Girls Meet Recap
A few years ago, St. Thomas Aquinas head coach, Alex Armenteros told me that his girls were going to be good. In fact, he said "Really good!" Well, his team backed him up registering an 80 point win to claim the title with 116 points. It was the twelfth title in school history and the fourth for Armenteros. The Raiders have now won four of the last seven state championships and finished runner-up twice.
The Raiders sat ninth on the first day after freshman Eddiyah Frye placed second in the long jump with a mark of 18-05.25 inches. Newsome led with 21 pointsafter wins from senior Bailey Hertenstein in the 800 meter (2:13.18) and second in the 3200 meter run (10:44.55), and a sixth place finish from freshman Keleigh Scallon in the 800 meter run (2:15.99).
Hertenstein revealed after the 3200 meter run that she had had difficulty with some stomach issues in the 3200 meter run- a condition that reared its head at the FSU Relays where she finished second to last. She didn't want to feel the same way about her performance this time, so she reeled off a sensational last 300 meters to close the gap on eventual winner, freshman Mya Bodrato of Lake Mary(10:41.84-10:44.55). It was the first win for Bodrato who cited "burn out" as a sixth grader and it's only in her freshman year that she's found a renewed passion for the sport.
The second day, St. Thomas Aquinas scored in nine of the possible 12 events contested. They picked up four individual wins and one team win from Frye in the 100 meter hurdles (13.96), sophomore Zatoria Thompson in the 100 meter dash(11.62) and the high jump(5-05.75), and sophomore Jermecia Brown in the 400 meter dash(55.16) and the 4 x 400 meter relay(3:48.84).
Their depth proved to be insurmountable. They collected a fifth place finish in the 4 x 800 meter relay(9:34.09), a 2-6 place finish from sophomore Nikia Smith(14.27) and Jaysha Carter(14.57) in the 100 meter hurdles, a second place by Brown in the 100 meter dash(11.81), a second place finish to Seminole(46.46) in the 4 x 100 meter relay(46.61), a 2-5 place finish from senior Imani Christian(42.42) and Smith(44.37), a fourth place finish from Thompson in the 200 meter dash(24.28), an eighth place finish from senior Bridget Alex(5:11.14) in the 1600 meter run, a sixth place finish from Kendyl Kerekes in the pole vault (10-10) and a 4-5 finish in the high jump from Hannah Lowenstein(5-03.75) and Jasmine Lawrence(5-01.75).
Their 116 point total is the best ever scored in 4A state meet history surpassing the 110.5 Southridge scored in 1998.
For the record:
Sophomore Zatoria Thompson won the high jump for the second year in a row.