Ethan Exilhomme’s goal to be a track state champion was born in Massachusetts, just like he was.
His mission was accomplished Saturday night, in Florida.
Exilhomme, who moved from outside Boston to Orlando as a junior in 2019, made it happen by winning the 110-meter high hurdles at the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 4A state track and field championships at the University of North Florida.
The Timber Creek senior and Northeastern University signee ran a time of 13.77 seconds into a slight headwind to crush the competition.
“My sophomore year I made the goal to be a state champion,” Exilhomme said. “I thought then it would be in Massachusetts. It means even more to win in Florida because the competition is so strong here. It’s a bigger accomplishment to do it here. It feels really, really good.”
Exilhomme dominated his hurdles race from start to finish and then followed up in the very next event with a second-place showing in the 100-meter dash. That’s a double that few sprinters dare attempt because the races are a matter of minutes apart. He clocked a 10.75 second time for the dash to finish second just inches behind the surprise race winner, Taylor Gant of Lakeland.
Exilhomme later capped his Timber Creek career with a fourth-place finish in the 200.
Seminole senior Jimmy Horn Sr. was fourth in the 100 at 10.81 as part of his own busy day. The USF football signee won the long jump and placed in the triple jump, and shortly after running the 100 he helped the ‘Noles win the 4×100-meter relay in a time of 41.12 seconds.
Lake Brantley was second in the sprint relay at 41.55, followed by Timber Creek 41.81, which had Exilhomme as its anchor.
Horn’s winning long jump mark was 23 feet, 3/4 inches, helping Seminole to an area-best third-place finish in the team standings behind Niceville and Ponte Vedra Beach Nease.
Six area boys won individual event titles and Evans High scored two girls relay wins.
Oviedo’s national 800 leader, Sam Austin, won that event but not without a challenge. He was third with 100 meters to go but rallied to win with a time of 1:51.06. His best is 1:50.00.
Kissimmee Osceola senior Markevus Jackson, the third-ranked quarter-miler in the nation, won a photo-finish 400 with a time of 46.99 seconds. He won by one-hundredth of a second against Sean Watkins of Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas.
Orlando University senior Justin Campbell, making his first state meet appearance, triple-jumped 47 feet, 8 inches to take first place in that event.
Lake Mary senior Dillon Dechristopher won the pole vault with a 15-3 clearance.
DeLand junior Kevar Williams was second across the line in the boys 200 at 21.40 but was awarded the championship after Zac Sedaros of Viera was disqualified.
Trojans triumph: Evans started the meet by springing a surprise victory in the girls 4×800 relay — a surprise to others that is, not to the Trojans, who ran the nation’s third fastest time of the year for the event, 9:14.24.
That triggered a trifecta of impressive relay performances by the Trojans. Evans followed up with a fourth-place finish in the 4×100 in an area-leading time of 47.46 seconds and then put the cherry on top by finishing the meet with a victory in the 4×400. The Trojans’ time in that event, 3:46.15, gave them a second school record for the night and a third-place finish in the team standings.
Aquinas edged Niceville 98 points to 95 for the team championship, followed by Evans at 47.
Evans coach Patrecia Daniley-Porter told her girls several weeks ago that they would save their best for last and load up the two-mile relay at the state meet. The Trojans were seeded only ninth based on their region meet qualifying time of 9:42.74 but were a different monster with senior Jahnile Registre and sophomore Kemaj Moore added to the mix on Saturday. That pair joined senior Amenda Saint-Louis and sophomore Alisha Boyer to outrun the competition in a race where Aquinas and Bradenton Lakewood Ranch took turns leading before the Trojans tracked them down.
“We already knew we were going to win it,” Saint-Louis said with a smile afterward.
“We had the mindset that nothing is impossible,” added Registre, a South Carolina signee who had rarely run races longer than 400 meters.
The winning time is the third fastest in area history for the event. Winter Springs set the record with a 9:11.10 effort to win a 2000 state title and Winter Park ran 9:13.69 in its 2016 state championship performance.
Saint-Louis, Registre and Moore were joined by sophomore standout Arbriel Scott in the 4×400 victory, where the Trojans churned out the eighth fastest national time of the year.
Registre also placed second in the individual 400 with a sizzling time of 54.77. Saint-Louis was fourth at 55.85.
Scott took third in the girls 300 hurdles with a time of 43.97.
Ocoee junior Miracle Johnson was the girls 200 runner-up in a time of 24.39.
Winter Park junior James Turner was runner-up in the boys 300 hurdles at 38.04.
Wekiva senior Luther Johnson unleashed the area’s best discus throw of the year (161-9) on his fourth and final fling of the day to finish in second place.
Ocoee sophomore Dylan Wade also turned in an area-leading performance with a 56-33/4 mark in the shot put good for third place.
Area girls discus leader Sydney Lake of Timber Creek placed third with a 142-6 throw.
This story was first published at OrlandoSentinel.com. Varsity Content Editor Buddy Collings can be reached by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
