Two local individuals and a relay team walked out of the Class 4A track and field meet in Jacksonville with state titles in tow.
Flagler Palm Coast senior Karina Marcelus and Spruce Creek senior Mikayla Palmer earned championships in the triple jump and high jump, respectively, on May 9 at Hodges Stadium. The Bulldogs’ 4×400-meter boys relay team, consisting of junior Logan Jacobelli and seniors William Roberts, Michael Najpaver and Jordan Haymon, also locked down first place.
Marcelus won the triple jump with a 12.41-meter effort. She also finished as the runner-up in the 100-meter hurdles, turning in a time of 13.69 seconds.
One year after her third-place mark clinched a state championship for the Hawks, Palmer came back and captured individual gold during her final state meet. Her winning leap cleared 1.72 meters.
Spruce Creek tied for 12th in the girls standings. Its 19 points sat just in front of Flagler Palm Coast, which collected 18 points and tied for 14th. DeLand tied for 45th.
In addition to Palmer’s triumph, the Hawks scored in three other events.
Junior Jada Hawkins sped to fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.1 seconds. Senior Riley Bennett took sixth on the javelin leaderboard with a 35.54-meter throw. That put her one spot behind DeLand’s Krista Hansen, a freshman whose 35.63-meter throw landed her fifth.
And the Hawks’ 4×800-meter relay lineup worked its way to seventh place with a time of 9:26.96.
Creekside edged St. Thomas Aquinas, 47 to 45, for the girls state crown.
On the boys side, Flanagan ran away with the title. Flagler Palm Coast was the top Volusia-Flagler squad. It racked up 29 points, good for sixth. Spruce Creek was 22nd, and DeLand tied for 47th.
FPC’s victorious 4×400 relay team led the charge. Its time was 3:14.35.
Haymon tallied the best individual finish among local boys, grabbing second in the 400-meter dash with a 47.82-second time.
Flagler Palm Coast also got points from senior La’Darius Simmons and Jacobelli.
Simmons placed fourth in the javelin event with a 54.18-meter throw. That sandwiched him between third-place finisher Tryce Mills of Spruce Creek, who fired a 54.77-meter missile, and fifth-place finisher Connor York of DeLand, who launched a 54.17-meter toss.
Jacobelli sprinted to fifth in the 200-meter dash (21.27) and seventh in the 100-meter (10.53).
Spruce Creek’s Logan Whitehurst also secured sixth in the high jump at 1.92 meters.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia-Flagler athletes claim 3 Class 4A track and field championships
Reporting by Chris Vinel, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
