JACKSONVILLE - Fleming Island High freshman triple jumper Mikayla Shavers went into the Class 3A track and field championships as a number two seed in region 1-3A behind Tallahassee Leon's Alexandra Kennedy, a senior, with Kennedy holding just a half inch edge between the two; 39 feet, 7 inches to 39 feet, 6.5 inches.
At Friday's Class 3A championship showdown at University of Florida, with the pair also ranked 1-2 in the Class 3A ranks statewide, the result was, predictably, going to be close.
First jump, Kennedy hits 11.91 to Shavers' 11.80; a difference of 39.0748 feet; 39'-1" versus 38.7139; 38'-8.5".
Also at 11.91, was Miami Northwestern's Shakynah Tresvant, a junior, who was third ranked and joined the party on her second jump, foul on her first attempt.
Shavers jumped 11.78 to Kennedy's 11.55 on jump two to keep things the same with Tresvant now in the picture for the to spot.
Jump three saw Shavers and Tresvant both foul to Kennedy soaring to 12.06 top open her lead a bit.
Jump four, Shavers' final attempt, saw a un-freshman like steady attack to 12.05 (39'-6" to narrowly miss Kennedy's third jump at 12.06 (39'-6.5"), but enough to outdistance Tresvant's third jump of 12.02 (39'-5").
As for Shavers' future, as well as Tresvant, Class 4A was won at 39'-3.75", Class 2A was won at 38'-2.25" and Class 1A was won at 38'-7.5".
Also in the jumps, Orange Park freshman Nethan Verger finished eighth in long jump with a 22'-5.25" leap.
Orange Park's 4 x 100 boys relay team; William Restall, Nolan Chambers Jermel Brown and Lawrence Thomas, took ninth in 42.04 in a race that saw two teams under 41 seconds; American Heritage and Choctowhatchee and the top 16 teams under 43 seconds. Six teams, including Orange Park finished within the one second split between 41.08 and Orange Park's 42.04 seconds.
Also in Class 3A's championships, Fleming Island highly touted boys 4 x 800 relay team, the region 1-3A champions, Roman Mollicone, Graham Myers, Donavin Montoya and John Keester IV, finished third to Belen Jesuit Preps' winning time of 7:47.01 with Miami Northwestern second at 7:50.09 and Fleming Island in at 7:53.32.
From the quartet, Mollicone would finish fourth in the 800 with a 1:56.28 split behind winner Edward Kepran of Arnold High in 1:52.92; Myers would finish second in the 3200 in 9:12.40 behind defending champion Patrick Koon of Leon who won in 8:58.83 to nearly beat the state record of 8:59.03.
In the 3200, Koon surged the field in the fourth lap to gap his chasers with a 4:27.78 first mile with Myers and two others passing the mark at 4:35.plus. Myers did surge on his final lap with a 68 second lap to defeat another Class 3A nemesis, Joshua Ruiz of Belen, who was ahead of Myers in the Class 3A cross country champinships that finished Koon, Ruiz and Myers.

Keester also ran the 3200 finishing seventh in 9:28.68.

CHS Harbison edges MHS Underwood

JACKSONVILLE - In another showdown of Clay County track athletes, in the girls discus, region champion Annalee Harbison of Clay and her region runnerup Madison Underwood, separated by just three feet six inches heading into the Class 3A championship meet as the number two and four seeds in the state, maintained their rivalry with a just-as-close fourth and fifth finish at University of North Florida.
Harbison, with an amazing injury comeback senior year of a weightlifting state championship deciding bench press for her Clay Lady Blue Devils repeat champions, added a fourth place state medal to her knee injury recovery with a 125'-10" toss outmeasuring sophomore Underwood, who also returned to action with an injury to regain her discus prowess with a 123'-0" fifth place toss.
With Fort Myers' sophomore Julia Lemmon dominating the event with four throws over 40 feet, the rest of the field were left to battle for medals as Lemmon opened at 147'-11" with Sebastian River's Joniah Holson, just a freshman, second best at 129'8".
Harbison, who entered with 130'-8" region title throw with Underwood in at 126'-10", and Underwood both fouled on their second throws with Underwood finishing with two more fouls.
Harbison improved on her next two throws; 37.60 and 38.35 to secure her spot, but Hobson's initial throw and a 40.90 throw from Miami Northwestern's Jaiya Burchell on her third throw left Harbison in fourth.
Also in Shot Put, Orange Park's Mychaela Parker, a junior, finished 10th at 36'-6.25". Parker was third in 2022 at 40'-11.5" after being region runnerup at 37'-6.75".

RHS Willis third in high jump
With 6 foot, 5.5 inches the top jump of the day in the Class 3A high jump, Ridgeview High junior T'Vario Willis muster up at 6'-3.5" jump to tie for third with four jumpers.
Rickards' senior Randall Pompey and Boyd Anderson's Amani Drayton both jumped the top height of 6'5.5" with Pompey making his on his second jump to defeat Drayton, who hit the jump on his third jump. Both jumpers missed three jumps at 6'-6".
All four jumpers with Willis made 6'-3.5" on their third jumps with no misses, but neither could hit at 6'-5.5".
In the triple jump, senior Nappoleon Cion was 16th at 43'-0.5" and also 15th in the 100 meters in 10.84 seconds.
For the Ridgeview girls, freshman Avi Miller was 14th in triple jump at 36'-2".


Class 4A Track and Field

Knights Linscomb fourth in javelin

JACKSONVILLE - Oakleaf High javelin thrower Madison Linscomb, who won the region 1-4A title two weeks ago, finished fourth at the Class 4A championships held Saturday at University of North Florida while teammate Evan Brown blasted the 100 meter dash to a seventh place finish.
Linscomb, who has a best of 136'-11", tossed 129'-8" to take fourth in Class 4A. Linscomb also won the district 2-4A title with a 127'-9" toss.
Selena Calix, a senior at Palm Beach Gardens, won the 4A javelin title with a 137'-9" throw.
For her season, Linscomb, who opened her javelin throwing season with a fifth place toss at the Danny Byron Invitational on February 25 with a toss of just 80'-1", has week by week improved her distances with a progression from 95'-7" to in the March 9 Clay County title, 102'-8" to take fourth at the March 18 Bob Hayes Invitational; 106'-8" to win the Tocoi Creek Showdown March 24 and even more distances into April with a 118'-0" toss to win at Thursday Night Spikes April 13. Linscomb had her best throws in the post-season leading to her fourth place state finish.
Brown, a senior, got two top 10 medals; seventh in the 100 meters and sixth with the 4 x 100 relay team, at the Class 4A track and field championships Saturday at the University of North Florida.
In the 100, Brown, who has a handful of sub-11 second finishes throughout the season, blitzed the track with a 10.68 second split to be in one of the fastest events of the day. Brown's fastest time of the season was a 10.55 finish at the district 2-4A championships.
Christian Miller, a junior at Creekside, won the 100 in a fast 10.31 to lead a field of 18 runners under the very fast 11 second mark. Miller also won the 200 meters dash.
Brown's 10.68 split followed a quick flurry of runners across the finish line with times of 10.61, 10.64, 10.66 and 10.68 fielding the third through seventh spots.
Brown's 10.55 clocking was at the district 2-4A final where he was second to Miller, who won in 10.36.
In the 4 x 100, where Brown was anchor with teammates Amarrion Grant, Devin Collins and Josber Stimphil, the team was sixth in 41.55. Winner Seminole High was clocked in at 40.86.
For the Oakleaf girls team, junior hurdler Keira Smalls finished 11th in the 100 hurdles in 14.80 while also running in the girls 4 x 100 relay that took 10th in 48.03. Smalls teamed with Rayna Lawson, Nya Russell and Kaymin Sales in the relay.
In the girls 4 x 400, Oakleaf was 16th; Russell, Sales, Kiyanni Ledgister and Syndey Gaines.