Ava Wyant, Foundation win 1A state championships

The Master’s Academy junior Ava Wyant won the girls 800-meter run and Foundation Academy finished first in the boys 400 relay in Wednesday’s FHSAA Class 1A state track and field meet.

Wyant, a recent University of Florida commit, ran two laps in 2 minutes, 18.66 seconds to beat top-seeded Elli Black of Cambridge Christian to the finish line at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

Wyant repeated her 2022 third-place finish in the 1,600 with a time of 5:00.36 in a meet that was twice delayed by stormy weather. She also ran on the 3,200 and 1,600 relays that placed in the top eight for points.

Foundation, with speedy brothers James and Christopher Bronaugh, won the sprinters relay in a school-record time of 41.45 seconds. That came after Christopher, a freshman, placed third in the boys 100 (11 seconds flat).

Circle Christian senior Sam Parker was runner-up in the boys javelin with a throw of 179 feet, 8 inches. He was the 1A leader coming in with a best of 187-6 but was topped by Alexander Camarca of Fort Myers Canterbury, who opened with a 185-5 throw.

Geneva School had two sophomore state runners-up in the pole vault: Jack Demo vaulted 13 feet, 3 ½ inches, and Loralei Flores cleared 10-10 in the girls event.

Inclement weather delayed the scheduled 1 p.m. start of the meet for about 2 ½ hours, and lightning in the vicinity stopped the action again late in the afternoon.

The 3A competition is today, followed by 4A on Saturday.

Mount Dora Christian Academy sophomore Jamin Andrews matched the winning boys high jump mark (6-3 ½) but placed third in a tiebreaker based on fewer misses. He was fourth in the triple jump (44-2).

MDCA finished seventh with 26 points in the team standings. Foundation was ninth at 24.

The Master’s girls were 14th with 19 points.