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Knights battle Raines for track supremacy

Randy Lefko
Posted 3/3/17

JACKSONVILLE – Oakleaf High sprinters Tahja Peoples and Jaqueline Thomas battled with the as-fast feet of Raines’ Amber Williams the 100, 200 and sprint relays as both teams in a slugfest of …

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Knights battle Raines for track supremacy


Posted

JACKSONVILLE – Oakleaf High sprinters Tahja Peoples and Jaqueline Thomas battled with the as-fast feet of Raines’ Amber Williams the 100, 200 and sprint relays as both teams in a slugfest of blurs at the Bishop Snyder Danny Brown Track Invitational held Saturday.

With Raines taking the top women’s team title with 150 points and Bishop Kenny taking runnerups with 97, Oakleaf finished a close third with 82 points coming mainly from their sprinters. Middleburg took eighth at 27, Ridgeview ninth at 21, Clay 10th at 17, Orange Park 13th at 11 and St. Johns Country Day School at 14th.

For the boys, Bartram Trail won with 110 points over Raines’ 93 for second, Bishop Kenny’s 91 for third and Oakleaf’s 72.50 for fourth. Ridgeview and Middleburg tied for sixth at 35 with Orange Park 11th, Clay 13th and St. Johns Country Day School 17th.

In the girls 4 x 100, Raines edged Oakleaf 49.96 to 50.42 to start the sprint slugfest.

For the boys 4 x 100, it was Oakleaf’s 42.84 besting Bartram Trail’s 43.40 and Bishop Kenny’s 44.00.

In the girls 100, Raines’ Amber Williams edged Peoples with a 12.87 split to her 12.99. Thomas was fourth in 31.20 with Clay’s Eykah Murray splitting the two Oakleaf sprinters with her 13.16 time. Raines also had Imoni Jones in fifth with Oakleaf’s India Watts sixth at 13.56.

For the boys 100, Raines went 1-2 with Willie Wright and Larry Grier posting 10.94 and 10.95 splits in front of Middleburg’s Marcus Floyd at 11.05 and Oakleaf’s Keshawn King at 11.16.

In the girls 200, it was Raines 1-2 with Gionet Dennis and Amber Williams posting near identical splits of 25.94 and 25.95.Middleburg’s Kaley Petrosky edged Murray for sixth in 27.92 with Murray at 28.11.

For the boys 200, it was Raines’ Grier in 21.85.

In the boys 400, Floyd was edged by Cameron Daniel of Ed White as the top three runners all posted times under 50 seconds with Daniel at 49.66.

In the boys mile, Orange Park’s John Bear pushed the pace from the start and held off Clay’s Ben Hathaway to win in 4:40.32 with Hathaway at 4:43.54. Oakleaf freshman Dylan Nelson ran 4:52.70 for 12th just ahead of St. Johns Country Day School’s Ben Kailes at 4:53.12.

In the high jump, Oakleaf’s Nia Anthony finished second behind Raines’ Nazah Reddick with a 5-foot-2 leap. Middleburg’s Kaley Petrosky was third with three misses at 5-foot-2.

Oakleaf state qualifier Anthony Norris edged Middleburg’s Bryce Quiett with less misses at six feet. Norris also long jumped 20’-4” for fourth in the long jump behind Oakleaf teammate Melvin Briley who took third at 21’-4”. Long jump winner was Tre Preston of St. Joseph at 22’-3”.

In the girls triple jump, Oakleaf sophomore Loren Johnson, a state meet qualifier last year, won with a 37’-7” leap.

Briley, a top five ranked triple jump in the United States, won with a 46’-1” leap with Floyd second at 44’-2”.