The 2017 Flo Golden South field is shaping up to be one of the best in the meet's 41 years in Central Florida. Athletes and teams from around the Sunshine State and southeast United States will head to the National Training Center in Clermont, Florida. Winners of the girls and boys 100m dash as well as the girls 100m hurdles and boys 110m hurdlers will win an all expense paid trip to Seattle, Washington for the Brooks PR Invitational. We preview the classic division girls events and who has the best chance winning.
Girls Brooks PR Qualifiers Preview
Girls 100mH
The first Brooks PR qualifier of the evening will be the girls 100 meter hurdles. Wharton senior Aria Tate will make her third appearance at Flo Golden South and comes in as the number one seed with a PR of 14.13. She was the 4A runner-up and most recently ran 14.17 against a professional field at the National Training Center. She is familiar with this track and her dad says she is ready to run sub 14s and earn that trip to Seattle. Making the day even more special then a ticket to Brooks PR is the fact she will announce her college decision between UCF and Colorado State at the meet.
Hallandale's Richara McNeil is only a freshman and owns a 14.28 to her credit, but seemed to slow down as the season heated up. A familiar foe to Tate is East Lake senior and USF signee Kaitlyn Kirby who projects as a multi-event athlete in college. Kirby ran a windy 14.32 at regionals and finished sixth at the 3A state meet. This will be a chance to her perform well along with her high school teammates. Others to watch include St. Thomas Aquinas' Jaysha Carter, Jonae Harris, and Amaya Thomas.
Girls 100m Dash
This is one of the many races I am very excited to watch. According to the performance list, fourteen girls have dipped under 12 seconds headlined by FSU signee Katia Seymour. Seymour, a four time individual state champion in the 100m and 200m has personal bests of 11.26 and 22.89. That's moving. She was third at Flo Golden South in the 100 and went onto finish second at the Adidas Boost Boston Games Dream 100. This will be one of the last races of Seymour's high school career.
While Seymour will be hard to catch a slew of girls would love to track her down and earn that ticket to Seattle. Sophia Falco, a Vanderbilt signee, won two state titles in the long jump and triple jump this year, but she owns a PR of 11.57 and was second in the 100 to Symone Mason. A pair of Williams girls (no relation) Briana, the 2A runner-up, and Shiyana an UCF signee and key member of the Southridge state championship team have run 11.59 and 11.66. Briana Williams (pictured above) has the fastest freshman time in the country for 2017.
Other names to watch include underclassmen Lasarah Hargrove (11.66) Zahria Allers (11.76) Morgan Rhett, and Saraiah Walkers. Hargrove was second behind Twanisha Terry at the 3A state meet while Allers and Rhett were integral part of their teams winning relays. Walkes made history as one of only a handful of sprinters to ever win the 100,200, and 400 at the same meet. T'Aja Cameron of Eagles Landing Christian Academy is a two time state champion in Georgia.
The 2017 Flo Golden South field is shaping up to be one of the best in the meet's 41 years in Central Florida. Athletes and teams from around the Sunshine State and southeast United States will head to the National Training Center in Clermont, Florida. Winners of the girls and boys 100m dash as well as the girls 100m hurdles and boys 110m hurdlers will win an all expense paid trip to Seattle, Washington for the Brooks PR Invitational. We preview the classic division girls events and who has the best chance winning.
Girls Brooks PR Qualifiers Preview
Girls 100mH
The first Brooks PR qualifier of the evening will be the girls 100 meter hurdles. Wharton senior Aria Tate will make her third appearance at Flo Golden South and comes in as the number one seed with a PR of 14.13. She was the 4A runner-up and most recently ran 14.17 against a professional field at the National Training Center. She is familiar with this track and her dad says she is ready to run sub 14s and earn that trip to Seattle. Making the day even more special then a ticket to Brooks PR is the fact she will announce her college decision between UCF and Colorado State at the meet.
