TAMPA — It came as little surprise that Steinbrenner swept the Hillsborough County American Division meet at Jefferson High on Wednesday. After all, the Warrior boys were the county runners-up in 2015 and the girls were third at last year's county meet.
The Steinbrenner girls made it their third straight division title and the boys their second. The Warrior girls tallied 239.66 points to Gaither's 127.50, and the boys had 184 to Jefferson's 80. The Blake boys were a close third with 75.
The Warrior girls have been on a tear after winning the Ed Wells Kiwanis meet at Clearwater High. Middle distance runner Tiyera Joseph and thrower Samantha Davila stole the spotlight Wednesday. Joseph had run 57.66 in the 400 meters on three separate occasions, but she finally broke through with a 57.00, which breaks into the top 20 times in the state this season. It was a personal record for Joseph in an uncontested race. No other runner came in under a minute. Joseph, Taylor Hotchkiss, Emma Stevens and freshman Natalie Brown combined to win the 4x400 in 4:08.92 to cap the evening.
"After the 400 meters, I wasn't even tired I was so excited," Joseph said.
Davila swept the throws with a 36-3.5 in shot and a 99-4 in disc. It marked Davila's third straight division title in the shot and second in the disc. Emily Petrus won the 800 in 2:26.77 for her second division title. Hotchkiss and Stevens still had solid outings as Hotchkiss won the long jump at 16-3.5 and took second in the 300 hurdles. On the boys side, Jacob Goncalves won the high jump at 6-2. Ian Campbell won the 3,200 in 10:15.68
Gaither's girls also stormed onto the scene. The Cowboys have a potent tandem in freshman LaSarah Hargrove and junior Alessa Sandusky. Hargrove, not far removed from competing at Ben Hill Middle School, won both sprints in personal-record times. After going 12.33 in the 100 prelims, Hargrove set down a 12.11, top 20 in the state. Hargrove followed it up by beating Steinbrenner's Joseph, who broke her own PR in the prelims with a 25.43, to the tape in the 200 (25.14).
"This year, it's been a matter of just training harder and getting more serious about the sport," Hargrove said. "I'm still not happy yet."
Sandusky had stout challenges in both of her hurdle events. First, she held off Steinbrenner's Hotchkiss 14.72 to 14.81 in the 100 hurdles, where even Hotchkiss' PR wasn't fast enough to clip Sandusky. In the 300 hurdles, Hotchkiss got out to a big lead and was comfortably in front through the turn until Sandusky turned on the jets and broke the tape at 45.33. Both times were PRs for Sandusky and her 300 time cracks the state top 20.
"That race (300 hurdles) is won on the straightaway," Sandusky said. "I just wanted to stay with (Hotchkiss) and give it all I had on the straightaway."
French foreign exchange student Prudence Vanpoulle added to the Gaither girls score with wins in both the 1,600 and 3,200, in 5:29.40 and 11:55.00, respectively.
"The girls team is really strong for us this year," Gaither coach Patrick Geanconteri said. "We're winning meets we haven't won before."
The distance events left a little to be desired as both Plant squads stayed out of individual events since they're competing in this weekend's FSU Relays. Cross country dynamos Quasan Markowski and Rob Leverone led the winning 4x800 relay to start the day (8:15.95). Miles Waite and Walker Thomas kicked in legs. Then the team of Susie Goewey, Gillian Minnehan, Nadia Stratten and Grace Summers won the girls 4x800 in 10:11.30.
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Explore all your optionsThe Blake boys had a fine evening, led by senior Isaiah Rodgers, who recently accepted a football scholarship to UMass. Rodgers was in just his first meet back from a hip injury, but set down a 10.88 to win the 100, just seven-hundredths off his PR. Rodgers even stumbled out of the blocks in the final and still found enough fuel to win it. Rodgers came back and beat Sickles' Andrew Vendrone in the 400 (49.73).
"I didn't know (Vendrone) was going to turn up like that," Rodgers said. "I've been out since February, this is shocking me, too."
Yellow Jacket teammate Charlie Thomas swept the hurdle events, going 14.60 to win the 110s and 39.06 to win the 300s. Both Rodgers and Thomas, together with Jaquan Cook and Omar Austin, combined to dominate the 4x400m relay in 3:25.09.
Vendrone didn't go home without a first-place medal, however. The Embry-Riddle signee went 22.38 to win the 200.
Robinson's Keldric Preston won the boys discus at 138-4.5. Plant's Ryan Piticisi won the boys pole vault at 12-6 with Gaither's Carter Palasti in second at 12-0. Sickles' Paris Williams won the boys 1,600 in 4:37.85, just off his PR.