After sweeping both Five Star Conference championships, Flagler Palm Coast athletes won eight events at the District 2-4A track and field meet on April 18 at Seminole High School.
The titles were split evenly with four girls and four boys, leading the Bulldogs to a second-place finish on the boys side and a fourth-place girls finish.
Flagler Palm Coast’s four girls district titles were won by Karina Marcelus and Arianna Slaughter, who claimed two each.
Marcelus, a three-event Five Star winner, triumphed with a 14.42-second run in the 100-meter hurdles and an 11.89-meter triple jump. Slaughter took home gold in the 800- (2:19.3) and 1,600-meter (5:11.37) runs.
Marcelus was the Bulldogs’ only field champion, as Slaughter and all four boys champions won on the track.
Flagler Palm Coast has a claim to be the fastest boys team in its district, as all four individual titles were in the sprint events, which are classified as runs 400 meters or shorter.
Logan Jacobelli was the 100-meter champion with a blistering 10.78-second burst that puts him among the fastest sprinters in the Volusia-Flagler area. Najir Eddins followed Jacobelli’s efforts with a 15.2-second mark in the 110-meter hurdles to win gold.
William Roberts (49.73 seconds) and Michael Najpaver (49.81) took home first and second place with a close finish in the 400-meter. It’s no surprise the Bulldogs then won the boys 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:21.89.
While Flagler Palm Coast won on the track, Spruce Creek was the exact opposite.
Jada Hawkins had the Hawks’ only running title with a 56.3-second sprint in the girls 400-meter, but they had four champions in the field en route to a fifth-place girls finish and a sixth-place boys finish.
Three of Spruce Creek’s field victors were on the boys side. Tryce Mills threw a javelin 54.28 meters, Braden Olsen recorded a 14.26-meter shot put and Logan Whitehurst high-jumped 1.92 meters to win their respective championships.
The Hawks swept the high jump with Mikayla Palmer’s 1.67-meter leap claiming first place.
The only local champion that wasn’t competing for Flagler Palm Coast or Spruce Creek was DeLand’s Krista Hansen. Hansen won individual titles in the javelin (36.99 meters) and the 400-meter hurdles (1:06.55) to join Marcelus and Slaughter as the only Volusia-Flagler athletes to win multiple individual events at a district meet.
Qualifying athletes will compete at the Region 1-4A meet, which also takes place at Seminole, on May 2.
District 4-3A
Matanzas was the only Volusia-Flagler area representative at the District 4-3A track meet on April 18 at Ponte Vedra High School.
While the Pirates’ boys finished sixth out of nine competing teams and their girls finished in eighth out of eight programs, they did crown two individual champions.
All-state cross country runner Peyton Cerasi established success on the track, winning the girls 3,200-meter by nearly 12 seconds with a time of 11:38.91. She almost won the 1600-meter race as well but lost to Ponte Vedra’s Savannah LaVasser, who finished with a 5:12.1 mark, by 0.55 seconds.
Jayden McCoy won the triple jump with a 12.94-meter leap, finishing just ahead of Riverside’s Troy Davis (12.82) and fellow Pirate Joshua Mills (12.76).
Despite having a champion in the girls 3,200 and two podium finishers in the boys triple jump, the boys 3,200-meter was Matanzas’ highest-scoring event. Dylan Ciardi, Brant Tarsitano and Blaine Vogel finished second, third and fourth to record 19 points for the Pirates.
The next step for Cerasi, McCoy and other eligible athletes is the Region 2-3A meet on May 2 at George Jenkins High School.
District 6-2A
Like Matanzas, Atlantic was the only local school participating at the District 6-2A meet.
Mekhi Yan was the Sharks’ only champion with a 1.87-meter boys high jump. He’ll compete at the Region 2-2A meet on May 1 at Wildwood High School.
Atlantic finished fifth out of six schools in the boys and girls competitions.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Several FPC, Spruce Creek athletes win district track and field titles
Reporting by Zach Allen, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
