RESULTS: Flagler Pinnacle Pre-Season Classic
Flagler Pinnacle Pre-Season Classic Meet Recap
One of the largest meets held this weekend in the state of Florida was Friday's Flagler Pinnacle Pre-Season Classic in Bunnel with a total of 13 squads competing and deep fields of participants found throughout. The event also throws in a few odd distances as well to mix things up including 1200, 600, and 300-meter races.
One of the best performances of the meet came in the field events with Ponte Vedra senior Averie Kammerdiener throwing well over 100 feet in the javelin with a state-leading throw of 107 feet and 1 inch (32.64m). It is the third straight meet that Kammerdiener has thrown over 30 meters dating back to last summer when threw a best of 32.94 meters (108 feet and 3/4 inches).
Palatka sophomore Torryence Poole took care of the rest of the throwing events as she had the best throw in the shot put by nearly ten feet at 38 feet and 10 1/2 inches (11.84 meters), while throwing a second personal best in the meet in a first-place mark of 91 feet even (27.74 meters).
Buchholz sophomore Kate Drummond remarkably ran and won both the 1200 and 1600 meter races in the meet. She won the 1200 meter run holding off Spruce Creek senior Rachel Wheatley (2nd, 3:54.42) in a time of 3:53.06. The time would be on pace for 5:10 for 1600 meters, which she was not far off when she ran the full 1600 meters in the same meet with a decisive 5:14.59 win by a margin of 16 seconds.
Ella Chandler of Seabreeze similarly was able to be a double winner in events close in distance to one another in the 600-meter run and 800-meter run. Chandler was able to dip just 1:40 in the 600 with a 1:39.44 performance from a slower heat while defeating Spruce Creek senior Victoria Valdez in the top heat of the 800 with a 2:24.34 victory. The senior Chandler was knocking on the door of sub 2:20 in the event last spring before the abrupt cancellation of the remaining 2020 outdoor season.
Ponte Vedra sophomore Amelia Coker controlled both hurdles races from start to finish taking the 100-meter hurdles in 17.42 clocking as well as the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 47.65.
Lake Howell junior Makayla Watson had arguably the best girls' time in the sprints dipping under 27 seconds in the 200-meter dash with a 26.54 clocking, but a full second off her personal best of 25.36 from one season ago.
Quandarius Smith, a senior at Buchholz, was zooming on the track including a very early season sub 11-second performance in the 100-meter dash and Florida's second-fastest time on the season at 10.94. His fastest time came back in the 2018 season albeit in a wind-aided performance at the George Steinbrenner Invite. Smith doubled back to win the 200 in a personal best clocking of 22.97 at Flagler Palm Coast High.
Smith also ran a leg on the Buchholz 4x100 meter relay which rolled to a current state-leading time of 43.10 in the event. Another relay at the meet also recorded Florida's fastest at the moment in the 4x400 meter relay by the Flagler Palm Coast boys with a 3:31.87 run.
A 35-second performance would be a solid time indoors in the 300-meter dash and is equally as good outdoors as well with the time of 35.92 run by Flagler Palm Coast senior Matthew Flint on his home track. It was a two-second improvement from last year at the same meet in the rarely contested event for Floridians.
Double up the wins and double up the distances for Nathan Bailes of Buchholz as the senior won a very competitive 600-meter race in a swift effort of 1:23.07 and also pulled away for a more definitive win in the 1200 meter run at 3:13.82 ahead of teammate Kiran Jaishankar (3:17.70).
Both Lucas Bouquot of Ponte Vedra and Caden Kwiatkowski of Fernandina Beach went well under 4:30 together in the 1600 meter run pushing each other to times of 4:26.52 for the winner Bouquot and 4:26.75 for the runner-up Kwiatowski.
Jacob Lebowitz of Ponte Vedra nearly pulled off an interesting double in winning the 110-meter hurdles and discus. He took first in the hurdles with a 15.74 performance but was denied a first-place result in the discus by actually his sophomore brother Nathan (127'9") as the runner-up at 119 feet.