Our team was on-site on Saturday including Jeff Adams, Todd Grasley, John Calderon, and Jason Byrne. Highlights, updates, articles, videos, photos, results, and info... find it here!
Lake Wales senior Octavious Freeman has attained almost rock star status around the track. She inspires on-lookers. High jumpers stop their routine to watch her race. Announcers recite her acalades (which takes a while). Photographers fill entire memory cards focused on her lane. But Freeman just looks calm and non-chalant.
At this point in her career, accumulating individual titles is just about a given. And usually after the race you find her not content. Not mad. Not sad. Just not satisfied. Nothing less than some magical time and a perfect race that she has playing in her head will do.
But when you can find Octavious in a good mood is when you put her around her relay team. Her girls. Her friends.
The rest of Freeman's high school career she has found herself rather lonely on the podium. The small track team has never been able to field a team quite like this. But this season is different. Freeman is still the star, no doubt, but the Highlanders have assembled one of the best girls 4x100 relay teams in the country and that makes Freeman beam. You could tell that even without hitting any record times tonight, that one state championship... the 4x100... was the sweetest one yet.
Freeman started the night with a big wind-legal jump of 18-10.5 to secure the long jump title by a smidge, just an inch and a half better than sophomore Raigyne Moncrief of American Heritage.
Next up was the 100 meters. Freeman had run an 11.56 that looked like a warm up during the preliminary heats. But by the finals, there was a -2.6 headwind that stood in the way of all of the buzz around the track about a potential national record. Freeman won the race by a large margin, but honestly--whether it was the wind, thinking ahead to the 4x1, or something else--the 11.77 victory seemed almost half-hearted. It never really looked like she was going for the record in that one... just the win. And at the state meet a win is a win!
The 4x100 though was a different story. When Octavious Freeman took the baton from Deja Jones it was like a fire was lit behind her. She took off with blazing speed on the second leg that brought the crowd to their feet and she made up the stagger and then some in just about 60 meters. From that hand-off Lake Wales had the title on lock and as Summer Meeks handed it off to anchor leg Sabria Hadley they continued to go away from their rivals. The team won in 46.34, which while not their best, is a pretty impressive national caliber time. The team is welcoming a challenge from Boyd Anderson and a potential Orlando-area all-star team at Golden South.
Finally the UCF-signee wrapped up her night with a 23.64 victory into a -1.5 headwind. For her part, teammate Sabria Hadley joined Freeman in those two individual races, finishing fourth in both (12.35, 24.99).
Pope John Paul II senior Stephanie Schappert has certainly had her ups and downs during her high school career. From falling TWICE at the state meet and collapsing in the cross country state meet to winning state titles and being recognized as one of the best milers in the country when she was invited to Nike Elite Summer Camp. It's been a roller coaster!
But the thing we've all grown to love most about this tenacious young lady over these last four years is how she gets back up, dusts herself off, and strives for redemption. So it was a frankly glorious thing tonight to see her end on such success: winning two state championships.
The 1600 was a very patient race on Schappert's part. The race was absolutley stacked, since the 2A has one of the deepest girls distance fields this season: Schappert, Kacy Smith of Estero, Shelby Davidson of Cocoa Beach, Daesha Rogers of American Heritage, and Rebecca Chandler of Bolles top that list. In fact, the young Rogers has handed Schappert defeat this season already.
Rogers took out the lead early. Everyone tells her she needs to lay off, but hey the sixth grader is still learning her spikes and that's the way she likes to do it... and who can argue with success??! But just after 800 meters into the race the chase pack started to swallow her up, with Davidson taking over first before giving way to Schappert and Smith . The five girls hung together for the next lap, as we all anticipated who might make the move first. It was Schappert and Smith going for it and starting to get some separation over the last 300 meters. The two fierce competitors went at it and though Smith has been known to outkick folks down the stretch, Schappert clearly has the upper hand in the raw speed category if she could hold on over the 300 meter kick... and she did. In fact around 200 to go Schappert pressed harder on the gas and her V8 engine responded and she pulled away coming down the homestretch to end in a 4:54.98 victory. Smith kicked hard and ended in a 4:57.36, while Rogers, Davidson, and Chandler came by just over 5-minutes.
(I appologize for my weak analogies and alliteration... it's late!)
It's not the toughest double on the books, but the 1600-800 double can be rather difficult especially after a hard fought 1600 race. But it didn't seem to phase our champion.
Much like the 1600 race, Schappert let others do the work early. She waited patiently for a lap while Amber Brooks and Daesha Rogers worked the front of the race. The around the next curve she swung around and no one, I mean no one could respond. She went around the last 300 with arms and legs cranking and that mometum took her all the way through the finish. Her 2:12.65 was five and a half seconds better than Brooks and six seconds quicker than Rogers.
Schappert says though she didn't run personal bests today, she was thrilled with her effort and going out victorious! Proud of you Steph and do good at Villanova!
That Kacy Smith! She is a sneaky one. First she acts like your friend, then she sits back on your heels the entire race, letting you do all the work, and then outkicks you the last 200. And that Shelby Davidson... pretty loyal friend because she has let Smith do that twice in the 3200 this season (tonight and FSU Relays) and they're still talking. Personally, I wouldn't be so forgiving... I kid, I kid... but that strategy has seemed to work well for Smith, so if it ain't broke don't fix it!
The race went out very slow and strategic. The first mile split was somewhere around 5:35 and it didn't pick up much from there. Smith and Chandler were content to let Davison break up the wind. They drafted on her for 11.5 laps and then Smith decided to bring out her kick over the last 200 meters and got three seconds of breathing room for an 11:05 state championship victory, Davidson followed in 11:08 and Chandler hung on for an 11:14. The times weren't all that blazing (relatively speaking), perhaps at least partially due to the hard fought 1600 battle earlier in the night where these three went 2-4-5 in the same order (see above).
Running 21.11 for 200 meters any time is an amazing time, but running it into a strong (-1.8) headwind is pretty beast. Watkins settled for second earlier in the night and was determined to go home with at least one gold around his neck to match the gold in his stellar grill piece (check out the fierce looking photo to the right, and the entire series once up). But he had to get past tough Levonte Whitfield, who took the 100, to get there. Watkins said no problem... he got out to a decent start and then muscled it down the homestretch with a good .24 over Whitfield.
Earlier in the evening, Watkins he was upset after the false start in the 100 meters because before the second gun he was already off to probably the best reaction out of the blocks that he's had all year. After the false start he was a bit more hesistant and didn't get out as well. He fought through it and ended in second with a 10.72 to Whitfield's 10.69... that was going into a nasty -4.1 wind that is not exactly conducive to fast 100 meter times.
Waktins, along with his teammates, finished the night with a second place 3:19.49 in the 4x400.