- March 17, 2026
FPC's Anna Grigoruk runs in the 800-meter run. Grigoruk placed third with a personal-record time of 2:23.11. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC freshman Douglas Seth runs between May River's Talan Farrington and Vanguard's Jaylen Blackburn in the 3,200-meter run. Seth placed second with a PR time of 9:44.17, while Farrington finished third and Blackburn was fifth. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Douglas Seth, who placed second, leads third-place finisher Talan Farrington of May River in the 3,200-meter run. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Tyler Phok (right) runs with Palatka's Keilan McGinnis (left) and Mandarin's Alex Cardona in the 800-meters. Phok came in 15th out of 28 runners who finished the race. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Anna Grigoruk grabs the baton from Karina Marcelus in the 4x400 relay. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Ayden Peterson runs in the 800. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Douglas Seth (159) finished the 3,200-meter run in second place with a personal-record time of 9:44.17. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Anna Grigoruk runs neck and neck with Palatka's Ah'Tilah Dean in the 800 meters. Dean won the race. Grigoruk finished third with a personal-record time of 2:23.11. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Ayden Peterson (right) ran in the 800 and the 4x800. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Flagler Palm Coast track and field coach Dave Halliday sat his juniors and seniors down for a mid-season pow wow last week. The highly competitive North vs. South Challenge at FPC was in two days. The state championships were just eight weeks away.
“I told them [the North vs. South Challenge] with these Miami teams coming in is a great opportunity, and they shouldn’t shy away from it,” Halliday said. “I told them to embrace it. ‘Whether it’s win or lose, are you getting better? How are you improving every week?’ I was telling them, ‘How do you want to write your story and how do you want it to look in the next eight weeks to the state championships?’”
The Bulldogs accepted Halliday’s challenge with the boys team placing second and the girls team placing third at the fifth annual North vs. South Challenge on Friday, March 13, at Sal Campanella Stadium.
Along the way, the Bulldogs demolished personal records, approached and surpassed school records and moved up in the state rankings.
“We had some pretty big breakthroughs,” Halliday said. “We did very well.”
I told them [the North vs. South Challenge] with these Miami teams coming in is a great opportunity, and they shouldn’t shy away from it. I told them to embrace it.
— DAVE HALLIDAY, FPC track and field coach
Karina Marcelus won both the girls 100-meter hurdles, with her second best time of 14.32 seconds, and the triple jump with a personal best 39 feet, 1.25 inches.
But it was javelin thrower La’Darius Simmons who made the biggest leap. Simmons set a PR by almost nine meters with a throw of 62.09 meters (203 feet, 8 inches), shattering the old school record of 57.04 meters set by Levi Hayworth in 2024. Simmons now ranks first in the state in Class 4A and second among all classifications behind New Smyrna Beach’s Brison Smith (63.41).
Halliday said Simmons is following a trend of other standout throwers who showed potential in practice weeks before suddenly breaking through at a meet.
“They would start doing it in practice, but it would take about two or three weeks, and then all of a sudden, wham, it would happen,” Halliday said. “LaDarius has been practicing very well.”
He won the event by almost 6 meters over Miami Belen Jesuit Prep’s Jaime Saavedra. And Simmons’ winning throw was no fluke, Halliday said, because all three of his throws were in the same range.
Arianna Slaughter also destroyed her personal record in winning the 1,600 meters with a time of 5:09.76, less than seven-tenths of a second behind Jada Williams’ school mark of 5:09.08. Slaughter’s previous best time was a 5:24.66, which she ran a year ago.
Jordan Haymon won the boys 200 meters in 21.42 seconds, the second fastest time in school history behind Tyler Cue’s mark of 21.01 set in 2011. What made the performance more remarkable is Haymon felt his hamstring tighten at the end of the curve, about halfway through the race, and then managed to pass the leader.
“I was like 10 meters down,” he said. “I had to play catch-up.”
Both Haymon and Logan Jacobelli appeared to break the school record of 10.66 seconds in the 100 meters, but a technical malfunction invalidated the race and forced a do-over.
“It was unfortunate. I think they probably ran 10.5,” Halliday said.
Jacobelli wound up finishing fourth with a time of 10.74 seconds. Haymon was fifth with a PR time of 10.77. Playing it safe with his hamstring, Haymon did not run in the 4x400 relay. He also didn’t run in the 400, his best event, because the faster runners at the meet were in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, Halliday said. Haymon’s top 400 time of 47.74 seconds ranks first in Class 4A and is second in the school record books.
Haymon will run in only the 400 and 4x400 at the Bob Hayes Invitational on March 21 at UNF, Halliday said, adding that Haymon loves the 400. But that wasn’t always the case.
“I used to hate it,” Haymon said. “But I don’t know, it just grew on me.”
The senior missed the state championships last year with an injury, so he is being cautious with his hamstring. In Haymon’s absence, FPC’s Will Roberts won the 400 with a time of 50.09 seconds. Michael Najpaver, Jacobelli, Roberts and Haymon placed second in the 4x200. The Bulldogs also placed second in the 4x400 without Haymon.
And Douglas Seth, Ayden Peterson, Owen Stackpole and Justin Goings placed second in the 4x800 with a PR time of 8:04.97, just seven-hundredths of a second behind Fleming Island. Peterson consoled Goings who lost the lead at the end.
“Ayden said, ‘Hey it doesn't matter what we do today. It matters what we do in eight weeks, but today you helped us get better,’’’ Halliday said. “The other three guys didn't care that we got second. They're like, ‘Golly, we finally put a PR and we finally put four legs together.’ And now they're ranked fourth in 4A.”
Seth placed second in the 3,200 with a PR time of 9:44.17. Anna Grigoruk was third in the girls 800 with a PR time of 2:23.11. Audrey Bowman was third in the 3,200 in 12:28.6. And Grace Taylor was third in javelin with a throw of 30.39 meters (99 feet, 8 inches).
Tallahassee Lincoln won the boys team title with 115 points, topping FPC (86 points) and Miami Columbus (82 points). Miami Northwestern cruised to the girls title with 163 points. Oakleaf was second with 68, edging FPC with 66 and Lincoln and Spruce Creek, each with 64 points.
