Showcasing the best boys races to watch from the 2022 IMG Spring Break Invitational's high school races on Saturday, March 19th in Bradenton.
The straightaway winds were favorable with wind-aided tailwinds early on for the 100/110-meter hurdles and 100-meter dash to produce a great number of all-time bests in all conditions for many athletes. Jacob Panzarella of First Baptist Academy in the 100 and 200-meter dash, as well as David Frasier of IMG Academy in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles, were the leading individual stars of the meet recording Florida's top 5 all-conditions times in both of their races.
Belen Jesuit was one of the dominant teams on the track winning 3 relay races and racking up points in the distance races plus a bonus in Jancent Wallace as the 400-meter winner and 200-meter runner-up.
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Boys 100m Dash - Jacob Panzarella (First Baptist Academy) 10.56
A total of 11 athletes would break 11 seconds in the boys 100 meter dash over several heats, but none faster than reigning 1A state champion and University of South Florida recruit Jacob Panzarella. Panzarella was barely the fastest though as it took the timer down the thousandths of a second to decide first between him and IMG Academy's own Davonte Howell as both recorded times of 10.56. Howell got off a better start, but Panzarella had the better close to narrowly enjoy the victory. Wind aided at +3.0 meters/second reading, both Panzarella and Howell share the 6th fastest time in the state of Florida for all conditions.
Boys 200m Dash - Jacob Panzarella (First Baptist Academy) 21.06
First Baptist's Jacob Panzarella doubled back to win the 200-meter dash as well in a new personal best of 21.06, which was just narrowly over the wind-legal standard at +2.1. His second victory at IMG was much more decisive than the first with 400-meter winner Jancent Wallace as the second-fastest in his top seeded section at 21.86. Solomon Miller of Lake Highland Prep would move into second overall in the next heat win at 21.80. Panzarella's 200-meter time at IMG Academy is the third-fastest currently in the state of Florida for all conditions.
Boys 400m Dash - Jancent Wallace (Belen Jesuit) 50.26
Belen Jesuit has more than great distance runners as they also have a great young sprinter in sophomore Jancent Wallace, who not only dipped under 22 seconds in the 200 meter dash later but won the 400 meter dash at IMG Academy with a 50.26 personal best performance. He had to hold off a late challenge from East Lake's Noah Chatman (2nd, 50.49 PR), who was doubling back from a late-night traveling and competing in the 1600 meter run in 4:28 PR at Satellite High School the night before. Wallace should be running sub 50 in the open 400 soon.
Boys 800m Run - Joseph Socarras (Belen Jesuit) 1:58.08
He did not race or look like a freshman out there racing. Belen Jesuit's Joseph Socarras dominated and controlled the fast section of the boys 800 from start to finish as the ninth-grader ran just off his season-best (1:57.46), which ranks him #2 in the country among all freshmen with a 1:58.08 win at the IMG Spring Break Invitational. It was a 1-2-3 sweep for Belen Jesuit with many of the same runners in their winning 4x800 meter relay including two freshmen under 2 minutes in Socarras and teammate Joey Diaz-Quintero (2nd, 1:59.54) along with junior Roberto Leon (3rd, 2:01.28). Socarras, who went out in a brisk 56 seconds for the first lap on Saturday, has run under 2 minutes in all of his 800-meter races this season.
Boys 1600m Run - Tristan McWilliam (Out of Door Academy) 4:25.99
Tristan McWilliam from Out of Door Academy, who was doubling back from a strong 9:32 third place PR effort in the 3200 meter run earlier in the morning, led the seeded section of the boys 1600 meter run for much of the way hitting the first 400 meters in 67 seconds, 800 meters in 2:16, and 1200 meters in 3:24. On the backstretch of the last lap, McWilliam lost the lead to Belen Jesuit freshman phenom Socarras as well as had Riccardo Testini of Riverview and the 3200-meter winner Collin Brooks of Boca Raton pressing him. It appeared Socarras had gapped them all rolling thru the final turn, but McWilliam rallied back to a roaring 4:25.99 victory in a final 100 meters kick running just 2 seconds off his PR from Berkeley Prep Invitational last weekend.
Boys 3200m Run - Collin Brooks (Boca Raton) 9:28.38
In the first race of the meet, the boys 3200 saw a breakaway top 3 in Belen Jesuit's Joshua Ruiz, Boca Raton's Collin Brooks, and Out of Door Academy's Tristan McWilliam. The 3A state cross country runner-up from the fall in sophomore Ruiz led for the majority of the race including taking them thru the first 1600 meters in 4:43. Brooks took the lead on laps 5, 6, and 7 before Ruiz took it back on the final lap and tried to kick from 400 meters out. Brooks had one final push though in the final strides to just nip Ruiz who slowed down before the line to win in 9:28 with Ruiz just under 9:30 with him. PR's for both. Belen Jesuit took 4 of the top 6 places in the race as well.
Boys 110m Hurdles - David Frasier (IMG Academy) 14.16
Fresh off his All-American finish indoors in the 60 meter hurdles at New Balance Nationals, David Frasier of IMG Academy quickly transitioned back to the outdoor season to clock a new PR of 14.16 albeit wind-aided (+3.8 m/s) in the 110-meter hurdles on his home track on Saturday. He dominated the race from start to finish and ended up half a second ahead of the runner-up in Maguire Neal of Zephyrhills at 14.69.
Boys 300m Hurdles - David Frasier (IMG Academy) 38.46
David Frasier of IMG Academy swept the hurdles at his home meet but not without a serious challenge down to the line in the 300-meter hurdles from Maguire Neal of Zephyrhills, who had finished a more distance runner-up to him earlier in the 110-meter hurdles. It went down to the final hurdle set and final strides between the two in one of the closest finishes of the meet with Frasier getting the slight edge in a winning time of 38.46 over Neal at 38.63. The top two finishes rank 5th and 6th fastest respectively in the state of Florida right now.
Boys 2K Steeplechase - Ivan Marin-Padilla (Dunbar) 6:46.64
In the rarely contested steeplechase for Florida high school athletes, Dunbar senior Ivan Marin-Padilla looked like a veteran in the event navigating the barriers plus water jump comfortably to win the 2000 meter distance of the event in a solid time of 6:46.64. Tampa Bay HEAT junior Barrett Poe (2nd, 6:51) was his toughest challenger throughout the race sticking with him at least for 4 of the 5 laps around.
Boys 4x100 Meter Relay - Dunbar 42.44
Dunbar boys might not be the fastest 4x100 meter relay in the state, but they might have the best handoffs in the state as their 3 exchanges were a thing of beauty on Saturday at IMG Academy en route to their 42.44 victory.
Boys 4x200 Meter Relay - Jones 1:31.42
In the lone heat of the 4x200 meter relay, the Jones boys from Orlando made up the stagger on all to pull away for a 1:31.42 win.
Boys 4x400 Meter Relay - Belen Jesuit 3:29.09
After the two heats were condensed down to one in the boys 4x400 meter relay, the Belen Jesuit boys won their 3rd relay race of the meet to wrap up a certain team title victory dipping just under 3:30 in the 4x400.
Boys 4x800 Meter Relay - Belen Jesuit 8:12.36
Belen Jesuit boys certainly have the potential to run under 8 minutes soon, but simply did what they needed to do in order to win the 4x800 meter relay and pick up 10 points as many of their athletes would be doubling or tripling back for later events including an eventual 1-2-3 finish in the open 800 meter run.
Boys Distance Medley Relay - Belen Jesuit 11:07.88
Another relay race was comfortably won by the Belen Jesuit boys without a real need or threat to push themselves any harder than their 11:07 winning effort in the distance medley relay.
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