The horizontal jumps started off Friday's Class 2A with a bang. Pasco's Alfreda Steele nailed a 19-0 on her second jump that held as Steele passed on her three finals attempts, chasing preliminary running events in the 100m and 4x100m relay. The 19-0 was a bump up from Steele's 18-3 that landed her second at the 2014 Class 2A state meet. Steele would notch an 11.75 in the 100m prelims, the second-fastest qualifying time and help the Pasco 4x100m relay make the finals.
Hallandale's Kimani Rushing was as busy as anyone during the field events and prelims. She stepped out and on her first jump, nailed a 40-5 in the triple jump and passed on the rest of her attempts, having plenty of cushion in front of Adrianna Mitchell of Florida High School (2nd at 37-8.5).
An unofficial battle began between Rushing and Steele who could mop up the most medals on the day. Rushing won the 100 hurdles in 13.42. The hurdles were cleared off the track and Steele won the 100m dash in a wind-aided 11.44. Rushing won the 300m hurdles in 42.96. Steele took second in the 200m in 23.91, yielding to a determined Cedrina Singletary of Paxon School of Advanced Learning who ran a 23.47. It was Singletary that pushed Steele across the 100m finish line in that 11.44 only to settle for second and an 11.47.
"Today showed that I can run at the top level," Singletary said.
The slam dunk was in the 300m hurdles where Rushing, Lamisha Simmons and Tia Strackman went 1-2-3 to rack up 27 points on the spot and take a 92-48.5 lead over Jacksonville's Bolles with just four events remaining. The final score was 105-83.5, Hallandale over Bolles. Simmons even came in second in the 110m hurdles with Strackman in fifth. Rushing repeated as state champion in the 300 hurdles and triple jump.
"I'm so proud of all of them, we really showed what we can do," Rushing said. "All season we've been making strides and we expected no less."
The Hallandale girls even put the stamp on the meet winning the 4x400m relay in 3:55.15.
The Hallandale boys got big points in the hurdles as Baylor-committ Antwuan Musgrove swept the hurdles, 13.92 in the 110s and 37.87 in the 300s.
"Last year was my first year really doing hurdles," Musgrove said. "I'm still trying to just use my foot speed in between hurdles."
Teammate Raymond Crittenden took fourth in the 300 hurdles and eighth in the 110s and Oliver Alexandre won the boys 400m in 48.06. The Hallandale boys were second to Booker T Washington in the 4x400m, 3:16.38 to 3:17.64. The Hallandale boys won the team title with 56 to Paxon School of Advanced Learning's 40. Booker T Washington was third with 38.5.
The girls pole vault had two big shots at state history in Tampa Catholic's Nicole Carroll and Ranson Evergaldes' Nati Sheppard, both had cleared the 12-10 state meet record from 2011 in competition just not at the state meet. Both went as high as 12 feet but Sheppard just kept going. She set down the meet record clearing 13 feet on her first try and then set down the Florida state record, clearing 13-3 on her second try. Even the boys side had great competition. Bishop Kenny's David Bell cleared a whopping 16-1, leaving the rest of the field behind at 14-6.
Cocoa's Chauncey Gardner nearly pulled off the trifecta he was shooting for. He won the 100m in 10.38 and followed it up with a blazing 21.12. The long jump rained out the party as Gardner settled for fifth at 22-2. It was still a remarkable accomplishment and the 22-2 was just 2.5 inches off the winning mark of 22-4.5 from Timontrez Eady of Westside.
"I really had to focus in on winning the 100 and 200 titles," Gardner said. "One mess up can end your whole day."
Youth ruled much of the middle and long distance. Bolles' Caitlyn Collier, a freshman, won the girls 1600m in 4:59.60. Seventh-grader Danielle Bess of American Heritage won the 400m in 57.36 with Nature Coast Tech junior Ashley Gentz in second at 58.57. Collier would also win the 800m but with Space Coast junior Skye Zeller just behind her at the line. Collier logged a 2:14.04 and Zeller a 2:14.05. Beyond that eighth-grader Jatana Folston of Ransom Everglades was third, freshman Katie Pinnell of North Borward Prep was fifth and freshman Jordynn Tyndall of Eastside was sixth.
Only the 3200m broke the underclassman stranglehold as Bolles junior Mackenzie Wilson won the girls race in 11:06.50 and Wolfson senior Connor Vaughan won the boys race in 9:21.15.
The horizontal jumps started off Friday's Class 2A with a bang. Pasco's Alfreda Steele nailed a 19-0 on her second jump that held as Steele passed on her three finals attempts, chasing preliminary running events in the 100m and 4x100m relay. The 19-0 was a bump up from Steele's 18-3 that landed her second at the 2014 Class 2A state meet. Steele would notch an 11.75 in the 100m prelims, the second-fastest qualifying time and help the Pasco 4x100m relay make the finals.
