Royal victory for TFA
Sophomore sensation Alex Shields, the son of two former Pittsburgh University track and field record-setters, took first place in all four of his events, including the 110-meter high hurdles (above) to lead The First Academy of Orlando to the Class 1A boys state and field championship over two days at UNF in Jacksonville.
The Royals had been the Buffalo Bills of high school track and field before running away with the team title on Saturday. They finished second at state four years in a row (2013-16) and were a close third a year ago.
In Class 4A, Freedom High senior Timothy Doyle won this third consecutive boys 1,600-meter run title and Winter Park senior Rafaella Gibbons capped her Wildcats career by winning the girls 1,600 final. They led a wave of five area champions in the large classification on Saturday.
JACKSONVILLE — Alex Shields, one of the nation’s elite sophomore track and field talents, had firstplace finishes in all four of his events as he and his The First Academy teammates made sure they wouldn’t again have to settle for second best in the Class 1A state meet.
The Royals, who were state runner-ups four consecutive seasons (2013-16) and a close third last year, ran away with the smallschool team title at the University of Florida — outscoring runner-up St. Petersburg Northside Christian 64 points to 45.
Shields won the long jump on Friday, then repeated as champion of the 110- and 300-meter hurdles on Saturday and completed his stellar showing on the 4x400 relay that capped two days of domination by TFA. He teamed with senior Mitchell Allen and juniors Suresh Black and Nathan Edwards to win the relay in a time of 3 minutes, 22.96 seconds.
“That’s a dream come true,” Shields said. “As a sophomore to win all four events and to win the team title. We’re bringing it home this time.”
Black won the 200 in a career-best time of 21.76 seconds and placed second in the 400 in a team effort that brought tears to the eyes of second-year TFA coach Moushaumi Robinson as her team gathered to accept the championship trophy.
Robinson came to coaching after a track career that included a 2004 Olympic gold medal in the 4x400.
“I’m overjoyed,” she said. “These are tears of pride, happiness and joy.
“To be able to give back to a sport and watch young people develop into champions, it’s so gratifying. This has been a journey.”
Shields and Black were among nine area event state champions on Saturday.
Senior D-I signees Timothy Doyle of Freedom and Rafaella Gibbons of Winter Park capped two of the best distance careers Central Florida has witnessed with Class 4A victories in the 1,600-meter run.
Timber Creek senior Austin Thompson won the 4A boys vault on his future college campus.
Oak Ridge senior Marquasha Myers, a 4A state runner-up in the girls triple jump as a junior, came back to win that event with a career-best leap of 40 feet, 41⁄2 inches.
Seminole sped to victory in the girls 4x100 relay in a school record time of 46.46 seconds.
Mount Dora Christian senior Cooper Monn repeated as the 1A girls shot put champion. And MDC junior Jesiah Pierre, who is No. 1 on the Sentinel Super 60 football prospect list for the Class of 2019, won the 1A boys discus throw.
Doyle, who like Thompson signed with UNF, won his third consecutive 4A boys metric mile.
“I gotta protect my turf, even though I’m not officially here yet,” he said after winning with a time of 4 minutes, 15.42 seconds. “I’ve never experienced a race like this. I just dialed it in and canceled the crowd and everything out.”
Doyle is the first largeclass boy to win the 1,600 three consecutive years since 2006, and the second to do since 1949.
Gibbons finished her four-year run of state track appearances right where she started — crossing the finish line as a champion. The N.C. State signee, who won a 3,200 title as a ninthgrader, put the finishing touch on her FHSAA finals resume with a win the girls 1,600.
She showed her senior savvy with tactical moves to win in a time of 4 minutes, 56.64 seconds. Gibbons took the lead with 500 meters to go and won the race to the finish line against Friday’s 3,200 champ, Lake Mary ninth grader Mya Bodrato (4:57.81).
“Ending it this way just means so much to me because it’s my last race as a Wildcat,” said Gibbons, who was also a freshman state cross country champion and three-time 4x800 relay winner on the track.
She credited Winter Park coach Kristin McWilliams with helping her keep the faith that she could be an FHSAA individual champion again.
“Last season wasn’t my best season and she kept believing in me,” Gibbons said.
Winter Park finished second in the 4A team standings behind Fort Lauderdale Aquinas, which ran away with the title. Lake Mary finished fifth, followed by Evans, West Orange and Oak Ridge.
West Orange was the top area 4A boys team at sixth. Freedom was seventh.
Seniors Nicole Smith and Mariah Ren and juniors JaQual Bush and Nayah Johnson combined in the 4x100 for Seminole High’s first girls state track victory since 1998.
Johnson missed the conference, district and region meets due to what was diagnosed as a stress fracture but was cleared to return to the track on Monday. The ’Noles rested her on Friday with another junior, Kayla Cochran, helping Seminole push through the prelims.
Smith, who fought a cold all week, was also the runner-up in the 200 in a personal-best time 24.25-second time.
Thompson cleanly cleared his first four height attempts in the pole vault, topping out at 15 feet, 3 inches. The former basketball gym rat took three unsuccessful tries at 16-feet.
“It’s a great feeling to go from fourth [as a junior] to first,” Thompson said.
He credited longtime Boone coach Paul Katauskas — who came out of retirement to assist at Timber Creek — for coaxing him through his initial fear of the vault, and Thin Air Vault Club guru Bill Cashman for teaching him to soar to heights he once never imagined.
“I’m blessed. I fell in love with the pole vault and it got me into college.”
Area 4A runner-ups included Winter Park junior Elizabeth Nix in the girls pole vault, Lake Mary sophomore Trent Barnecott in the boys high jump and Orlando University senior Kelvin Campbell in the boys triple jump.
West Orange ran a time of 3 minutes, 49.42 seconds to place second in the 4A girls 4x400 relay and break a school record it set at state a year ago.
Winter Park’s three-year reign as the 4A girls 4x800 relay winner ended with two Tampa Bay teams, Newsome and Steinbrenner, finishing 1-2 in times of 9:21.34 and 9:27.44.
The Wildcats were third place medalists at 9:30.38, followed by Lake Mary in fourth.
Olympia’s Hannah Douglas finished third as the only freshman finalist in the 4A girls 100.
Daytona Beach Mainland’s D’Marcus Adams, an FSU football recruit, was the 3A 400 runner-up and placed in four events. He ran 14.07 into a headwind for third in the 110 hurdles..
Gainesville High freshman Tamari Davis ran a 22.48-second time for 200 meters to erase the girls state meet record of 22.49 former East Ridge star Kaylin Whitney set in 2014. That also set a national ninth grade record and surpassed the 15-year-old age group record of 22.48 set in 1991 by Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones.