On the other side of the country (California) at the prestigious Arcadia Meet, Leon’s Matt Mizereck was part of a record breaking show as he blazed to a fourth place finish in the 3200m in an astounding time of 8:55.75! This is a school and county record, the fifth fastest time ever run by a Floridian, and the fourth fastest time in the nation this year! Exclamation points to you, Matt!!!! The 3200 had an amazing 16 runners break 9:00 minutes, beating the previous record of 11. It took an 8:49.76 (byJake Hurysz) to win the event. As the winner said “If you want to run fast, come to this [Arcadia] meet.”

Back home last week, Chiles high school played host to two different meets: the City Championship and the Chiles Capital City Classic. Despite the apparently “enhanced” atmosphere, the City Championship was largely lackluster. Godby ran away with the boys’ victory (no pun intended), and Florida High dominated the girls’ side.

On Saturday, local athletes laced up their spikes again for what proved to be a much more impressive meet, performance-wise. On the boys’ side, the top finishing local team was Chiles, in third. They were led by Taylor Buzzard (4:32.98 for third in the 1600m and 2:03.40 for fourth in the 800m), Brandon Lingerfelt (4:36.44 for fourth in the 1600m and 10:12.22 for third in the 3200m), Winston Ogletree (third in the 300m hurdles in 40.98), and Stargell Williams (first in the shot put with 50-08.75 and second in the discus with 156-04). Leon’s boys took fourth and Lincoln came in sixth. Other performances of note included Leon Lion, Riley Doherty’s, distance double (second in the 1600m in 4:31.15 and first in the 3200m in 9:59.91) and Lincoln Trojan, Adrian Foushe’s, fourth place performance in the 400m (in 50.40).

On the girls’ side, Chiles took the win, with Lincoln in third and Leon in fifth. The Timberwolves were led by Lily Williams (first in the 1600m in 5:03.55 and first in the 800m in 2:19.60), Kendall Andrews (second in the 1600m in 5:31.89 and fourth in the 800m in 2:31.45), Jodie McGuff (third in the 1600m in 5:36.28 and third in the 3200m in 11:44.94), Carly Thomas (fourth in the 1600m in 5:36.29 and first in the 3200m in 11:24.01), Raven Otway (first in the shot put with 36-01.25 and second in the discus with 106-08).

Next up on the radar are each division’s respective district meets. With less than a month until State, it is time to buckle down and grind out those final races. If things continue the way they’ve been going, the Big Bend will make quite a splash down in Winter Park, come State-time.