HIGH SCHOOL TRACK AND FIELD FPC boys win local meet

   Propelled by double wins from Marcus Allen and Isaiah Joseph, as well as first places in two other events, Flagler Palm Coast won the Volusia Flagler Freshman Sophomore boys meet at Spruce Creek last week.

    Allen and Joseph won four of the running events finals to get 40 points towards FPC’s 139 point total, 20 more than runnerup University. Matanzas was ninth as a team, with most of its points secured by Braden Cox in two throwing events.

   In the girls meet, FPC had a first place in one of the relay events for second place with 72.5 points. Spruce Creek, helped by a triple win from its distance sensation Olivia Niewald, won the team trophy with 259 points. Matanzas was ninth with 22 points and got wins from sprinter Tinaya Walker and high jumper Jordan Youngman.

    Joseph opened the running finals with a win in the 110 hurdles in a time of 17.32 seconds and later took the 300 hurdles in 43.99 seconds. Allen was first in the 100-meter dash in 11.65 seconds and also captured the 200 in 23.29. Benjamin Higgs gave FPC another individual event win with a 7-10 1/2 finish in the pole vault, and the Bulldogs closed the meet with a win in the 4x400 relay, timed at 3:34.

   The Bulldogs scored in most of the events, with Ashton Bracewell taking second in the high jump (5-4 1/2) and Dennis Murray taking fourth in the 400 meters at 53.27 seconds. Jake Blumenthal was third in the shot put at 35-8 and FPC was fifth in the 4x800 relay in 9:46.20. Bracewell added a third-place finish in the 110 hurdles and fifth in the 300s, and Murray was fourth in the 200 with teammates D’Ziarth Steward and Brandon Kalasnick taking third and seventh in that event. Kalasnick was fifth in the 400 as well.

   Also scoring for FPC were Chandler Lane, sixth in the 110 hurdles; Eduardo Rodriguez, third in the pole vault; Joseph Wronowski and Thomas Sturman, second and third in the javelin; and Levi Hayworth, third in the discus.

   Matanzas got a lot of points from Cox, who won the discus with a toss of 126-4 and the javelin in 117-2, along with a fourth-place finish in the shot put. Zach Spooner placed in two distance events for the Pirates, going 10:51.11 in the 3,200 meters for second place and 4:54.10 in the 1,600 for seventh. Sho’Marion Gaines placed twice for Matanzas in the sprints, taking fourth in the 100 at 11.74 seconds and eighth in the 200.

  The girls’ meet was dominated by Spruce Creek, but both Matanzas and FPC had their moments. Tinaya Walker won the 100 meters outright in 13.34 seconds and Jordan Youngman jumped 4-5 to win the high jump to give Matanzas a double win. The Lady Pirates scored Sierra Howard with a seventh place in the 400 meters (1:06.59) and had a fourth-place showing in the 4x400 relay (4:45.22).

    FPC won only one of the events, taking the 4x400 relay in 4:32.43, but placed well in others, including a second place in the 4x800 relay at 10:42.52.

   Genesis Epstein took second in the 3,200-meter run at 13:09.60 and was third in the 3,200 at 5:57.68. Teammate Kayleigh Johnson was sixth in the 1,600. Also getting a third place was Summer Barnes, who ran 1:04.94 in the 400, and she took fifth in the 200. Another third-place finisher was Haley McLeer in the pole vault at 5-10 3/4, with Mia Nilsen taking fifth in that event.

    My’Shuyn Jeffers captured fourth in the 200 at 29.13 seconds and she placed eighth in the pole vault. Also getting fourth place was 800-meter runner Savannah O’Grady (2:33.41); Shy LeBlanc did fifth in the 400 meters (1:05.54) and was seventh in the high jump (4-2)