BUNNELL – A not-so-surprising win in the hurdles, a sprint win in the 200 and a scintillating 4 x 400 meter relay win propelled the Fleming Island High girls track team to a district 1-4A title amidst pre-meet chatter about how strong host Flagler Palm Coast was and the sprint strength of Oakleaf High School's girls team who jumped from 3A to 4A in 2016. Fleming Island finished first with 106 points with Flagler second at 103 and Oakleaf third at 101.5. Region championships will the Wed., April 26 in Clermont with top four finishes there moving on to the state championships on May 6-7 at Bradenton's IMG Academy.

"One of the best finishes I've ever seen in a relay," said Fleming Island sprint coach Chris Otero. "Ashley Johnson burst down the back stretch after a strong leg from Emily Surgeoner put us in position for at least a challenge to the top three finish. Ashley just blasted away for the win."

With the top three teams; Fleming Island, Flagler Palm Coast and Oakleaf all housing very fast relays squads and team scores close by just a difference of three points before the 4 x 400 relay, Otero's strategy to put Nelson on the anchor paid off.

In the boys district 1-4A, Fleming lsland got a powerful 400 meter win by junior Cameron Dill and a shot put win from senior John Broyles to take third behind Flagler Palm Coast and Oakleaf. Oakleaf dominated the jump events for their team points with a 1-2-3 finish in the high jump, a 2-4 finish in the long jump, a 1-2 finish in the pole vault and a 1-2-3-4 finish in the triple jump.

Otero was not surprised of his relay finish, but was wary of the pressure of the title being on the line with two first-timers carrying the baton.

"We have four very fast 400 runners with Adrian Neilen, Emily Surgeoner, Aubrey Burke and Nelson and if the baton is passed cleanly, we're strong," said Otero. "Adriana and Aubrey are both just freshmen and anything can happen out there it's so fast."

Neilen also finished fourth in the 400 meters, just ahead of Flagler's D'asha Chaney, but just behind Flagler's Namiah Simpson with splits of 1:01.66, 1:02.41 and 1:02.92 respectively.

Nelson, a junior, had the second fastest qualifying time for the 200 meter dash, but blasted the start to win in 25.45 with top qualifier Antwoinisha Bryant of First Coast second at 25.45. Nelson ran 0.03 faster in her final while Bryant was nearly 0.2 seconds slower. Oakleaf senior Makayla Stewart finished sixth in 26.27.

In the 100, Stewart took third behind Bryant in 12.42.

In the 100 hurdles, Fleming Island senior Kayonna Lewis returned to an event that she toyed with as a sophomore, according to coach Darrell Thompson, but a knee injury her junior year left her hesitant about the event. In the final, Lewis used her blazing 100 meter speeds to out-sprint Kaylynd Thorbs of First Coast over the final two hurdles to win in 16.49 to 16.57 with teammate Summer Williamson adding valuable team points with a third place in 18.08. Thorbs had the top qualifying time of 15.60 with Lewis a seemingly distant 17.13 in second for the prelims.

"We just needed to get in the final then we let her loose," said an ecstatic Thompson after Lewis finished her final. "Her speed is there and I think it made the other girls kind of panic with the faster pace in the final."

Though Fleming Island was without ace hurdler in the 100 hurdles, senior Devin Middle, who has been nursing a leg injury, pushed through with the fastest prelim time in the 300 hurdles at 48.69 before doubling down for second place with an even faster 47.84 behind Takeyiah Lowry of First Coast who won in 47.82. Fleming Island got a bonus with sophomore Kayla Armstrong finishing fourth in 51.19.

In the field events, Fleming Island's girls also got bonus team points from senior discus thrower Kaitlyn Paul who finished second to teammate Valesha Watson with Watson winning at 110'-5" and Paul second at 102'-2". Watson would take fourth in the shot put with Oakleaf's Ciara Walker second by an inch to Robert E. Lee freshman Aaliyah Green's 34'-6.5". Walker threw 34'-5.5" with Watson in at 32'-1.5".

In other girls relays, Oakleaf finished second in the 4 x 100 and fourth in the 4 x 400 and 4 x 800s.

In the girls high jump, Oakleaf junior Nia Anthony took third at 5'-0". In the long jump, Oakleaf finished with Osa Obasuyi second at 16'-2.5" with teammate Loren Johnson third at 16'-.5". Obasuyi also advanced with a third in the triple jump behind teammate Jaqueline Thomas' second at 35'-2". Both Oakleaf girls qualified for the Class 3A state meet in 2015. Fleming Island's Lewis wound up fifth.

In the pole vault, Oakleaf got senior Madeline Sgro in at fourth at 8'-6".

For the boys, Dill, an 800 meter specialist for most of the season, dropped down to the faster 400 meters and utilized his stronger final turn strength to power away to a 50.22 win over First Coast's Calvin Daniels' 50.78 and Kieme Barr of Buchholz' third place at 50.96.

"The wind was extremely strong on the back stretch and I just waited until we cleared the final turn," said Dill, who ran just 51.86 in the prelims to take fifth there with teammate Spencer Shaw seventh at 52.27 also making the final where he finished seventh. "I know the region is going to take a sub-49 second effort to advance."

For Broyles, who blasted a 50-plus foot shot put early in the season then battled with flu-symptoms as the season progressed, capped his attempt with a 47'-10" winning put with teammate Vashon Watson third at 42'-9".

For the Oakleaf High boys jumpers, the flood of points that came before the Knights even stepped on the running track started with Anthony Norris winning the triple jump at 42'-11.15 with teammates Melvin Briley (42'-6"), Darius Perry (41'-4") and Khalif Copeland (41'-2") all right behind him. In the pole vault, it was juniors Jaeger Henderson at 10-6" and teammate Tony Stallworth at 10'-0" taking advantage of a windy situation to go 1-2 in their event.

"The lead guy wanted to come in at 12 feet, but he failed to get a good jump what with the wind and all and he was eliminated," said Oakleaf High coach James Henderson. "It goes to that whole idea of get a safe opening jump to stay in then jump within yourself. Jaeger and Tony just kept their cool and did not try to overdo the wind factor."

In the long jump, Norris finished second at 20'-5.5" with teammate Chase Mitchell fourth at 19'-11", but the excitement at the high jump pit is what create a crowd on the northern end of the Flagler Palm Coast track.

For Norris, fifth in last year's district 4-3A high jump at 5'-6", winning at 6'-2" was not much of a surprise with his recent six foot win in rainy conditions at the UNF Spring Break Open, but his teammates; junior Rontrez Morgan and senior Evan Boykin were the surprises. Morgan, a long time competitor with no district or region championship success, got himself and Boykin both over six foot in the windy conditions for the first time for both athletes.

"You know, a former coach to both of us was at the track and he told us to believe in ourselves and make it happen," said Morgan. "He showed us a video of former world record hold Franklin Jacobs, a 5-foot-7 jumper with a world record of 7-foot-7 inches, and, us being 5'-7" tall, it kind of changed our thinking."

In two of the more dramatic and awaited races for the district; the 1600 and the 800, both with Oakleaf High senior David Hall slated as a key challenger, the effort of a 4 x 800 relay race to start his day spelled doom for Hall.

"I wanted to help the team with the 4 x 800 but the mile after was too close," said Hall, who got Oakleaf a fourth in the 4 x 800, a fifth in the 1600 and a fourth in the 800. "It was a little much with the wind and the competition. This is a tough area with Flagler and Mandarin guys being great runners."

In the 1600, Mandarin's Sem Sultanov unleashed a wicked kick to outsprint a four man pack to the finish to win in 4:23.60 with Hall trailing the pack for fifth in 4:29.82.

In the 800, Hall was able to hang on for fourth in a slower than usual 2:00.08 and at least earn a shot to rest between the region 4 x 800 and 800 for better results. Hall finished fifth in 3A last year in 1:56.28 and has a 1:56 at the Pepsi Relays earlier this year. Flagler's Justin Pacifico, the top seed at 1:51 in the 800, won in 1:57.72 with Sultanov second in 1:57.83.

In relays, Fleming Island's boys took second in the 4 x 800 with Oakleaf fourth; second in the 4 x 400 and second in the 4 x 100 with Oakleaf third.

In the 200, Fleming Island got a third and fourth from seniors Lorenzo Newman and Joshua Beckles in 22.69 and 22.80, respectively.

One other sprint surprise was Fleming Island sophomore Anfernee McCaskill who outleaned a three-man pack at the finish to take second in 11.14 to Flagler's Queshaun Boyd's winning time of 10.75.