- May 23, 2025
Tanner Cauley-Bennett takes off on a pole vault. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Arianna Slaughter carries the baton in the 4x400. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Will Roberts (794) takes the baton in the 4x400 relay race. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC pole vaulter Tanner Cauley-Bennett begins his approach. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Tanner Cauley-Bennett plants the pole for take-off. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Tanner Cauley-Bennett clears the pole vault bar. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Tanner Cauley-Bennett gets ready to vault. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Flagler Palm Coast won the boys District 2-4A championship. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Anna Grigoruk in a 1,600-meter heat. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Cassidy De Young and Arianna Slaughter discuss the 800-meter race. Slaughter won; De Young was seventh. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Putting up the pole vault bar can be a tall task. Tanner Cauley-Bennett won the boys district championship vaulting 13 feet, 9.25 inches. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's 4x400 winning relay team with the boys team championship trophy: Will Roberts, Jordan Haymon, Logan Jacobelli and Ayden Peterson. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Arianna Slaughter runs in the pack in the 800-meter race. Slaughter went on to win by 2.51 seconds with a personal-record time of 2:21.07. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Arianna Slaughter increases her lead in the 800 meters. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Owen Stackpole (right) runs in the 1,600 meters. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Flagler Palm Coast junior Arianna Slaughter qualified for the state track and field meet last year in the 3,200-meter race. She’s glad she's not running that anymore.
“I made it out of the distance races,” she said triumphantly after winning the 800-meter race at the District 2-4A meet on Saturday, April 19, at the Bulldogs’ track.
Slaughter won the 800 by two-and-a-half seconds with a time of 2 minutes, 21.07 seconds, shattering her previous personal record of 2:23.68 that she ran just a week ago.
“That was a huge PR for her, especially for somebody who mostly had run in the 1,600 and 3,200 for most of the year,” FPC coach David Halliday said.
But it’s not like running 800 meters is new to her. She and her teammates qualified for state in the 4x800 relay last season and the Bulldogs have the third-best time in that event in Class 4A this season.
“This is my first time running the 800 in district,” Slaughter said after winning the individual race for the first time in any meet. She said she feels like she can lower her PR further at regional on May 3.
“I ran a 2:18 split in a relay last year, so I still have more in me,” she said.
The Bulldogs won the boys district championship with 144 points. Lake Mary was second with 121 points. The FPC girls placed third with 99.5 points behind West Port (129) and Spruce Creek (125).
“This was nice,” Halliday said of the boys title. “It’s a real good group and the majority of them are underclassmen.”
The Bulldogs won 10 district titles. Several more automatically qualified for regional by placing among the top four while others will receive at-large spots based on their best times this season.
The boys’ first-place medal winners included, Colby Cronk (shot put and discus), Will Roberts (400), Tanner Cauley-Bennett (pole vault), Corinthians “R.J.” Watson (triple jump) and the 4x100 relay.
The Bulldogs’ girls champs included Maya Tyson (shot put and discus), Karina Marcelus (triple jump) and Slaughter (800).
Cronk who was the shot put champ and discus runner-up at state last year, is working his way back from labrum surgery. His discus throw of 48.84 meters (160 feet, 3 inches) was the best of his four meets this season, but his shot put of 17.08 meters (56 feet, 5 inches) was short of his previous throws this spring. But both were better than his district performances last year.
“He’s three weeks out (from the state championships), so he’ll be fine,” FPC throws coach Paul Spegele said. “He’s a hard worker, but everybody knows that.”
The Bulldogs went 1-2-3 in boys shot put with Gethin Pritchard and Stacy Mitchell also moving on. Sophomore Michael London placed third in discus and third in javelin to qualify in both. London started throwing for the first time in January after returning from a broken collarbone.
“We’ve seen him do it in practice,” Spegele said. “And now we’ve seen him do it out here.”
“Coach (Alex) Giorgianni told me I’d be good (as a thrower), so I tried it the first day and I liked it,” he said. “I think I’m better at javelin, but I like discus more. It involves more technique.”
Junior Jack Wronowski also qualified in javelin, placing fourth.
Tyson won the district shot put title for the second year in a row with a throw of 10.67 meters (38 feet, 4 inches). The senior added her first district title in discus with a personal record 34.59 meters (113 feet, 6 inches).
Cauley-Bennett handily defended his 2024 district title with a vault of 4.20 meters (13 feet, 9.25 inches). After securing the title, he attempted 4.35 meters, which would have been a new PR. The senior is currently ranked third in Class 4A with his vault of 4.27 meters at the Five Star Conference meet. Leilany Rosa placed third in girls pole vault.
Roberts broke 50 seconds for the first time with a 49.78 to win the 400. He also helped the Bulldogs to the 4x400 title with Jordan Haymon, Ayden Peterson and Logan Jacobelli. They had a PR time of 3:21.81.
“Will Roberts has just come on like crazy in the 400,” Halliday said. “His first time ever running 50 (seconds) was last week at Five Star. And then he ran a 49 this week.”
Peterson placed third in the 800 with a time of 1:58.83 after leading down the stretch. He finished about a tenth of a second behind winner Quinn Meyer of Buchholz (1:58.71).
“He was really close to running a 1:55,” Halliday said. “He just kind of locked up at the end, but he ran a beautiful race.”
Halliday said both the boys and girls 4x800 relays will receive at-large spots at the regional based on their times.
Jacobelli (10.90 seconds) and Haymon (10.93) both run under 11 seconds in the 100 for the first time and finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
“We were basically running off each other,” Jacobelli said. “We’ve been pushing each other all year to get 10.9 and we finally got it.”
They qualified for the regional in both the 4x100 with Roberts and Zac Murphy and in the 4x400. Watson set a PR with a triple jump of 13.76 meters (45 feet, 1.75 inches). Kenneth Robinson placed fourth in triple jump.
Marcelus placed third in the girls 100 hurdles after hitting hurdles 8 and 10 in windy conditions, but she’ll still be moving on. She won the triple jump with a personal-record leap of 11.68 meters (38 feet, 4 inches) and placed third in long jump with another PR.
“I would say probably 90% of the kids had a PR today," Halliday said. “That's what you want to see.”
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