Hummel wins for a tiny town
JACKSONVILLE — There were the obvious motivating factors for Celebration senior Hunter Hummel as he warmed up for the Class 4A boys discus competition at the state track and field championships on Friday at UNF.
As a sophomore he finished fifth in his region, missing the state meet by one spot. As a junior a year ago he had a championship in hand until Flagler Palm Coast senior Michael Peppin uncorked a career-best throw on his final attempt to steal the title out of Hummel’s grasp.
But Hummel’s understanding of perseverance and his path to Friday’s championship and a college scholarship goes way back to his upbringing in the tiny West Virginia town of Moundsville — where tough life is tough for many in a tight-knit community.
“The road to success can be a lot bumpier, I know that,” Hummel said after his victory. “For me, this championship is about proving it to myself and proving to everybody in my hometown that you can succeed.
“It’s going to mean a lot to people back home because I kept telling them I was going win a state championship and get a college scholarship.”
Moundsville, population 8,700 or so, will always be home to Hummel. His father lives there as a judge.
Hunter and his mother decided to spend his final three year high school years in the family vacation home in Kissimmee to expand his opportunities. They go back to West Virginia on spring and summer breaks.
Hummel’s next trip to won’t be to brag about Friday when he launched a career-best throw of 181 feet, 5 inches on his fifth of sixth attempts to win the championship over top seed Derek Akey of Gainesville Buchholz.
What he wants to say to the young kids he coaches is that he’s going to college at USF on a scholarship that is partially athletic and partially based on his 4.3 GPA and 1320 SAT score — and that they too can make dreams come true.
“I tell them the outside world is not that scary,” Hummel said. “Just putting a spark of hope in kids in a small place like I’m from, it means a lot.”
Hummel was one of six Sentinel coverage area championships crowned out of 10 4A finals contested on Friday. The finals for all four classes conclude today at UNF.
Evans junior Shareya Newsome broke the area record in the girls shot put with a winning heave of 46 feet 6 inches.
Lake Mary ninth-grader Mya Bodrato won a loaded 4A girls 3,200-meter run in a time of 10 minutes 41.84 seconds that was nearly 10 seconds faster than the previous personal best she set in an eye-opening Florida Relays victory in March.
West Orange had two boys winners.
Russell Robinson, a junior, dominated the boys long jump with the four best leaps of the competition in his first state meet appearance. His winning mark was 23-31⁄2.
Warriors senior threesport starter Elijah Jackson won the boys shot with school-record 57-71⁄2 mark.
Colonial senior Georgette Simpson led a 1-2-3 area sweep in the girls discus. St. Cloud’s Essence Tornabene was second, and Boone senior Jae Crawford third.
Bodrato ran the fastest 3,200 ever run by a Central Florida ninth-grader in a girls-only race, surpassing a standard of 10:42.20 set four years ago by current Winter Park senior Rafaella Gibbons, who finished third on Friday in a time of 10:48.13.
Gibbons also ran a 10:27 time in a 2015 race that included boys.
“I kept telling myself I could do this. I just had to be confident,” Bodrato said.
Jackson, an H-back in football and the leading rebounderfor the Warriors final four boys basketball team, could have won the boys shot put with any of his best four marks.
“I was ready to tackle this,” Jackson said. “I was up this morning praying, getting my mind focused.”
Sunrise Piper’s Sukeil Foucha stole a state title away from Lake Brantley junior Joab “Jo Jo” Francois in the final strides of the boys 800-meter run.