It may not have been the most impressive performance of the afternoon, but it certainly was the most important.
Bonita Springs freshman Ethan Saure finished third in the 400-meter dash in the District 1A-8 track meet at St. John Neumann. In doing so, Saure became the first Bull Sharks athlete to qualify for a regional event in any sport.
“All the practice, all the work paid off,” Saure said. “No one expected me to go regionals (when the season started), so it feels good.”
Of course, making history is nothing really new for Saure. He also scored the first touchdown in Bonita Springs football history in a freshman game last fall. Rich Dombroski was Saure’s coach in each case, so nothing the youngster does really surprises him.
“This is a huge steppingstone for us,” Dombroski said. “Having only freshmen on campus and having one athlete make it that far, normally you don’t make it to regionals until you’re a junior or senior year. And he’s been working his butt off for us and did a phenomenal job. He knew his time coming in was in the top four, and he told me ‘coach, I’m going to make it.’ And he did it. Now, we’re going to go and have a great time.”
Perhaps the most impressive meet overall among Lee County athletes belonged to Evangelical Christian super sophomore Moriah Oliveira, a state champion as an eighth-grader in the 400. Oliveira put on a show, winning the 200, 400 and running the final leg of the victorious 4x400 relay team. She nearly made it a clean sweep, falling just a hundredth of a second short of winning the 100, settling for second place behind First Baptist’s Nicole Smith.
“I’m very happy,” Oliveira said. “I wish I could have put up better times, but with everything I had to do today – seven races in all, I’m just happy with the places right now, but hopefully at regionals my times can get better.”
Canterbury’s Jessica Edwards also put forth an impressive effort, taking the 800 and 1600.
First Baptist Academy cruised to the district championships in both the boys and girls events, using superior depth to dominate the competition.
Class 1A-District 8 track
at St. John Neumann
Boys
Team scores
First Baptist 177, St. John Neumann 111, Canterbury 76, Community School of Naples 65, Seacrest Country Day 64, Southwest Florida Christian 61, Moore Haven 58, Evangelical Christian 24, Marco Island Academy 15, Bonita Springs 9, Village School 1.
Results
100 – 1. Alex Murphey (CSN) 10.79; 200 – 1. Nicholas Tompkins (FBA), 22.56; 400 – 1. Tyler Muenscher (CAN), 52.60; 800 – 1. Peter Charles (SEA) 2:08.40; 1600 – Peter Charles (SEA), 4:49.06; 3200 – 1. Ethan Tank (SFC), 10:40.44; 110 hurdles – Isaiah Paulec (SFC), 16.52; 300 hurdles – 1. Ryan Kohlhagen (SFN), 43.33; 4x100 relay – 1. Community School (Chen, Aldrich, Landron, Murphey), 43.84; 4x400 relay: 1. St. John Neumann (Kohlhagen, DiMercurio, Myrin, Raiger), 3:37.82; 4x800 relay: 1. First Baptist (Haskins, Follin, O’Dell, Powers), 8:50.43; High jump: 1. Berrick JeanLouis (CAN), 1.97 meters; Pole vault – 1. Kane Aldrich (CSN), 4.27 meters; Long jump – Ray Pierre (FBA), 6.88 meters; Triple jump – 1. Ray Pierre (FBA), 13.52 meters; Shot put – 1. Robert Harris (MHV), 13.08 meters; Discus – 1. Christopher Kimble (SJN), 38.68 meters
Girls
Team scores
First Baptist 202, Evangelical Christian 96, Southwest Florida Christian 95.50, Canterbury 92, St. John Neumann 74.50, Community School of Naples, 26, Seacrest Country Day 24, Moore Haven 20, Bonita Springs 5, Village School 3.
100 – 1. Nicole Smith (FBA), 12.57; 200 – Moriah Oliveira (ECS), 25.67; 400 – Moriah Oliveira (ECS), 1:00.80; 800 – 1. Jessica Edwards (CAN), 2:16.90; 1600 – 1. Jessica Edwards (CAN), 5:29.64; 3200 – 1. Annelisa Swiersz (SFC), 12:26.86; 100 hurdles – 1. Loren Brown (CSN), 46.19; 300 hurdles – 1. Loren Brown (CSN), 47.19; 4x100 relay – 1. First Baptist (Lines, Munn, Melancon, Smith), 49.99; 4x400 relay - 1. Evangelical Christian (Valentine, Wetmore, S. Oliveira, M. Oliveira), 4:08.38; 4x800 relay - 1. First Baptist (Josephson, Baker, Beam, Lines), 10:46.91; High jump - 1. Chanel Whooley (SJN), 1.52 meters; Pole vault – 1. Ashley DeArmas (SJN), 1.95 meters; Long jump – 1. Malaya Melancon (FBA), 5.09 meters; Triple jump – 1. Lauren Long (SFC), 10.34 meters; Shot put – 1. Alexa Moulzoff (FBA), 10.28 meters; Discus – Rebekah Bergquist (SFC), 40.34 meters