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District track roundup: Wharton girls romp

 
Published April 16, 2015

TAMPA — The winning squads from 2014 won Wednesday's Class 4A, District 6 meet at Wharton. The host Wildcat girls carried the day with 208.5 points to Steinbrenner's 134.5. The Steinbrenner boys held for their third straight team title, 197 points to Alonso's 158.5.

The Wharton girls asserted their dominance at the Hillsborough County meet. With the field pared down to six teams Wednesday, the Wildcats rolled.

Even the vaunted Steinbrenner 4x800-meter relay team, which boasts the third-best time in the state, couldn't hold up to the Wildcat avalanche of athletes. Wharton's Serena Gadson, Bryanna Rivers, Searra Woods and Rania Samhouri ran a 9:35.69 to clip the Warriors by nine seconds and take over the eighth-best time in Florida this year.

Wharton's V'Onte Williams is one of the dominant sprinters in Tampa. He flexed his sprinting prowess and scored 28 points on his own, 38 if you count the winning 4x100 relay. He set a personal record in the high jump at 6-2 but took second based on scratches. Then he set down a 10.78 to win the 100 and a 22.05 to win the 200. Teammate Allan Robinson was Williams' best competition in the 100 (10.99) and 200 (22.98).

Wharton runners Aria Tate and Bryanna Rivers mopped up district titles with barely enough time to catch their breath. Tate won the 100 hurdles in 15.49 and barely had time to get a drink of water before lining up for the 100 finals, winning in 12.60.

"I just try to get as much water as possible (during the break). I'm already warm from the hurdles; there's no time to stretch," Tate said.

Tate returned to win the 200 in 26.19.

Rivers won the 1,600 (5:20.81) after holding off Steinbrenner freshman Kamryn Anderson and Alonso's Makayla Byrd. In the 800, Rivers had to battle through a fast lead pack through the first lap, only to incinerate them on the second and finish in 2:16.87, the 10th-best time in the state.

"I knew people would get out fast. I just wanted to stay with them and then on the second lap just give it my all," Rivers said.

Steinbrenner's Cody Burgess swept the boys hurdles (15.19 in 110; 38.91 in 300). Teammate Emma Stevens won the girls 300 with a great effort over the last hurdle (47.35), topping Wharton's D'Andra McFarlane (47.89).

Odds and ends: Steinbrenner's Tiyera Joseph set a personal record of 57.75 to win the 400. …Sickles' James Zentmeyer swept the boys distance events, 4:30.11 in the 1,600 and 9:50.42 in the 3,200. …The Alonso boys bookended the meet with wins in the 4x800 (8:09.28) and 4x400 (3:26.48). …The Freedom girls 4x100 relay team followed up its county win with a 49.10. Coach Dwight Smith hopes to hit low 48s at regionals. Maczuga also won the high jump at 5-5.

Terrier girls make most of talent

RIVERVIEW — An undermanned Hillsborough girls team made it back-to-back titles, and the Armwood boys won Wednesday in the Class 3A, District 9 meet at Spoto.

The Terriers, with a roster of just 12 girls, tallied 127 points to finish with a comfortable lead over runnerup King (113). Hillsborough excelled in the sprints and field events and came away with seven victories.

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"We didn't have any distance people, so we had to make up for it in the field events," Hillsborough coach Jean Wiser said.

Jada Roberson led the Terriers with 30 points on wins in the long jump (17-07), triple jump (35-04.50) and 100 (12.56). Deneesha Davidson, who won the 300 hurdles (45.76) and was second in the triple jump (35-0.50), contributed 22 points; and Chloe Jones, winner of the shot put (38-07) and discus (109-01), added 20.

"Talent," is how Wiser described her top three point-getters. Wiser could have added Serena Jonas, the high jump winner (4-08) and discus runnerup (88-04) to that list.

Other multiple winners for the girls were Chamberlain's Maggie Parrish in the 1,600 (5:42.22) and 3,200 (11:56.14); and King's Michayla Williams in the 100 hurdles (14.71) and 200 (26.60).

Additionally, Middleton won two relays, the 4x800 (10:18.15) and 4x100 (48.55).

Jerome Ford had two individual wins and was part of a winning relay team, which helped the Armwood boys outscore Hillsborough 121-115.5. Ford won the 100 (10.98) and 200 (22.61), and anchored the winning 4x100 relay team (42.52) that included Markis Firlow, Lorenzo George and Moses Wells.

Armwood's Byron Cowart won the discus (138-10) and was a runnerup in the shot put (49-08) to teammate Jordan Griffin (50-11). The Hawks' other victory was by Jordan Greene in the 110 hurdles (14.85).

Hillsborough got wins from Duran Bell in the 400 (49.54) and the 4x800 relay team (8:22.82) that included Bell, Jalen Chambers, Izanami Cobos and Junaid James.

Steve Lee, Times correspondent