Several school records fell during last week's meet
Flagler Palm Coast’s girls’ team continue one of the best seasons in program history this week by advancing three individual athletes and two relay teams to the state meet after regional competition Thursday at Sal Campanella Memorial Stadium.
Several school records fell including a new mark set by hurdler Namiah Simpson in the 300 lows and Zoe Putney had the best individual finish for any FPC girl with a second place finish in the pole vault. Summer Wells took third in the 400 meter dash and advances as part of FPC’s two placing relay teams in the 4x800 and 4x400.
The Bulldog boys had a big day in the throws, advancing shot putter Nelson Paul and discus thrower Verneal Henshaw to the state championships Friday and Saturday in Jacksonville.
The FPC girls team took eighth place overall with 30 points in the competitive Region 1-4A meet, won by West Orange with 57 points.
Putney, one of three FPC pole vaulters who made it out of districts last week, vaulted 9 feet, 10 inches on her best attempt to take second place and make her first trip to the state track meet. The Lady Bulldogs also had Simone Gonzalez, the District 1-4A champion and Ekaterre Kouzina in the region meet.
Simpson advances to state as a third place finisher and her time of 44.49 seconds sets a new school record for the 300 meter lows. Teammates Moriah Peck and Jahlia McCaskell did not advance out of the preliminary heats at regions.
Simpson and McCaskell are joining Wells to represent FPC at the state meet in the relays, along with sprinter Courtney Gales. Wells is entered in three events after posting a third place finish in the 400 meters in a time of 57.46 seconds. Gales was also entered in the event and took ninth, one place away from scoring a team point and ran it in 59.54.
Wells ran the kick off leg of FPC’s fourth place finishing team in the 4x800, followed by Simpson and McCaskell with Gales anchoring the relay. The four ran it in 9:41.64 and were 12 seconds out of first place.
Wells ran the anchor in the 4x400 relay with McCaskell, Simpson and Gales and the team finished in 3:55.32, about six seconds better than their performance that won the event at the District 1 meet a week earlier.
In the boys’ meet, FPC will be represented by Paul, who threw 52 feet, 3 ¾ inches on his best attempt for second place.
In the discus, where FPC had a state championship by Michael Peppin in 2017, Henshaw goes to states as a third place regional qualifier. He tossed the disc 142 feet, 11 inches on this best try. Joseph Kiperberg just missed placing in the discus too, with a fifth place toss of 139-4.
FPC just missed qualifying its boys 4x800 relay team of Shawn Gordon, Levi Burton, August Healy and Wesley Magnell. The FPC team ran 8:08.05 for fifth place only one second away from a fourth place finish.
The FPC athletes now set sights on the Class 4A FHSAA meet Friday and Saturday at the University of North Florida’s Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville. Henshaw and Paul will compete Friday afternoon and Putney will compete Saturday morning in the 4A pole vault finals. Running preliminaries for Wells and Simpson in the 400 and 300 hurdles are Friday and if they qualify top eight, return Saturday for the running finals. Both relay teams are scheduled to run Saturday.
Region 2-3A
Matanzas junior Jacob Miley will be the school’s only state representative in individual events this week after taking second Thursday in the 800 meters at the regional meet at George Jenkins High School in Lakeland.
Miley will also be part of Matanzas’s state qualifying4x800 meter relay team,a fourth place finisher at Jenkins. The Matanzas girls will have one relay team aas a state qualifier with its 4x400 team which took fourth in the event.
Miley ran 1:54.76 for second place at the regional meet to qualify for states for the second year in a row. He was topped only by Alex of Ocala Vanguard, although Miley has twice ran in the 1:52.21 range this season that Kay ran to win the regional race.
He is also in the 4x800 relay with Dalton Hawley, Kevin Connely and Jared Gasper, who ran 8:23.58 to take fourth at the Jenkins meet.
Matanzas also came close to getting thrower Seaton Waldhauer to the state meet. Waldhauer a junior, tossed 135-9 for sixth place in the discus and was seventh in the shot put in 44-6.
The Matanzas girls qualified for state in one event with a fourth pace finish in the 4x400 meter relay with Cadaen Wilds, Allison Tuggle and sisters Otyana and Oryiah Clayton. The four ran it in 4:13.54.
The Matanzas girls scored 17 points, including a sixth place finish for their 4x800 meter relay team (Kelly Steffens, Morgan Sharman, Rain Marti and Tuggle) with a time of 10:19.86.