New Pro Khalifa St. Fort, Winter Park Girls, Pole Vaulter Skage Find Success At Texas Relays

Winter Park High School sent five of their athletes to the prestigious Texas Relays at the University of Texas in Austin. The trip marked the first time the Wildcats have attended the meet. Coach Kristin McWilliams says she decided to take them out west as a reward to face different and stiff competition."

"We also have a deep team this year and it allowed us to race four more girls in the 4 x 8 at UF and Hana Herndon got to race in the Invite 1600m at UF and run a huge PR of 5:07. I try to afford my athletes the opportunity to face high levels of competition."

Senior pole vaulter Gregory Skage kickstarted the party by clearing the second best vault of his career. Against a stacked field that included sophomore national record Armand "Mondo" Duplantis, Skage soared 15'7". Duplantis won the "A" section of the vault, with a mark of 17'8.5".

Next up, was the girls 1,600m. Sophomore Rafaella Gibbons clocked her second sub 5 minute time of the season and second fastest ever running 4:56.17 and placing third. Teammate Katherine Kuhn competed in the race as well and was 33rd in 5:34.74 Our Texas MileSplit team caught up with them after the race to get their take on competing in the Lonestar State.

Winter Park wasn't done making their impression on Texas. Coach McWilliams sent out a quartet of 
Elizabeth Jenkins, Katie Kuhn, Rafaella Gibbons and Melanie White to compete against the state's best in the 4x800m relay. It was the first time the Wildcats ran the 4x8 since winning the 4A state meet in 2015. Saturday they posted the 2nd time in Florida and 8th in the U.S. this year going 9:24.39. McWilliams says she was very impressed with the team's debut.

"We went in with a goal to run faster but given the delayed 1600m start the night before and the fact that this was by far the largest crowd we have seen, they had a great showing!  Each of the girls ran great and are ready for a strong post season where we hope to achieve great things individually and as a team at state."

The Wildcats have three girls who have run 2:16 in the 800 this year. McWilliams added she mixed up the order and will continue to experiment with it as the season moves on.

"We would like to break our school record of 9:15 and the All Orlando Sentinel (area) record of 9:11."


In her first meet in the United States as a professional athlete, St. Thomas Aquinas senior Khalifa St. Fort, competed in the 100m dash finishing third in 11.39 and anchored the winning Trinidad & Tobago 4x100m relay team to victory. Coach Ato Boldon said afterwards, wanted to see where she was at. St. Fort won gold in the 100m at the CARIFTA Games in Grenada, but was halted from the 200 and 4x100m relay due to a hip injury.


I wanted her "back on the horse" after having to pull her with that hip. We also were chasing tailwinds, which she didn't get once again. I thought the 4x1 anchor was impressive. The 100 she looked a little flat like she hadn't recovered from CARIFTA yet. She'll go back to practice for all of April until Penn Relays.  She's running now like she was in July of last year. I know she will get some legit shots at sub 11. I just have to keep her improving as she did last season thru these months."

Our Texas MileSplit team also caught up with Khalifa after the race to get her take and what it's like to be a new professional.


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