PSJ girls track wins regional championship

Tallahassee Maclay used numbers to edge the Port St. Joe girls during the District 2-1A track and field meet on April 12.

The Lady Tiger Sharks returned the favor with quality at last weekend's Region 1-1A meet at Maclay.

The Lady Tiger Sharks received points from all eight girls who competed to down Maclay 130-111 - the only two teams with more than 100 points - for the team title and advanced all eight members of the team to the state Class 1A track meet at Winter Park on Friday.

Port St. Joe will also take a pair of boys to Winter Park, as Parker Harris won the pole vault and Travis Dailey the shot put.

The top four qualifiers in each event advanced.

The Port St. Joe girls have fashioned a quiet confidence from a squad that finished third in the state last year and has designs on joining the high school ring of honor reserved for state titleholders.

"They have come out every day and worked hard, just like we have asked them," said Port St. Joe coach Kenny Parker. "They are feeling it. They aren't cocky, but they are feeling it."

As has been the case for the past two years, the Lady Tiger Sharks were paced by Kayla Parker, but the sophomore phenom had plenty of help.

Parker won the 100 meters in 12.04, more than a half-second ahead of the second-place finisher and also breezed to win in the 100 meter hurdles in 15.05, ahead of teammate Mariah Johnson, who this year added the 100 hurdles to her standout performances in the 300 hurdles.

Parker also won the 200 meters in 25.74 with teammate Fanequa Larry making that event another 1-2 Port St. Joe sweep.

Parker won the long jump - she is limited to three track events and one field event or vice versa - with a leap of 18 feet, 8½ inches, nearly a foot beyond the runner-up and completing a day in which she added 40 points to the Port St. Joe total.

Natasha Allen also scored in the long jump with a fifth-place effort.

Johnson added a blazing victory in the 300 hurdles, running 46.10, more than two seconds ahead of the field. Samone Smiley added 16 points for the Lady Tiger Sharks, winning the shot put with a toss of 38-9, nearly four feet beyond the field, and finishing third in the discus with a throw of 112-9.

The Lady Tiger Sharks 4x400 team added to the bevy of blue ribbons in a time of 4:04.36, edging St. Johns Country Day by four-hundredths of a second. The unit features Tayler Byrd, Naomi Warren, Larry and Johnson.

In addition to finishing second in the 200 to Parker, Larry led an impressive showing in the 400 meters, with Larry winning in 59.88 with Byrd fourth and Warren sixth.

Ashleigh Lewis took seventh and added two points in the 800 meters and did the same in the pole vault. In the triple jump, Larry took second and Allen fifth to further pad the Lady Tiger Sharks' point total.

All eight girls will go to state because Lewis and Allen are both alternates on the 4x400 team.

"If we keep competing like we have been competing, competing every week, we will be fine," Coach Parker said. "We have just been getting off the bus, stretching and competing. If we do that at state, we will be fine. They all know we are coming."

Given the paucity of boys athletes out for track, the showing of Harris and Dailey was good enough to place the Tiger Sharks 11th out of 21 teams in the region.

Harris' winning vault of 14 feet was one foot above the runner-up and Dailey, after setting a personal best early in the competition to reach third, let go a heave of 47-5½ to win the shot put.

"He surprised even himself," Coach Parker said.

Wewahitchka: Billy Naylor and Kayla Williams led the way for Wewahitchka at the region meet.

Naylor was a winner in the 800 meters edging Whitney Strickland of North Florida Christian with a time of 1:59.08 after a sprint to the wire. He won the 1,600 meters in 4:30.86.

For the boys, the Gators' 4x800 relay team of Geoffrey Manor, Colton Price, Josh Mitchell and Andrew Bidwell earned a trip to state with a fourth-place finish.

Wewahitchka's 4x400 relay team of Mitchell, Price, Manor and Naylor finished second and will also travel to Winter Park.

Price finished just out of the points race with a ninth in the 400 meters, as did Chris Peak with a ninth-place finish in the 200 meters.

The Lady Gators finished 11th and the boys eighth. Williams was second in the long jump, falling two inches short of first. Natalya Miller took fourth in the 1,600 meters and Miller just missed qualifying for the 3,200 meters, but added some points to the team total with a sixth-place finish.