Clay's junior high runners set new records in county track and field meet

Six new Clay County records highlighted the Clay County Middle School Track and Field Championships held two weeks ago at Oakleaf High School, and some of those top local runners will compete in a state event next month.

A team of local junior high-age runners will travel to Melbourne on Saturday, May 7, with the Sunny Runners Runner Club to compete in the flrunners.com Middle School State Championship Meet. The Sunny Runners girls team won the women's state title last year, with the boys team taking second.

"Florida is one of a few states that has a post season for middle school track athletes, which is a great collection of up and coming stars," said Mike Ford, Oakleaf Junior High coach and a Sunny Runners coach. "A lot of these kids will get the feel of a championship track meet in Melbourne ... that will carry into high school."

At the April 15 county event, host Oakleaf Junior High took the girls team title, and Green Cove Springs Junior High School won the boys team title.

Orange Park Junior High School sprinter and jumper Kareem Jones, an eighth-grader, set two new county records with a 6-foot leap in the high jump and a 19-81/2 leap in the long jump. He also came in second in the 400 to push the Wildcats to a close third-place finish, with 71 points to second-place finisher Oakleaf's 73 team points.

On the Oakleaf girls team, twins Ciara and Cecelia Walker dominated the throwing events. Ciara set a county discus record with her winning 96-foot throw, while Cecelia heaved the shot 36-1 to set a record. In both events, the other sister finished a close second.

Another county record came from the Oakleaf girls 4-by-400 relay team of Saskia Smith, Albertha Rogers, Danyelle Duckworth and Jasmine Barnett, who set a 4:24.22 mark ahead of Lakeside Junior High.

The final county record was set by the Lake Asbury Junior High's boys 4-by-400 relay team of Tre Dann, Mozarte Charles, Marcus Gomez and Josh Boynton, winning by more than four seconds over Oakleaf with a 3:53.10 standard.

The rest of the girls county champs were Osa Obasuyi (Oakleaf), 100 and long jump; Angie DiMichele (Orange Park), 200; Albertha Cooper (Oakleaf), 400; Jordan Bemis (LakeAsbury), 800; Avielle Chambers (Oakleaf), 1,600; Grace Damron (Lakeside), 100 hurdles; Lakeside's 4-by-100 relay and Natalie Yaw (Orange Park), high jump.

Boys champions were Andrew Holman (Orange Park), 100; Mekhi Reynolds (Green Cove Springs), 200; Marcus Gomez (Lake Asbury), 400; David Detwiler (Lakeside), 800; Tre Dann (Lake Asbury), 1,600; Tyrell Williams (Oakleaf), 100 Hurdles; and Orange Park, 4-by-100 relay.