Top 10 Athletes To Watch At FHSAA 1A Region 2

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The FHSAA 1A Region 2 track meet will be contested on Wednesday, May 4th at Mount Dora Christian in Mount Dora, Florida with state meet berths on the line including the top two automatically qualifying for each event while the remaining field will have to wait and see if their regional performances qualify them among the next 10 best from the combined results of the 4A regionals held concurrently on the same day.

Running events will kick off at 3 PM with the 4x800 meter relay, while the rest of running events schedule resumes at 6:30 PM with the 100 meter hurdles for girls. The running events portion of the regional meet will be live streamed along with instant race replay heat by heat on fl.milesplit.com.

Take a look below at 10 athletes in particular that we believe will be featured track stars to watch in the meet. 

Twaneise Johnson (St. Francis Catholic) - The Florida Relays champion this spring in the 400 meter dash, Twaneise Johnson is in the midst of her first FHSAA championship series as a senior after running exclusively club track for her first 3 years of high school. Johnson has the fastest season best times in the region for the 400 (54.59) and 200 (24.26), while will be attempting to win all 3 sprint events including the 100 (12.25 PR from last year) after winning all 3 races at the FHSAA 1A District 5 meet. She has over a 5 second buffer on the next fastest girl in the region for the 400 since Sydney Miller (58.47) of Oak Hall is focusing on the 800 instead, so Johnson could potentially cruise the 400 while going hard in the 100 and 200 for the triple. 

Caden Montini (Oak Hall School) - The defending 1A state champion for 3200 meters, Oak Hall junior Caden Montini will be heavily favored to win both the 1600 and 3200 at his regional meet owning season best and PR times of 4:13 and 9:29 in the 3200. Montini has improved drastically more in the 1600 this spring and actually might be his best event come state meet in Gainesville, but will be interesting to see how he handles the short rest in between the 1600 and 3200 at the state level next week. He will have to run slightly faster for wins at the regional meet compared to his district meet when he cruised to winning times of 4:37 in the 1600 and 10:07 in the 3200.

D'Asia Duncan (Geneva School) - The 8th grade star that has been making a name for her same in the age group circuit as a youth has finally arrived on the high school stage despite not being yet a high school freshman and D'Asia Duncan is certainly holding her own against the older girls. Duncan is the region's fastest currently in the 100 meter hurdles at 14.71 with consistent sub 15 second performances all season. She is also coming off winning a trio of individual district titles at the FHSAA 1A District 8 meet including the high jump (1.52) and long jump (5.21) along with the 100 meter hurdles. Her specialty is any event that is technical. 

Jonathan Bailey (Holy Trinity) - Believe it or not, Jonathan Bailey has never won a regional title in track despite his talent and pedigree. The Holy Trinity senior sprinter and jumper heads into the 1A Region 2 Meet as the region's top performer in both the 100 (10.65 PR) and 200 (21.90 PR), while also a contender and returning All-State performer in the long jump (6.57m PR). Bailey is one step closer to competing in his first state track finals for the 100 and 200 fresh off a pair of district wins in both events at the 1A District 8 meet. Bailey's times at the district meet were the fastest among all athletes in their district meets. 

Ava Wyant (The Master's Academy) - The sophomore distance runner from The Master's Academy in Ava Wyant has had a breakthrough spring flirting with breaking 5 minutes for the 1600 and mile run. After running 5:17 to finish 5th for All-State honors last spring in the FHSAA 1A State 1600 meter race, Wyant has dropped her time all the way down to 5:00.94 this season from 4th place at the FSU Relays. The 1A classification for girls distance running is currently dominated by the stars with the Cambridge Christian program, but Wyant certainly rising as a star herself to mix it up with them and contend for future state titles. She was 5th in the state cross country meet this past fall. 

Asher Dobrin (Oak Hall School) - Asher Dobrin is one of the top returning half milers for the 1A classification after a sixth place All-State finish in last year's FHSAA State Finals. The Oak Hall senior has dropped two seconds off his PR this year with a 1:56.67 performance from the FSU Relays. Dobrin will be the top seed and favorite in the 800 at the regional meet after a district meet victory in the event as Oak Hall will try to sweep the distance races with teammate Caden Montini as the top seed in the 1600 and 3200 as well as their 4x800 meter relay being the fastest in the 1A classification at 8:04. 

Ja'kyra Corbin (Wildwood) - Only a freshmen, but quite talented is Wildwood sprinter Ja'Kyra Corbin is probably the best athlete in position to try and keep Twaneise Johnson from sweeping the sprints. In particular in the 100 meter dash as Corbin broke 12 seconds at the Lake - Sumter Championships in a 11.98 PR, while has consistently run in the low 12's in the 100 and mid 25 second range in the 200. Corbin is coming off winning a pair of titles at the 1A District 7 meet in the 100 and 200. Her success this year is no surprise considering she won the FLYRA Middle School State Championships last spring in the 100 meter dash and was 7th in last year's FHSAA 1A State Finals as an eighth grader.  

Isaiah Bryant (Mount Dora Christian) - One of the top athletes for the host school Mount Dora Christian and a potential regional champion in two events in Isaiah Bryant. The junior comes into the meet as the region's top performer this season in the 300 meter hurdles with a season best of 40.57 from his district meet as well as the triple jump with a season best leap of 13.31 meters. His teammate and another Mount Dora Christian junior James Andrews could potentially sweep the hurdles with Andrews as the top seed and performer for the region in the 110 meter hurdles at a season best of 15.57. 

Sarah Rudolph (Circle Christian) - The Circle Christian senior Sarah Rudolph is the top seed in a girls 3200 field with 3 quality runners including her who have gone well in the 12 minute range this season with Oak Hall School senior Lauren Jones at 11:18 and Rudolph's teammate Grace Dejesus at 11:43. Rudolph ran her 11:10 season best at the Florida Relays finishing 8 seconds ahead of her top challenger Jones in the same race. Rudolph interestingly did the 800/3200 double at her district meet winning both races and qualifying for regionals in both. It will be intriguing if she tries to do both at regionals as will also have the 1600 meter top seed Wyant in that race and still short rest in between the 800 and 3200 as well. 

Omari Smith (Wildwood) - At the FHSAA 1A District 7 Meet, Wildwood's Omari Smith was able to complete the sprint triple and win the 100 (11.06), 200 (22.40), and 400 (51.26). The same feat will be difficult to achieve at the regional meet, especially with the likes of Jonathan Bailey in the 100 and 200 meter dash as the favorite, but Smith will definitely be in contention for all the races as he has rolled to faster times than his district performances in earlier races including sub 11 in the 100, sub 22 in the 200 and a 50.63 clocking in the 400. 

Related Links:

• WATCH LIVE: FHSAA 1A Region 2
• Boys Region Qualifiers
• Girls Region Qualifiers

1A Region 2 Boys Leaderboard

1A Region 2 Girls Leaderboard