Fast times at Matanzas High: Records fall at RunMatanzas track and field meet

Personal records fell by the wayside at the RunMatanzas Track and Field Invitational on Saturday, April 8.

More than one school record also fell as Seabreeze senior Veronica Low broke the Sandcrabs’ all-time mark in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.86 seconds. Low won the event by less than half a second over Matanzas junior Jordan Youngman, who ran her own personal-record time of 16.20.

Seabreeze sophomore MacKenzie Roy already owned the school record in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:12.66 at the Florida Relays. She lowered that mark by more than four seconds to win at Matanzas High with a 5:08.09.

Roy won three events at the meet. She  won the 3,200 with a time of 12:11.69 and the girls 4x800 with Kirsten Glaenzer, Nickole Dane and her sister, Arianna Roy, with a time of 10:18.88.

Mainland’s 4x800 boys relay team pulled within a half second of the Buccaneers’ school record with a time of 8:17.09 to win the event by nearly nine seconds.

Anchor Logan Camara expects the foursome will break the record of 8:16.58 before the season ends considering the runners dropped two seconds off their previous PR.

Seabreeze freshman Hunter Shuler ran past New Smyrna Beach’s Daytona Belflower at the finish to win the boys 1,600 by half a second with a time of 4:39.32. Shuler lowered his previous PR by over five seconds.

Another Seabreeze freshman in the event, Kai Shirley, won the slower first heat to finish 13th overall, but his time of 5:03.71 was 12.5 seconds better than his previous personal record.

“He keeps dropping time out of nowhere,” Seabreeze coach Jenna Meyers-Sinett said.

Mainland’s Jonathan Williams ran a personal-record 14.36 seconds to win the 110 hurdles. Williams’ time is the second fastest in Class 3A, less than two-tenths of a second behind Miami Norland’s Matthew McKnight.

Williams led a Mainland sweep in the event with Damarcus Creecy, Emmanuel Yisrael and Marquis McCants finishing second, third and fourth.

Mainland won the boys title at RunMatanzas with 201 points. New Smyrna Beach was second with 132.5 points, followed by Seabreeze (131) in third and Matanzas (89) fourth.

Matanzas won the girls title with 176 points. Seabreeze was second with 148 and Mainland was fifth with 65 with Yulee third and Menendez fourth.

The Pirates’ Youngman not only finished second in the 100 hurdles, she won three events — the 400 hurdles (1:06.7), the 4x400 with Sierra Howard, Luise Sommer and Evanne Miller (4:11.78) and the high jump with a PR of 4-feet, 11 inches.

Howard won the 800 with a time of 2:23.97. Her time of 2:17.40 at the Florida Relays is the eighth fastest in Class 3A. The Pirates’ 4x400 relay is also ranked eighth in the state in Class 3A.

Other Matanzas winners included Olivia Gaines in the long jump (15-8.75) and the triple jump (34-7); Miller in the 400 (59.08); Kamryn Discus in girls discus (90-7) and Bradyn Cox in boys discus (147-4). Gaines also finished second in the 100 (12.4 seconds).

Also winning for Seabreeze were the girls 4x100 relay of Dajah Morris, Leila O’Reilly, Low and Keeva Heggins (51.72); Kalease Heggins who led a Sandcrabs sweep in the girls 40-yard dash (a non-sanctioned event) with a time of 5.67 seconds; Klellan Lubbe in the boys 800 (2:01.82); Noah Parris in the boys 3,200 (10:26.81); and Chandler Mitzo in the boys javelin (171 feet). Mitzo and teammate Levi Hayworth are both ranked among the top four in javelin in Class 3A.

Other winners for Mainland included: the boys 4x100 relay of Williams, Corey Hill, Creecy and Cameron Boatright (43.08); Boatright leading a Mainland sweep in the 400 with a time of 49.21; Creecy in the 400 hurdles (58.54); Gabrielle Lett in the girls 200 (26.34) Christian Hudson in the boys shot put (48-0.5); and the boys 4x400 relay of Seth Sawyer, Camara, Chase Irven and Boatright (3:25.41).

Creecy achieved PR’s in the 400 hurdles and the triple jump, where he finished second (40-1.5 ). Boatright also had two PR’s — in the 400 and the 200, where he finished second with a time of 22.5 seconds.

Mainland’s boys showed off their strength in all three relays. But the most surprising is the one that is on the cusp of breaking the school record. The 4x800 team has two returnees in Camara and leadoff runner Sawyer. Sophomores Khalil Wilmore and Jack Mathis are newcomers.

Khalil (Wilmore) came out of nowhere. He was running with the sprinters, and we saw how long his strides were, so we brought him over. — LOGAN CAMARA, Mainland 4x800 runner

“Jack ran cross country with us. I could tell it would cross over,” Camara said. “But Khalil came out of nowhere. He was running with the sprinters, and we saw how long his strides were, so we brought him over.”

The seasoned 800 runners, Sawyer and Camara, each had splits of just over 2:02. Wilmore was not far behind with a 2:04.5. The Bucs moved up to ninth place in Class 3A, but they are still six seconds behind the eighth-ranked team — Fort Myers Dunbar.

“Our goal is to medal at state, which is top eight,” Camara said, noting that improving by six seconds or more by next month’s state meet is not out of the question.

“We ran our personal record by two seconds today, and we had nobody pushing us,” he said.