The Miami Gardens XPress Track Club racked up the hardware at the 2014 FLYRA Middle School State Championships in Bradenton. The boys dominated the team standings with a 54 point win over Olympia Track Club of Fort Myers while the girls faced a tough challenge from Ft. Lauderdale Track Club and Pine Crest Middle School.
On-Site Coverage
- Complete Results & Meet Coverage
- Photo Album By Jeff Adams (2469 Photos)
- Race Videos/Interviews By Bob Cooke & Dean Headley
Jamal Walton was the team's star last year sweeping the 100,200 and 400 meter dashes and was on hand to witness the action again this year. Tyrese Cooper picked up where his teammate left off accomplishing the same feat by posting times of 10.71, 21.81 (4.3 mph wind), and 49.52. Jermaine Byrd tallied 18 points for the club by finishing first in the 100 hurdles and second in the 200 hurdles behind Kameron Davis of South Dade Express.
The distance events belonged to Lake Weir Middle School eighth grader Joey Fitzpatrick. We spoke with Joey just days before the meet and he was rearing to go despite a slight injury. That didn't seem to affect him at all as he picked up the distance triple winning the 800 in 2:05.22, 1500m in a new personal best and US#1 time for middle schoolers 4:19.09. Fitzpatrick and Trevor Foley once again showed why they are the future of distance running in the state with this great battle. Perhaps his best race of the day was the 3000m where he posted TWENTY second personal best to win by more than seven seconds in 9:21.27. His time was a new meet record breaking Brian Atkinsons mark set back in 2006!
On the girl's side Rafaella Gibbons was breaking her own records. The Glenridge Middle School eighth grader bested her 2012 time and clocked a new meet record of 10:10.50 to win the girl's 3000 meter run. Gibbons finished second in the 1500 meter run (4:55.01) behind Katie Pinell of North Broward Prep who won in an impressive 4:53.65. Several different girls had strong showings in the sprints including Jacquevia Jones of Wolf Pack Track club who was victorious in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.17 seconds. Denise White, running unattached, was third in the 100 and first in the 200 in 24.80. The 4.7 mph wind propelled twelve girls to times under twenty-six seconds. Seven tenths of a second separated five girls in the quarter mile. When all was said and done it Jermecia Brown who crossed the line first in 59.02.
Special thanks to Bradenton IMG Academy and FLYRA for putting on such a spectacular meet as well as Mike Hill of Elite Timing for his services! Lastly, to Jason Byrne tthe meet director and his staff. Jason also edited and encoded all these videos into the wee hours of the night after spending all day at the track. Now that is dedication! This meet really puts on display the future stars of our sport!
