BY: Charlie Hilley
This past week the Ponte Vedra High School (PVHS) Track Team hosted the Northeast Florida 3A District Meet, and gave an astounding performance of athleticism beyond all expectations. The PVHS Track Team won not just the Boy’s 1st place team award, but the Overall 1st place position for the Northeast District as well. A great number of PVHS athletes across grade levels performed exceptionally well, and earned these positions through their hard work all season.
The boys team gave an incredible display at the District meet, and while not without setbacks, the overall performance of these athletes was without measure. The most notable performances by the boys were seen from athletes senior Colin Butler, senior Gabe Engl, junior Luke Ross, and junior Miles Wicks. Butler swept away the competition to receive the 1st place positions in both the discus and the shot put with PRs of 57.49m and 15.15m, both of which were followed by fellow PVHS senior athlete Brody McLeod in 2nd scoring 41.98m and 14.48m. Engl suffered an unfortunate disqualification in the 110m hurdles due to a false start, however he was later able to come back and redeem himself by winning the 1st place in the 400m hurdles with a time of 57.62. The long distance events however were championed by none other than juniors Ross, who won 1st in the 3200m with 9:39.94 and 3rd in the 1600m with 4:30.35, and Wicks, who won 1st in the 800m with 1:56.96 and 2nd in the 1600m with 4:25.54. Further impressive achievements were marked by the boys pole vaulters junior Charlie Hilley, senior William Hankee, and sophomore Kian Martell, who each earned 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in that order with jumps of 3.6m, 3.45m, and 3.3m. Along with this, junior long jumper Carter Stoltz managed a PR to earn himself a much deserved 3rd place with a 6.07m jump.
“A much needed boost of inspiration for the rest of the team. It was a reminder that this was our house.”
William hankee (12)
The girls team also gave an incredible performance at the District meet, with several first year athletes making vast improvements throughout the season to cement their own positions in the leaderboards, most notably being junior Adelaide Gupton who battled through several vicious injuries to earn the 2nd place position in the javelin with a remarkable 31.07m throw. Marking a massive PR for Gupton very early in the meet, this achievement gave what senior Captain William Hankee described as, “A much needed boost of inspiration for the rest of the team. It was a reminder that this was our house.” A similar incredible performance from a first year athlete was seen by sophomore Alyssa Abruzzini, with massive PRs in both the high jump and triple jump, earning herself the 1st and 3rd place positions with jumps of 1.52m and 10.28m respectively. Further 1st place victories were soon also won by junior athletes Olivia Kaminsky in the 3200m with 11:50.59, and Savannah LaVasser in the 1600m with 5:12:10. LaVasser continued to dominate in the shorter distance events later as well, earning the 3rd place in the 800m as well with a mark of 2:20.26. The same 3200m won by Kaminskey was followed closely behind by sophomore Rio Ossi in 2nd with a time of 11:55.00, as was the 1600m by sophomore athlete Cailyn Douglas in 3rd place at 5:13.83. Several senior athletes also gave remarkable and tone setting performances later in the evening, with senior Milena Wright placing first in the 100m Hurdles with an unbelievable mark at 15.23, and senior Zoie Cuevas placing 3rd in both the shot put and discus with throws of 9.99 and 31.04. Additionally, juniors Hollis Keebaugh and Lexi Fitzgerald both gave tremendous performances to earn themselves the 2nd and 3rd place spots in the pole vault with marks of 3.15m and 3.00m.
With the accompanied podium finishes in the boys 4×800 (8:15.14), 4×400 (3:28.14), and 4×100 (43.52), along with the girls 4×800 (10:10.89), and 4×100 (50.12), the PVHS Track team as a whole won the Northeast District 3A Meet by a sweeping quantity. This marks the 4th District meet of the past five years won by the PVHS team, and was made possible by multiple venue records and a staggering number of PRs. A total number of 42 athletes from PVHS have qualified for the Regionals meet in Pensacola Florida on the 2nd of May, and it has been through their hard work all season long that has gotten them where they are now.
Pictured: Miles Wicks, Gabe Engl, and Cole Leschinski all holding a shoe to their ear (@jv._.visuals)
