2A State Meet Coverage

Extensive 2A State Meet Coverage Includes:  meet summary articles, thousands of photos, lots of videos, and of course results.  Look for more to be added all weekend long. 

Meet Summary | Race Footage and Video Interviews | Photo Album  | Results & Coverage Index

Complete meet results now posted and performances scanned into database. 154 national elite performances!  357 State elite performances!  Results...

Meet summary below, videos and photos are uploading now.

Complete Results and Coverage...

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Monsignore Pace Was Unbelieveable

In a word:  dominant.  They started out the meet with 20 points in the field events, lead by Deande Johnson's shot put victory and Gamy Cilien's third place in the high jump.  And then the running finals begun where the real fireworks started.

Derrick Hopkins sat out the entire season until the district meet with a hamstring injury.  The USF signee for football and track knew that he needed to stay off of the track to recover fully, while he did lots of cross-training and rehab.  It paid off big.  Though obviouslly not quite up to 10.25 and sub-21 200 meter shape he was in last spring, he looked plenty good crossing the finish line in first place of the 100 meter dash in 10.64.  His teammate Kayvon Webster rolled in behind him to tie up another eight points and it was readily apparent that the boys from Pace were not hoping to walk way from O-Town without making a strong statement.

That statement became loud and clear just about 20 minutes later in the 4x100 meter finals.  A buzz was humming around the track for those in the know, while the less saavy track followers wondered why suddenly the person next to them was trying so confidently to wager their entire life savings on Pace.  And then the hotdog profecy rang true... they did something really special.

From just after the gun it was apparent there was going to be no contesting Pace for the lead.  The stagger was all but completely erased by the first hand off and by the second the crowd was to its feet.  Eyes went to the clock.  Third handoff:  flawless.  And when they crossed the line we all knew what we had witnessed... one of the best 4x100 performances in state history.  The official time was later known to be 40.54, which is a state meet record and the fastest time in the country this year.

After the race, I interviewed three of the legs from the team (the other was busy scoring more points in the 400), where they told me they had been planning this assault on the clock all year long.  They knew they had to bide their time until Hopkins' recovered and since all four are seniors they were determined to leave their mark on the recordbook.

Shortly after the interview, I was talking to Derrick Hopkins more when I introduced him to legendary journalist Bill Buchalter.  We were discussing records and Bill informed Derrick and I that the all-time state best (at any meet) was Boyd Anderson from 1998 at Golden South... 40.09.  Derrick got a brief look of fear and amazement and then it was replaced by confidence and determination.  He turned to Kayvon and told him about the time, with his eyes telling his teammate they have more work to do.  They will be heading to Golden South also in a few weeks.  Wanna guess what their new goal is?

That wasn't it for Pace by any means.  While all this interviewing was going on, their missing 4x100 meter leg (Sterling Griffin) was busy scoring another eight points with his 48.34 400 meter.  They had planned a repeat of the 100 meter 1-2 finish in the 200 meters.  It almost happened too.  Hopkins gave himself another gold medal (21.39), while Webster had to settle for third place (22.01).

To close the night, they brought the crowd to their feet again in the 4x400.  Dunnellon looked to have the race wrapped up when lo and behold here comes Miami Pace roaring from well back several places.  Down the homestretch the gap closed.  The Dunnellon anchor could feel him coming, as the crowd roared, and he attempted to squeeze every bit of speed out of his legs to hold him off, fighting muscle fatigue and stumbling over the finish.  Pace nipped him at the line with a lean and a .22 margin of victory. 

What a night for Pace!

Joane Pierre (Nearly) Does It

The girls distance triple at state hasn't been done in 30 years, but that didn't stop the spunky Joane Pierre from giving it a try.  The eyes of hundreds of unlikely fans from all over the state were on her, forum watches wondered and counted wins, and her coach beamed proudly saying she was ready.

The 1600 went out fast in 2:29 with Pierre leading the way, but the pack breathing down her neck.  And then there were three.  Pierre, Stephanie Schappert, and Stephanie Strasser broke away and each looked hungry.  Going into the last lap Strasser was gapped a bit, but did not lose touch.  With 200 meters to go it was a two horse race. 

Pierre maintained the lead, defying Schappert to make a move.  Around the final turn Scappert was on her shoulder looking for any sign of weakness in Pierre.  Would leading for four laps take its toll and give Schappert an opening?  Wasn't going to happen!  Into the last 50 meters Schappert tried rolled in lane two trying to get around her.  Pierre came driving home like a woman on a mission.  The two leaders both earned personal bests:  Pierre 4:56.36 and Schappert 4:57.87.  Strasser hung on for third in 5:00.01. (watch the race)

But the question was would a personal best of 4 secods in a tough battle make an impact on her 800 meter attempts--a race that was coming up in less than an hour?

The 800 meter run started and it looked like an instant replay. The assertive Pierre moved into the lead almost immediately, but Schappert did not let her get more than a step on her.  They lead a pack that was beginning to get strung out a bit through the 400 in 68 seconds. 

Schappert tried valiantly on the back stretch to make a move, but Pierre would have none of it and fought her off.  In ironically similar fashion to the 1600, Schappert again made another surge around the final turn and found herself on Pierre's shoulder.  Again Pierre would not flinch.  Coming down the homestretch it was still very much a toss up, before Pierre finally wrapped up victory in the last 15 meters.  Her final time was 2:14.10 to Schappert's 2:14.55.  (watch the race)

Then came the 3200... by all accounts this was going to be Joanne's biggest test and not just because it came after the two prior tough races.  She hadn't run under 11:30 all year and even her PR of 11:14 was a good 25 seconds slower than race favorite Stephanie Strasser.  But Joane didn't let that bother her nor did she think about any of the other races.  After the meet she explained that she just took it one race at a time and didn't try to think too much of what was coming next.

While Joane smartly did not attempt to lead the 3200, she kept herself well positioned in the race and sat around fourth place through the mile mark.  At that point Stephanie Strasser made a strong move and really took over to gap the pack.  By the start of lap six it was apparent that everyone else would be racing for second place... Strasser was not coming back to them.  Pierre tucked in and tried to hold on, but started to fall off the pace a bit.  The valiant effort was over.  Or was it?

Coming down the homestretch, Strasser had already finished, but the crowd was still rooting for Pierre for the performance and guts she showed that night.  Pierre had been struggling and found herself being passed by two runners in the last 50 meters.  Instantly brought back to life at that moment, she rewarded the crowd for their support by unleashing a prideful mighty kick in the last 25 meters to pass back Carrie Davis and Leslie Blackshear.  The crowd loved it!

Watch the interview with Pierre...

Watch the interview with Strasser...

Watch the interview with Schappert...

Octavious Freeman Doubles

The Lake Wales sophomore Octavious Freeman wrapped up two state championship in impressive fashion, sweeping the 100 and 200--no surprise to most who have followed her excellent season. After some really blazing times in the district and regional meets, some thought that a state record might be in her grasp.  It wasn't meant to be today and she had to do it solo, winning by over half a second in each race.  She ran an 11.95 and a 24.22, both into negative wind (200 was -2.4). 

Her one disappointment on the day was the long jump, where she just had an off afternoon and failed to make it out of the qualifying round.

Freeman is looking toward a host of post-season meets in hopes to give her some more chances to race against competition and see how much she can cut from her time.  The races tentatively on her schedule include Golden South, Golden Southwest, and Nike Outdoor.

On a related note... I did get some clarification from Rick Moody, who was the timekeeper at her district and regional meets.  He went back and checked on the reported hand-timed 11.09  that created so much buzz (which was converted to 11.34 with hand penalty) and it was apparently miskeyed.  It was actually an 11.90.  That adjustment makes Octavious' official PR fall to her regional time of 11.40. That time was fully-automatic, though no wind gauge, putting her as high as unofficially #5 all-time in Florida (at least as far as our records are complete).

Watch the interview...

Watch the 100...

Quick Updates

Updates from during the meet...

Girls 100 - Octavious Freeman takes her first gold of the night

Boys 100 - Hopkins and Webster of Pace go 1-2.

Girls 1600 - Joanne Pierre pulls away from Stephanie Schappert to win... two more races to go.  Will she do it?  She's going after all three.  Her time in this one was in the 4:56 neighborhood... new PR.

Boys 1600 - Tampa Jesuit goes 1-2 in a tactical race, Revord and Schillit in around 4:21.  Collin Barker dropped out of the race to focus on the 3200.

Boys 4x100 - Officially a 40.54 for Miami Pace which is a new state meet record and the national leader.... wow that was fast!  I told you not go to get a hotdog during that one!  Incredible!  They had this thing won from the second leg. 

Girls 400 - Brianna Frazier wins convincingly, with a time of 53.6 unofficially.  New PR.

Boys 400 - Tony McQuay wins in 46.84.

Girls 800 - Joanne Pierre makes it two with a replay of the 1600... she and Stephanie Schappert battled to the line.

Boys 800 - Connor Revord starts at the very back of the pack before making his move with about 300 to go and moves all the way up to contest Darrin Gibson for the lead.  The battled hard down the last 100 meters, with Darrin pulling out the victory in the last 50.

Boys 200 - Derrick Hopkins of Pace makes it three gold medals (100, 200, 4x100) on the night!

Girls 3200 - Joanne Pierre tries to hang on to the leaders to make it four, but it was just too much to ask.  Stephanie Strasser of Fernandina Beach took over on the fifth lap and separated from the pack for her first state championship in 11:03ish.

Boys 3200 - In a slow race (4:56 mile split) Collin Barker capitalized on his freshness and ran away from the pack.  Wins in 9:33ish... Jordan Schillit makes it two silvers on the night getting second in this one.