It was a rainy and gloomy day in Orlando. Golden South was delayed several times in the afternoon forcing the field events to go into the evening and some finals to be run heats-against-time since the prelims were cancelled. Despite all of that there were some excellent performances and were were on site for coverage.
Octavious Freeman wins three golds
The Lake Wales junior continued to show why she is considered the top 100/200 meter runner in the state (and possibly the nation). She won both of those events with wind legal times (0.0) of 11.42 and 23.89. That came after she served as the second leg of a very cool all-star 4x800 crew consisting of Niaja Griffin (Wekiva), Atrah Clark (Evans), Freeman, and Tynia Gaither (Osceola). That team won easily with a big 45.82 time.
Marvin Bracy sweeps sprints
He answered the call also by sweeping his 100 and 200 races. His times of 10.53 and 21.48 were relatively easy compared to the times he's been putting up as of late.
Video Feature with Interview and Race Footage
Carmen Carlos Edges Stephanie Schappert
The anticipated race of the night was clearly Shelby Hayes versus Stephanie Schappert, but it never happened. Going in on paper Schappert was to have a pretty easy time locking down the victory in the Girls 1600... but you can't always count on paper. Carmen Carlos, a freshman from Alabama, has showed a lot of talent including running in the 17s for 5K in cross and sweeping the 1600 and 3200 at the state meet in the "Yellowhammer State" (which is apparently the Alabama state nickname... who knew?!). But Carlos had never broken 5 minutes before!
Well she did tonight! She shaved 10 seconds off of her PR and sat back behind the leaders for three laps. Then on the last lap she hammered it and took Schappert all the way to the line and got her by a shoulder to finish with a time of 4:51... a PR for both girls!
Schappert, spent after the battle, opted out of the 800 showdown and will regroup for Nationals.
Shelby Hayes cruises in 800
Hayes had some speedsters to push her the first 300 meters before taking over and running a school record 2:11.5 unofficially. She new prepares for the big Jim Ryun Dream Mile in two weeks in New York.
Enders clears 12-6
Lindsey Enders wins the pole vault and makes one really close attempt at the 12-10 meet record to win the vault. Video Interview with Lindsey
Ansley Gebben Wins 400H on Home Track
Gebben ran a big new PR and top 15 US time of 1:01.5 unofficial to win the 400H in front of her cheering home crowd. Interview Race Video
Roy Smith over Camilo Calderon in 400H, US #1-2
It was a really a kind of unexpected thing to see these guys break out with these huge performances. Roy Smith (Miami Northwestern) wins in 52.40 over Camilo Calderon (Cypress Creek) in 52.71 to earn the first and second spots in the national rankings.
While there haven't been a ton of 400H races in the country so far this year (it's more of a postseason race), Smith's time would have ranked him fourth in the country in 2009 and Calderon would have been 10th. So that is quite impressive!
Smith and Calderon are fifth and third, respectively, in the Florida 300H rankings.
Smith also had the top time going into the finals in the high hurdles, with a 13.69 (1.1 legal wind) effort in the prelims. That prelim time puts him at #8 in the nation and matched him against national leader Eddie Lovett in the finals. Unfortunately, he was DQed in the finals after a false start.
Eddie Lovett wins High Hurdles
Speaking of Lovett, he cruised to victory in the 110H after the Smith DQ. He won in 13.86 (his US #1 season best is 13.46). Palm Beach Lakes teammate Steven Louis was second in 14.08 and Calderon was third in 14.30.
Troy Bullard in first major US meet
He finished second in the high jump and fourth in the long jump, not coming close to the huge long jump hype going in, but still impressive for someone who did not have a team to compete with this year... only his second track meet in two months since the CARIFTA Games. He will be at South Lake HS next year.
Tyson Gay Makes Brief Appearance
Despite the rain, Tyson Gay showed up for a short stint in the afternoon and signed some autographs. But after the lightning detectors started to go off, was forced to pack it up and head home (after all a medal post tent is not the safest places to be in a lightning storm!). The kids (and adults!) were very excited to see him though.
MORE COVERAGE
All video interviews and event footage...
Meet results and coverage index
Photos to come