Also, Grant ties for national lead in long jump; Houlihan sparkles at Drake Relays.
Lake Wales (Fla.) senior sprinter Octavious Freeman won four gold medals during her final Class 2A state championship track meet in Winter Park, Fla.
The 5-foot-6 superstar won the 100-meter dash in 11.77 seconds, the 200 in 23.64 seconds, the long jump at 18 feet, 10½ inches and also ran a leg on the victorious 400-meter relay, which was clocked in 46.34.
"I was really shooting for records, but the wind was too strong," Freeman told MaxPreps. "The wind was blowing right in our faces."
Octavious Freeman finished with 10Florida state track and field titles.
Photo courtesy of Ericka Smith
She finished her brilliant career with 10 individual state titles, three short of the state record. She captured the 100 and 200 four straight years and the long jump twice. She is only the third Florida girl to win the two sprint titles all four years in high school.
Freeman said she was happy with the 10 titles, but had she been able to compete as a seventh- and eighth- grader, she probably would have been able to surpass the record of 13 career championships. The University of Central Florida recruit still holds national season bests of 11.29 in the 100 and 23.42 in the 200, both established earlier this spring.
Her next meet will be the Golden South Invitational in Orlando, Fla.
In the same Class 2A meet,
Pasco (Dade City, Fla.) sophomore Janarion Grant tied for the national lead by winning the boys long jump with a personal-record leap of 24-3½.
HOULIHAN STARS AT DRAKE RELAYSSioux City East (Iowa) senior Shelby Houlihan became the first high school girl to win three individual events during the prestigious Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. And she won them all by wide margins. The 5-foot-3, 110-pound Arizona State University recruit captured the 1,500-meter run Saturday in 4:29.26 before a sellout crowd of 14,509. She had won the 800 (for the third straight year) on Friday and the 3,000 on Thursday.
HOCKING BREAKS 59-YEAR-OLD RECORDJunior Blake Hocking set a
Lawrence (Kan.) record by winning the shot put with a heave of 62-9 during the Topeka Seaman Relays. The record of 60-9 3/8 was set in 1952 by Bill Nieder, who later won an Olympic gold medal.
NECZYPOR SETS OHIO RECORDNorth Royalton (Ohio) senior Hannah Neczypor won the 3,200 in an Ohio state-record 10:16.1 during the Berea Kiwanis Relays. The record of 10:17.33 had stood since 1996.
DEFENDING CHAMPION SIDELINEDShadow Mountain (Phoenix) senior Erwin Jones tore ligaments in his right ankle during a freak accident on a recruiting trip to Lipscomb University. It appears the injury will keep him from defending last year's Class 4A-Division state championships in the 110- and 300 hurdles. However, he has accepted a scholarship to Lipscomb where he will compete in the decathlon, specializing in the 110 high hurdles.
MOUSSA HAS PERSONAL RECORDArcadia (Calif.) senior Ammar Moussa won his heat of the 5,000 in a personal-record 14:05.79 during the Payton Jordan Track & Field Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. He was running unattached against much older athletes.
