NSAF On-Site at Fla. state meet: STA girls, weather make headlines (updated)

by Steve Underwood

FHSAA Track Home

Schedule update (9 a.m. Friday): The FHSAA just announced, in consideration of the threatening weather conditions, that Friday's 1A-2A running events schedule (except for the 9 a.m. 4x800s, which are running as scheduled) will be "timed finals" only, starting at 1 p.m. and on a rolling schedule.  This change both eliminates prelims to condense the schedule and starts all of the finals earlier in order to be able to better adapt to weather delays.

Can St. Thomas Aquinas girls top themselves?

The biggest story of the Florida season, and certainly one of the very best nationally, has been the sprint and sprint relay magnificence shown by the girls of defending Florida 4A state champion STA.  The smoking performances individually and collectively by Krystal Sparling, Diamond Spaulding, Kendall Ellis and Khalifa St. Fort started in February.  But the Raiders dropped a nuclear bomb on the prep track world at the Texas Relays in late March when their 4x200m relay scorched the track with a national record 1:33.47.  It was clear these girls had the potential to run 1:35 or faster, but it’s probably safe to say that no one (perhaps outside of STA itself) expected them to blow up Long Beach Poly’s 2004 standard.  And just in case that wasn’t good enough for anyone, the Raiders – incredibly – did it again at the Florida Relays, hitting 1:33.43.

The Florida Relays 4x200 performance was the last of the regular season – it’s not a state meet event – so at last week’s regional meet, STA’s attention turned to the 4x100, 4x400 and individual events.  The half-lap clearly seems like the signature distance for these girls, even though 100 and 400 is nearly as good.  As it happened, conditions were ideal for fast 200s, with a 2.0 wind, and Sparling, St. Fort and Spaulding moved into US#1-2-4 with 23.34, 23.55 and 23.69 clockings.  Meanwhile, Sparling and St. Fort also moved to US#1-2 with 11.34 and 11.51 in the 100, and Ellis retook the national lead with a 53.09 400. 

It goes without saying that the Raider girls are expected to sweep these events, piling up massive points and possibly breaking state records.  Individually, the records are 11.39 (Octavious Freeman), 23.05 (Kali Davis-White) and 52.51 (Sanya Richards).  As for the relays, STA’s girls have also clocked US#3 45.50 for 4x100m (regional prelims) and 3:38.46 for the 4x400m (Texas Relays).  The records for those events are 45.71 and 3:43.68, both by Boyd Anderson.

Can STA lower those 4x100 and 4x400 bests this weekend, deeper into all-time territory?  Can Ellis break 53, or can Sparling or any of the others get into the low 23s or low 11s?  Unfortunately, a lot may depend upon the weather, which seriously hampered performances last year and is threatening to do so again this year (although Saturday now looks better for 3A and 4A finals).

More girls' sprints: Top-flight talent goes beyond STA

In the 4A girls’ sprints, it may seem like the STA show – especially in the 100 and 200 – but there’s far more to consider.  With her school having moved up from 3A, super soph Kaylin Whitney (East Ridge) will clash with Sparling, St. Fort and Spaulding in both short dashes.  Whitney – who swept the 3A 100 and 200 as a frosh – won Bob Hayes Invite 100/200 showdowns vs. the STA girls and Teahna Daniels (First Academy, junior), then Daniels (who’s in 3A) beat Whitney in the 100 at the Florida Relays.  The STA girls have gotten better since, though, and there are others to watch – like Dominique Bullock (Miami Southridge, senior) in the 100 and her frosh teammate Symone Mason in the 200, to name a few.  It could be argued that these will be the best state meet girls’ 100 and 200 races in the country.

STA’s aforementioned Kendall Ellis, a senior, should take the 4A 400 with room to spare, though the field is pretty stellar.  With her US#1 53.09 PR, she has a shot at Sanya Richards’ state record 52.51.  Four other girls have run sub-55 in 4A, including Destiny Washington (West Orange, senior) at US#4 54.16, Sharrika Barnett (Oak Ridge, junior) at US#5 54.20, Erin Ford (Royal Palm Beach, junior) at 54.65 and the previously mentioned Mason at 54.83.  By the way, Barnett and Ford are also in the 200.

The aforementioned Teanah Daniels, meanwhile, is the overwhelming favorite in the Class 1A 100, but in the 1A longer sprints, Gabrielle Gayles (Holy Trinity, senior) – with 23.94w and 54.76 PRs – is a mighty force and the favorite for that double.

With 11.73w and 24.12 seasonal marks, Deanna Hill (Lake Highland, senior) is the favorite in 2A to defend her 100 title and move up from 2nd to 1st in the 200.

Yes, the weather

Unfortunately, inclement weather will be a major player in this year’s meet, just as it was on the 3A-4A weekend last year.  It was clear some days ago that a system would be moving through the area in this approximate time frame, with temps falling 10-15 degrees below normal and the likelihood of heavy rains, lightning and perhaps worse.  The latest update, Friday morning, seems to promise frequent and occasionally heavy rain most of Friday, with the possibility of thunder and lightning – especially in the morning and early afternoon hours – and temps in the 60s.  Saturday now looks much better, with the system possibly clearing out in the late morning and giving way to cloudy, then clear conditions as the afternoon wears on, with temps getting to the mid-70s.

The FHSAA response to this (as of early Friday) has been to plan to start on time Friday morning, then have a “rolling schedule,” presumably to allow flexibility and wrap up the meet as soon as possible.  There was also notification of a 10 a.m. update Friday morning.  Saturday plans were not announced, but it’s likely most of the bad weather will be gone within the first few hours of the schedule.

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