- April 13, 2026
FPC girls coach Alycia Williams celebrates with her team after the Bulldogs won the Five Star Conference girls track and field championship for the first time in 11 years. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC girls track coach Alycia Williams (center) celebrates with her team after winning the Five Star Conference girls track and field championship. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Anna Grigoruk leads Spruce Creek's Cameryn Irby and Channing Irby in the 3,200-meter race. Grigoruk placed second behind teammate Arianna Slaughter. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mainland's Jalissa Rodney (right) hands the baton to Gabrielle Lett in 4x400 relay. The Bucs easily won the race. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze's Drayton Brackett, Dominic Dowell and Alex Shargen clear their hurdles in the 400-meter hurdles race. Dowell finished second, Brackett fourth and Schargen fifth. Photo by Brent Woronoff
From left, Seabreeze's Drayton Brackett, Dominic Dowell and Alex Schargen and FPC's Tony Coates compete in the 400 hurdles. Dowell placed second, Coates third, Brackett fourth and Schargen fifth. FPC's Najir Eddins won with a time of 56.88 seconds. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Tony Coates (107) runs with Deltona's DeShaun Joseph in the 4x400 relay. Deltona won the race with FPC second. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Logan Jacobelli won the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.23 seconds, just under a tenth of second behind the school record. Jacobelli also set a PR in winning the 400. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Douglas Seth won the 1,600 meters with a personal-record time of 4:29.13. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mainland's Gavin Petty prepares to put the shot. Petty placed 13th. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mainland's Javaris Estes (center) receives the baton from Javon Estes in the 4x100 relay. DeLand went on to win by just seven-hundredths of a second over Mainland — 42.62 to 42.69. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze's Kai Shirley (left) and FPC's Evan Johnson run in the 1,600 meters. Johnson placed sixth, edging Shirley by less than a second. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze's Richard Harman placed 11th in the 800 meters. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mainland's Trevor Howe (180) and Dominic Torres (191) and Seabreeze's Joseph Davis run in the boys 1,600-meter race. Howe, Davis and Torres finished ninth, 10th and 11th, respectively. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Abbie Blumengarten placed ninth in discus and seventh in shot put. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mainland's Elijah Canidate (right) runs behind DeLand's Marceles Carey in the final leg of the boys 4x100 relay. DeLand won with Mainland second. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze's Emily Chan carries the baton in the 4x100 relay. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze's Hunter Shuler (left) and Richard Harman run in the 1,600. Harman finished fourth, while Shuler was fifth. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Jack Wronowksi gets ready to throw the javelin. Wronowksi placed seventh in the event. The top two javelin throwers in the state, New Smyrna Beach's Brison Sullivan and FPC's La'Darius Simmons, placed first and second, respectively. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze's Kjon Willis, Mainland Kristian Willams and Deltona's DeShaun Joseph run in the 400-meter race. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Mateo Almeida (103) gains ground on Seabreeze's Hunter Shuler in the 3,200. Almeida finished second behind Spruce Creek's Carter Bell. Shuler finished fourth. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Samuel Lendor watches his shot put. Lendor finished sixth. FPC's Mekhi Jones placed fourth. Mainland's Michael London, a former FPC Bulldog, was the runner-up behind New Smyrna Beach's Brison Sullivan. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mainland's Shawn Holmes leads the boys 4x400, but the Bucs were unable to finish after dropping the baton. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Yasmin Polk runs anchor leg for Mainland in the girls 4x400. The Bucs won by more than 11 seconds with a time of 4:13.85. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Anna Grigoruk and Arianna Slaughter each earned points for FPC in four distance events. Photo by Brent Woronoff
The goal for the Flagler Palm Coast girls track and field team at the Five Star Conference meet was to put up enough points to wrench the trophy from Spruce Creek’s tight grasp. Fast times and stratospheric leaps and throws were not a priority. Those could wait for next week’s district meet.
The plan worked. The Bulldogs won their first Five Star Conference girls championship in 11 years on Friday, April 10, at FPC. They ended the Hawks’ streak of eight straight titles stretching back to 2016 (the meet was canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID).
FPC also won the boys championship for a Bulldogs sweep. But the boys title was not unexpected. It was the Bulldogs' 10th Five Star title in the past 12 meets. And they won in dominating fashion, defeating second-place Seabreeze, 201 points to 96. New Smyrna Beach was third with 89 points. Mainland and Spruce Creek tied for fourth place with 81 points.
“The boys, we figured we were going to do well, and we did even better,” FPC coach David Halliday said.
The Bulldogs were able cruise to the boys’ title even though they held out sprinter Jordan Haymon, who has the second-best time in Class 4A and is also a state contender in the 200.
The FPC girls, however, had to battle to the end. They secured the title in the next-to-last event, the 3,200-meter race, where the Bulldogs’ Arianna Slaughter and Anna Grigoruk finished first and second, respectively. FPC edged second-place Creek 187 to 176. Mainland was third with 105 points. Seabreeze was eighth with 16 points.
After the final points were tabulated, FPC girls coach Alycia Williams and the team danced and cheered with their new trophy.
This was definitely a team effort. We knew that if we wanted to win Five Star, we were going to have to struggle. And we were going to have to place high in all of our events. So that is what we did.
— ARIANNA SLAUGHTER
“It’s great,” said Halliday, who oversees FPC's track and cross country programs. “Coach Williams and the girls deserve all the accolades. Spruce Creek has been really strong, and they're still really strong this year. But, our girls ... I mean, Karina Marcelus is an amazing athlete, Ariana Slaughter is an amazing athlete and Anna Grigoruk — we asked them to do a lot today, and I felt a little guilty about it. But once we ran the numbers, and we thought we could beat Spruce Creek, you want to win that local grudge match … and get the kids to believe. That’s what the girls pulled off today.”
Marcelus won the long jump, triple jump and 100 hurdles and finished third in the 100-meter dash, setting two personal records (in long jump and 100 meters).
Slaughter won the 3,200- and the 1,600-meter distance races and finished second in the 800. She was also on the 4x800 winning relay team with Everly Mucciolo, Audrey Bowman and Grigoruk.
Grigoruk also placed fourth in both the 1,600 and 800 in addition to her runner-up finish in the 3,200.
“Getting a first and second in the 3,200 definitely helped to get those points back up to where they needed to be,” Grigoruk said. “The plan was to kind of sit on Spruce Creek’s back and then kick at the end. We were just going for place, not time, because at the end of the day, the place is what's going to get us the points.”
Spruce Creek’s Cameryn and Channing Irby finished third and fourth.
Slaughter said the heavy workload was not easy, and their times were slower as a result, but the strategy paid off.
“This was definitely a team effort,” she said. “We knew that if we wanted to win Five Star, we were going to have to struggle. And we were going to have to place high in all of our events. So that is what we did. We have such a small team, so we kind of got all loaded up with events, but no one backed down. They still fought their best, and they knew that getting those places was going to help the team. And that was kind of the motivator. But at district, regionals and states, we'll be back with some good times. Don't worry.”
FPC’s Logan Jacobelli had a big meet for the FPC boys, winning both the 200- and 400-meter races and setting PRs in both. His time of 21.23 seconds in the 200 is the fourth-fastest time among Class 4A athletes this season and is just off the school record of 21.01.
Jacobelli led a parade of four FPC runners to the finish in the 400 with Mikey Najpaver placing second, Justin Goings third and Gaige Herndon fourth.
Mainland’s Ethan Figueroa won the high jump and the triple jump and placed second in the long jump. He set a PR in the triple jump with a 42 foot, 7-inch leap. FPC’s Zac Murphy was second in triple jump and fourth in long jump.
Seabreeze’s Aidan O’Brien won the 100-meter dash with a PR time of 10.70 seconds. O’Brien also placed second to Jacobelli in the 200.
FPC’s Najir Eddins won the boys 400 hurdles and finished second in the 110 hurdles behind Seabreeze’s Drayton Brackett, who broke his own school record with a time of 15.16 seconds.
Brackett also placed fourth in the 400 hurdles. Seabreeze’s Dominic Dowell finished second in 400 hurdles and fourth in the 110. FPC’s Tonly Coates was third in the 400 hurdles with a PR time of 58.98 seconds.
FPC freshman Douglas Seth won the 1,600-meter race with a PR time of 4:29.13, winning by 5.6 seconds. But it was not the time he was shooting for.
“We were going for a 4:20,” he said. “And we were on pace to lap 3. We tried to stick to the plan and couldn't give up on the third lap, and then the fourth lap, we just paid for it. I won Five Star in cross country, so I got to win Five Star for the second time. I was aiming for a big PR but got a lsmall PR. I just got to keep working.”
Seth also ran a PR in the 800, finishing fourth. FPC sophomore Mateo Almeida placed second in the 3,200 and third in the 16,000.
New Smyrna’s Brison Sullivan and FPC’s La’Darius Simmons, the top two javelin throwers in the state, placed first and second, respectively, at Five Star. FPC’s Earnest Fingers won boys pole vault. Rhett Opalewski of FPC won the boys 800 with a PR time of 2:00.09.
Mainland’s Michael London won discus and was second in shot put with a PR throw of 47 feet, 2.5 inches.
The Buccaneers’ Dominic Torres, Liam Ciferri, Terris Gaines and Maddox Howe placed first in the 4x800. Mainland’s Javon Estes, Javaris Estes, Shawn Holmes and Elijah Canidate finished second in the 4x100. And the Bucs were leading the 4x400 before dropping the baton.
Among girls, Mainland’s Gabrielle Lett won the 200 with a time of 25.80 seconds and placed second in the 100. The Bucs’ Sydney Noelien won discus, Makayla Doe placed second in long jump and third in triple jump and Aquila Rivers placed third in the 400.
The Bucs also won two relay. events — the 4x400 (Rivers, Jalissa Rodney, Lett and Yasmin Polk) and the 4x100 (Tyler Darius, Arriana Kroytor, Rodney and Lett).
The Bulldogs' Danteria Rankin and Laniyah Walker were second and third in shot put. Walker also placed third in discus and Grace Taylor was third in javein.
Seabreeze’s Tabitha Hick placed third in both girls hurdles events.
