FHSAA 3A Outdoor State Finals 2009

Oak Ridge boys surprise with a big performance.

Amani Bryant runs a smoking time.

Miami Jackson freshmen Robin Reynolds claimed four state titles on Friday at the Florida 3A State Championships in 100 meter dash (US #4 11.56), 400 meter dash (54.95), 200 meter dash (US #3 23.67), and long jump (19'4.75") to help lead her team also the state team title over Pine Forest.  Top performer for the boys team champions from St. Thomas Aquinas was junior Cody Riggs, who clocked a US #3 time of 36.60 to win the 300 meter hurdles. A state meet record was set by Mike Vani with his 16'8" clearance in the boys' pole vault. Featured Story on Robin Reynolds More FHSAA 3A State Finals Coverage from MileSplit US affiliate flrunners.com

Matt Mizereck vs. Erick Montoya

Ashley Shiver wins

Sean Obinwa comes out of no where to pull off the state championship.

1600m champ and 3200m runner-up Matt Mizereck of Leon.

Leading up to track season, Reynolds was almost certainly the most hyped and anticipated incoming freshman sprinter ever in Florida.  Her exploits in youth track & field meets and at last year's middle school state championship are legendary.  She is expected to be the next in a long line of great Florida sprinters from Miami including Ericka Whipple and Sanya Richards earlier in the decade.  Many already seem certain that she is a future Olympian.  With thousands of eyes and many tons of weight all upon her, no one would have faulted a mere freshman from faltering, flinching, or even folding under the pressure.  No way.  Not Reynolds.

Shiver won the 1600m handily in 4:56 and came back to finish third in the 3200. Stern lead most of the race in the 3200 and held on for 2nd.

3200 Meter State Champion Tori Lawson on finally winning that state title after four years of being so close and battling sickness and injury.

It's been a busy past week and I wasn't planning to do a sequel to the 1A/2A blog post I did last week on what I was personally looking forward to at the state meet.  But after getting a couple of requests from people who enjoyed it, here it goes!   This is not meant to be an event-by-event preview and there are so many great athletes and teams that deserve to be mentioned.  Please augment my list by posting what you are looking forward to seeing in the comments.

The team of Robert "Doctor Bob" Cooke on the live feed, Jeff Adams on the photos, and Jason Byrne on the video interviews was on-site tonight at Showalter Field.  Look for thousands of photos to be posted on Saturday, along with video interviews and race footage posted throughout the weekend.  Meet summary article to be posted Saturday morning. On-Site Coverage Complete Results & Coverage Index - Performance database (rankings, athlete profiles) now updated with tonight's stats. A few quick photos Video Interviews + Race Footage Photo Album by Jeff Adams (1000s of photos, categorized by event) Robin Reynolds Article Pre-Meet Coverage Who is projected to win?  Check out the 3A Virtual Meet. Jason Byrne:  What am I looking forward to most? What are the newspapers saying about it?