record by 5 seconds and beating the competition by 13 seconds.
In the boy mile, out of everyone who qualified no one ran under 5 minutes. That was bound to change when Michael Carrol of West Glades, and Josue Fils-Aime stepped on the track together, as there times were 5:04 and 5:05. In the end, only one boy was meant to go under 5 minutes, and it was Michael Carrol going 4:58.58, 2nd place was Sukel Faucha of William Dandy running 5:04.09; Josue got 3rd place running 5:11. In the girls mile, Dominique Spann ran away with it running 5:41.85, 2nd place was Avery Nowak of Pembroke Pines with 5:56.60.
In the girls relays it was a battle between Lauderdale Lakes, Pompano and William Dandy. In the 4x100m relay, Dandy was fighting to the end with Lakes. Dandy won with a time of 51.07 and Lauderdale Lakes 51.82. In the 4x200, Renaissance Middle totally came out of nowhere to win it, even though it was very close between them and William Dandy they still pulled it out. Renaissance ran 1:51.11 and Dandy ran 1:51.28. In the 4x400m the clear favorites were Pompano Beach Middle as they have gone 4:16 this season. But, William Dandy came with the upset to win with a time of 4:14.81, Pompano came in 2nd running 4:18.23.
For the boys relays the turnout was somewhat the same. In the 4x1, Lauderdale Lakes and William Dandy were going at it again, with Dandy coming out on top running 45.62, Lakes came in a close 2nd with a 45.98 and Sawgrass Springs came in 3rd with a 46.17. In the 4x2, Lauderdale Lakes won with a 1:36.57, but 2nd and 3rd place were very close. It was Pompano beating Dandy running a time of 1:37.01 and Dandy for 3rd running 1:37.26. In the 4x400 it has always been a battle between William Dandy and Lauderdale Lakes, This year William Dandy won the race with a 3:43.63. Secon d place to my surprise was New Renaissance running 3:49.03.
In the field events for boys and girls a few stood out to me, which I am going to recognize. In the boys long jump, Dawson Hall of Parkway jumped 19-01.00, and in 2nd Tai Lehtio from West Glades jumped 18-07.00 and in 3rd was Ramblewood’s, Kenneth McIntosh jumping 18-03.00. In boys shot put, Carlton Cleophat of Crystal Lake won throwing 45-02.50. In the girls high jump, Carshaylah Harrison of Pompano matched her personal best of 5-00, in 2nd was Ayana Emmanuel of West Glades jumping 4-10. Also it was a two way tie between 4-08 and another 4-06. In the girls shot put the 1st place girl was Marissa Reid of Millennium throwing 33-05.50, and in close 2nd was Femi Feneus of Seminole throwing 32-02. In the discus however, Femi Feneus came out on top throwing 82-02.50. In second place was Victoria Noel, throwing 80-03.
The boys winner was Lauderdale Lakes with 70.50 and in 2nd was William Dandy with 49 points. For the girls the winner was Lauderdale Lakes with 143.50 points and Dandy again in 2nd with 115 points, in 3rd place was Pompano with 75 points.