Aquinas girls win third straight state track title
JACKSONVILLE — If it were anyone else, St. Thomas Aquinas senior Krystal Sparling may have had a problem.
She brushed off finishing second in the 200-meter finals at Saturday’s girls Class 4A state meeting at Hodges Stadium. The reason was because the runner ahead of her was teammate Diamond Spaulding.
It was that kind of day for St. Thomas, where competing against each other was the only real competition. The Raiders scored 79 points to win their third consecutive championship. It was the 11th title in school history. Northeast finished second with 43 points.
“It was a disappointment but I was very happy for my teammate,” Sparling said. “We were all in this together so it’s all good.”
Spaulding finished in a time of 23.21 seconds, just edging Sparling. It prevented Sparling from winning four gold medals at the meet. She captured titles in the 100-meters and 400- and 1,600-meter relays. Spaulding was also on both relay teams.
“It was kind of like basically we were just saying win it for our team,” Spaulding said. “It doesn’t matter who’s in first or second. Just do it for the team.”
The Raiders won despite the doubters. There was some talk of the team struggling without Kendall Ellis, who is now at Southern Cal. In the end, it was the same old St. Thomas. They had the meet wrapped before the start of the final three events.
“A lot of people underestimated us because we lost Kendall but we prevailed,” Sparling said. “We have haters but we proved everyone wrong. It’s a great feeling.”
With the Aquinas girls doing the usual, a pair of local sprinters on the boys’ side made their way to the spotlight. West Broward senior Isaiah Taylor set the tone by running a 10.48 in the preliminaries of the 100-meters. He matched that in the finals to capture his first title.
“It’s kind of a mood-setter,” Taylor said. “I want to always come out and perform my hardest in prelims as well as finals. I don’t take any of my competition lightly. Everyone is here for a reason because they are very talented individuals.”
Taylor, who will run at the University of Miami next season, finally broke through in his third appearance at state. He finished ninth as a sophomore and fourth last year. This year, he didn’t lose a race.
“I had the opportunity to switch schools and go to one of the powerhouses,” Taylor said. “I wanted to stay true to who I am. I was able to make it. I wanted to put West Broward on the map.”
In the 110-meter hurdles, Northeast sophomore Damion Thomas shook off a hip strain to win the Class 4A championship. He finished in a time of 13.73, just ahead of St. Thomas’ Trevon Grimes. After entering last year as top seed, Thomas had the strength to fight through the injury.
“We incorporated more weight room training from the beginning of the year,” Thomas said. “I think it helped my strength and speed and endurance to get over the hurdles.”
The disappointment of placing second lasted briefly for Grimes, a sophomore. An hour later, he repeated as the champion in the 300-meter hurdles.
“It was definitely tougher this year,” Grimes said. “There was already a target on my back. People already knew who I was. I just had to perform to what people’s expectations were and my own expectations and I think I did that.”
In girls’ class 4A, Flanagan’s Devin D’Oliveira won the long jump (18-11.25), Monarch’s Phoebe Gustely the discus (142-00) and Northeast’s Camora Sanders the shot put (43-02).