Orlando (Fla.) standout Bracy beats his cousin at Florida Relays; Alabama's Ernest earns MVP at Challenge of Champions; Freeman tops Gaither; Cheserek sets steeplechase record.
The annual Florida Relays produced some outstanding times and some great individual duels over the weekend in Gainesville, Fla.
Boone (Orlando) junior sprint star Marvin Bracy had to beat his cousin,
Jones (Orlando) sophomore Levonte "Kermit" Whitfield, to win the 100-meter dash in a blazing 10.26 seconds. Whitfield, who beat Bracy three times last year in the 200 meters, was second in 10.53.
Bracy's time was slightly wind-aided (2.1), so his best official time this spring still is 10.28 from the Florida State Relays.
On the girls side,
Lake Wales sprint star Octavious Freeman out-dueled
Osceola (Kissimmee) standout Tynia Gaither to win the 100 meters in a meet-record 11.29 seconds. Gaither was clocked in 11.55.
Columbus (Miami) senior Armando Del Valle won the 1600-meter run in an outstanding 4 minutes, 11.49 seconds.
Northwestern (Miami) won the 1600-meter relay in a meet-record 3:11.484 to nip defending Class 4A state champion St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) by two thousands of a second. Northwestern sophomore relay member Artie Burns continued to dominate the 110-meter hurdles with a winning effort of 14.28.
ERNEST, BRISCO STAR AT MOBILEAaron Ernest of
Homewood (Ala.) and Dominique Brisco of Magnet (Baton Rouge, La.) earned MVP honors while sharing three first places during the annual Challenge of Champions in Mobile, Ala. The 19th annual meet drew a record number of entries, surpassing 1,700.
Ernest, an LSU signee, won the 200 in 20.86, the 100 in wind-aided 10.17 and the long jump with a leap of 23 feet, 2 inches. The wind was 2.4 meters per second in the 100, just over the allowed 2.0. The 200 is the second fastest time in the nation this year, just behind national leader Arman Hall of St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.) who crossed in 20.82.
Brisco, a senior who has signed with the University of Houston, captured the girls triple jump (38-7), 300 hurdles (43.99) and anchored the winning 400-meter relay (46.40).
Mountain Brook (Birmingham, Ala.) teammates Rachael Reddy and Annie Newton staged, perhaps, the meet's hottest duel in the 800 meters. Reddy won in 2:22.30, while Newton finished on her heels in 2:22.67.
Setting meet records in the pole vault were Andreas Duplantis (Lafayette, La.), who captured the boys title by clearing 16-7; and Morgann LeLeux
(Catholic-New Iberia, La.), who took the girls title at 13-2.
* Competing against collegians and open athletes, Edward Cheserek, set a national sophomore record by placing second in the 3000-meter steeplechase in 9:00.11 during the Sam Howell Invitational in Princeton, N.J. It was his first time running the event. The record of 9:16.2 by Brad Hudson had stood since 1983. Princeton's Donn Cabral won in 8:54.55.
*
Nazareth (Pa.) defeated Parkland (Allentown, Pa.), 83-67, in boys track, ending an 89 dual-meet winning streak which stretched over 10 years.
Wilson Area (Easton, Pa.) has won its last 60 meets.
