Riverview sophomore Bailey Hertenstein, laced up for the Class 4A 1600m final on Saturday in a heat with some of the toughest female distance runners in the state and etched her name into Florida state track immortality. It was a clash of titans as 3200m champ Kayley Delay of Fletcher, three-time 800m champ Sinclaire Johnson of Lake Brantley and 2015 3200m champ Rafaella Gibbons of Winter Park, stocked a 1600m final that looked as though it tore a page out of Greek mythology. According to Greek mythology, titans ruled the earth for many eons before the Greek gods overthrew them and established their reign over humankind. Bailey "Hurricane" Hertenstein played out a chapter of that epic struggle on a scorching track in Bradenton, Florida.
Wharton's Bryanna Rivers took an early lead, then St. Thomas Aquinas' Alexa Cruz took over heading into the second lap. Cruz created some room into the second lap as Hertenstein moved into second. Coming on for the end of the third lap, Hertenstein got caught up in the legs of Johnson. Johnson stumbled but regained her footing. Hertenstein fell hard, all the way to the ground, flat on her back, just as Delay was cutting into the bell lap. Game over for Hertenstein, right? Not by a mile. Hertenstein got back to her feet and started pounding away, having fallen way back into seventh place. Hertenstein ran the turn with fury and soon, down went Johnson, down went Bridget Alex of STA. On the back stretch, down went Cruz, down went Gibbons and coming into the final turn, down went Delay. Delay gave Hertenstein a challenge through the last 200 meters but a Herculean effort by Hurricane Hertenstein held her off and Hertenstein won it in 5:05.14.
"I was not going to give up," Hertenstein said. "I knew I had to get back up and finish what I started."
What Hertenstein started and finished was the stuff of legend, the kind of example that track coaches and everyday people can point to and say, "That's why you never give up on a race".
"I didn't finish a race at Foot Locker South last year and it was the biggest regret of my life," Hertenstein said. "Nothing can get you more pumped up than what happened out there today and I was not going to let it go."
Oddly enough, Hertenstein was clipped and fell in the 3200m at regionals. In that race, she got back up and won it, too.
Johnson won her 800m final in 2:09.10 with Hertenstein in second at 2:13.30. Gibbons helped the Winter Park girls run a blindingly fast 9:13.69 to win the 4x800m relay.
The 4A meet was star-studded as freshman phenom Tyrese Cooper was on hand. Cooper is quite familiar with the track at IMG as he won the 100m, 200m, and 400m as an eighth-grader in the middle school state meet a year ago. Cooper, amazingly, exerted nearly the same level of dominance against some of the top high school competition in the state over the weekend.
First it was in the 100m, where Cooper took second behind Piper's Bryand Rincher 10.67 to 10.68. It was that close and into a negative 1.9 wind factor. Next, Cooper won the 200m in 20.87, just off his season-best 20.46, the top time in Florida this season. Then finally, Cooper capped it off with a blistering 46.34 in the 400m, the third-fastest time in the state behind Cooper's own 45.94 from regionals, the second-best time in the country this season.
"I was doing great (in middle school), I was breaking records and I thought I would go to high school and do the same thing," Cooper said. "I thought I'd be hitting that my sophomore or junior year but I just kept training hard so I would have the opportunity to hit it early."
Cooper helped lift his team to a state title as he ran on the 4x400m relay to take first place and cap the day but the American relay was ruled to have used an ineligible runner and the relay was disqualified, depriving them of the 10 points that would have otherwise sealed the team victory. As it was, Lyman took first with 37 points.
Lyman pole vaulter Sean Clarke cleared 15-9 to win his third individual title as a senior. Clarke's mark was off his personal best of 16-3, but a wicked cross wind on Friday made for tricky pole vaulting.
"The wind was definitely a factor," Clarke said. "Especially with me being a lefty, I try to land on the right side of the pit. I misjudged it once and almost missed the pit."
Clarke will continue his pole vaulting career at the University of Pennsylvania.
Kissimmee Osceola boys took second behind Lyman. Long jumper Carlos Becker won one of the more exciting events of the weekend as he battled with Riverview's Reed Service and Fort Lauderdale's Bradley Fleurinord. Becker had a rough start, falling backward and scratching in his preliminary jumps. He had just enough to make the finals. Fleurinord hit a 24-1 in prelims to put himself in first place. With two jumps to go Becker, headed to FSU on a football scholarship, went 24-0.5, within a half an inch but not on par with Fleurinord. Finally, on Becker's final jump, he hit the board and there was an audible gasp from the watching crowd as Becker sailed out to a monstrous 24-8 to win the title.
"(Reed Service) pushed me a lot," Becker said. "He wants to win like me and he's the one that got me out to 25 (feet)."
Becker hit a 25-0 at the regional meet in a duel with Service. That 25-0 is the fourth-best jump in the country this season.
Nicole Breske of Winter Park cleared 12-6 on her first attempt to win the girls pole vault. It improved her PR by two inches and was within four inches of the FHSAA state record.
"I wanted that 13 but with that cross wind I wasn't sure if I would get it," Breske said.
Lakewood Ranch's Sofia Falco shone brightly both Friday and Saturday as she won the long jump on Friday at 20-4.75, now the second-best mark in the nation this season and she followed it up with a 40-2.5 to take second in the triple jump behind Lake Nona's Mikayla Shields' 40-6, a tie for the 13th best mark in the country.
"Most everything went well, I hit the board nice, my landing was a little off but it got me there," Falco said.
The Lakewood Ranch girls would carry off the 4A team title with 68 points to Miami Southridge's 62.
STA's Shane Atkins threw a 45-4 to win girls shot and Kathleen's Terrence Bobet went 168-1 to win boys discus. Flagler Palm Coast's Justin Pacifico ran a 1:52.91 to win the boys open 800m. Sarasota's Adam Bradtmueller won the boys 3200m in 9:26.39 with Plant's Rob Leverone in second at 9:27.70 and Coral Reef's Carlin Berryhill in third at 9:28.81. There was a measure of get-back for Leverone as Berryhill clipped Leverone's former teammate Jack Guyton (now at UF) at the line to win the 2015 1600m title.
STA's Dominic Thiamin went 47-0 to win the boys triple jump. Haines City's Amuru Patterson ran an 11.92 into a negative 1.6 headwind to beat Lakewood Ranch's Falco (12.09) in the 100m final. Patterson also won the 200m final in 24.36 against a negative 5.6 headwind. Palm Beach's Karimah Davis went 54.05 to win the girls 400m title with Miami Southridge's Symone Mason in second at 54.07. Mason was just one-hundredth of a second behind Patterson for the 200m title (24.37).
North Miami's 4x400m relay with Javenique McDowell, Asjah Wallace, Daesha Rogers and Charity Johnson, just clipped STA's relay at the line to win it 3:52.09 to 3:52.33.
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