Bolles girls use balance to win fourth FHSAA track and field championship

Moments after crossing the finish line for the first victory of the day, Layne Rivera identified the theme of the day for Bolles.

Hold that pace.

"We knew to hold our pace and keep running the race we always run," Rivera said.

A great start. An even better finish.

Steady scoring brought Bolles the overall girls title Saturday morning at the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 2A track and field championships, a banner day for athletes across the First Coast.

It took a while - victory wasn't secure until the concluding 4x400-meter girls relay - but the Bulldogs captured the fourth FHSAA girls track championship in school history, following earlier triumphs in 2014, 2016 and 2017.

Depth came through: Bolles scored in nine events.

"The pole vault and the 4x800 and the javelin gave us a bump at the beginning," Bolles girls track coach Mike Rivera said. "The girls then knew what they had to get done, and they did it."

Maxine Montoya's third in the 1,600 and Leila Bata's second in the 800 brought big points in addition to the two event wins.

The pivotal event came in the 3,200, when the Bulldogs placed fourth, seventh and eighth to vault ahead of South Walton. Bolles ultimately finished with 62 points, eight clear of South Walton.

The Bulldogs opened the morning with victory in the 4x800 girls relay, with Catherine Kunz, Hadley Ropp, Bata and Layne Rivera crossing the line in 9:31.46 ahead of South Walton and Episcopal.

Bolles also won the girls pole vault under unusual circumstances. Bolles overall state leader Audrey Wuerffel was locked in a one-on-one contest with Montverde's Kai Eisenhardt when Eisenhardt crashed hard on her third attempt at 11 feet, 9.75 inches. She rose to her feet but was unable to continue vaulting.

Wuerffel earned the Class 2A title, but stood alongside Eisenhardt atop the podium for the medal ceremony.

"I really, honestly, think she deserves a medal," Wuerffel said. "She was jumping so well."

Bolles' George Duffy was runner-up in the boys shot put and the Bolles boys 4x800 relay placed third, leading the Bulldogs' boys to fourth overall.

But Bolles was just one of the Northeast Florida teams celebrating.

Paxon's Asia Stanford, Rose-Esther Saint-Germain, Serenity Wade and Kennedi DeVoux romped away with the girls 4x100 relay in 48.37, winning by more than a second over Sarasota Booker and Bishop Kenny.

Then, Stanford and Saint-Germain combined with Strickland and Danielle Gill to win the 4x400, holding off Episcopal in a tense finish. 

"We put our hearts into this," Gill said.

The Raines boys 4x400 quartet of Quincy Burroughs, Kareem Burke, Jaquon King and Kenton Kirkland captured its latest title, beating the field by nearly four seconds.

The Vikings' Harrison Robinson also earned gold, rocketing from the start to win the boys 110 hurdles in 14.29 ahead of Weeki Wachee's David Richards and Yulee's Sam Thompson.

"As soon as I got out of the blocks," Robinson said, "I knew I had to be fastest to the first hurdle."

Those results, plus high finishes like Kirkland's individual third in the 400, helped Raines place third overall in boys team standings.

Adding to the city's relay delight was the Jackson boys 4x100 team of Justyn Bland, Cornelius Cooks, Ronald Hargrove and Traunard Folson, victors in 41.55.

"We were bringing it back home," Cooks said.

Palatka's Torryence Poole picked the perfect time for a personal best, a heave of 42 feet, 2 1/4 inches to win the girls shot put by more than a foot.

"I thought once they had seen me do that, they were going to try harder," she said. "I was not expecting that [to hold up for first place]."

Chandler Smith won the 100 and 200, leading Bishop Moore to the boys team title and denying locals a pair of sprint titles in the process. Ribault's Domictress Robinson placed second in both sprints, with Paxon's Aubrey Bryant third in the 100 and Cooks third in the 200.

Bishop Kenny earned a series of early top-three finishes. Katie White took second in the girls javelin, and Noah Straley placed second in the boys long jump, while Jayden Harris came in third in the boys high jump.