BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Olivia Griffin and Ryder Thomas each placed second in two events for the Keystone Heights High School track and field teams at the Clay County Championships, which were held March 25 at Middleburg High School.
The girls team was runner-up in three events overall, with Xana Briley also earning a second-place finish.
Griffin ran a second-place time of 1:02.52 in the girls 400m, finishing behind only Kayleana Henry of Orange Park, who had a time of 57.61.
It was the same order of finish in the 800m, with Henry running a time of 2:29.81 to Griffin’s 2:41.60.
Briley was the runner-up in the javelin with a distance of 80-10. That left her only 1 inch behind Middleburg’s Layla Manis.
On the boys side, Thomas earned his runner-up finishes in the 1600m and 3200m. His time of 4:43.96 in the 1600m left him trailing only Luke Janke of Oakleaf, who had a time of 4:42.32, while in the 3200m, St. Johns Country Day’s Arlo Kistner ran a time of 10:51.76 to Thomas’ 11:04.15.
Luke Lewis earned a fourth-place finish for the boys team with a distance of 110-5 in the javelin.
The Indians had two fifth-place finishes in relay events: the 4x400m team of Baylor Ford, Jamari Turner, Ryeland Wahl and Aaron Wiley had a time of 3:52, while the 4x800m team of Mason Gray, Oliver Miller, Jason Parales and Eli Rabe had a time of 11:15.
Turner placed sixth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:05, while Tyler Kerner was sixth in the javelin with a distance of 96-5.
The boys team also earned points with eighth-place finishes from Turner in the 100m (11.77), Wahl in the 800m (2:11), De’Shawn Williams in the 110m hurdles (20.38) and Clark Byrnes in the long jump (18-6).
Keystone had two third-place finishes on the girls side: Kaylee Park in the 100m hurdles (17.18) and the 4x400m team of Griffin, Christine DJavaheri, Ashly McCarthy and Kenslee Phillips (4:33).
Park also took fourth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:16 and fourth in the long jump with a distance of 14-3. She teamed up with DJavaheri, McCarthy and Alexis VanNordstrand to run a fourth-place time of 53.01 in the 4x100m.
DJavaheri placed seventh in the 200m with a time of 28.10, while Melody Tyre was seventh in the 1600m with a time of 6:26.
Also adding to the team’s score were McCarthy, with an eighth-place time of 28.22 in the 200m, and Tyre, with an eighth-place time of 2:56 in the 800m.
The girls team posted the following results as well: 100m — VanNordstrand 14.40, Laila Briseno 14.52, Sophia Moses 14.67, Laura Herndon 14.72; 200m — Briseno 31.08, Jayla Jamison 32.55; 400m — Phillips 1:10, Raven Bastin 1:16, Madylinn Michaud 1:23; 800m — Bailee Morris 3:14; 1600m — Morris 7:20; 100m hurdles — Cali Chamberlain 20.54; 400m hurdles — Chamberlain 1:25; high jump — Chamberlain 4-2; long jump — Jasmine Walls 11-2.25, Bastin 10-10.5; shot put — Briley 24-0.75; discus — Briley 77-1, Taegen Gubics 29-1; and javelin — Gubics 26-2.
Keystone placed sixth in the girls team standings. St. Johns Country Day and Ridgeview were first and second, respectively, followed by Middleburg, Orange Park and Oakleaf. Clay and Fleming Island finished behind Keystone.
The boys team also had the following results: 100m — Byrnes 11.94, Mason Clark 12.55, Carter Andrews 13.52; 200m — Clark 27.02, Williams 27.11; 400m — Ford 54.41, Wiley 57.55, Judah Moses 60.23, Clark 61.29; 800m — Hunter Sheppard 2:15, Gray 2:52, Miller 2:52; 1600m — Sheppard 5:17, Parales 6:04, Alex Mahaffey 6:32; 3200m — Hunter Gray 13:04, Rabe 13:59; pole vault — Lewis 6-4.75; long jump — Williams 17-4.75, Moses 15-6.75, Clark 14-11.5; triple jump — Ford 37-11.5, Williams 33-1.25; shot put — Ricardo Rosario 35-2.5, Kerner 32-9, Moses 26-4.5; discus — Rosario 76-11, Kerner 62-0, James Carsey 42-1; and javelin — Carsey 37-11.
Oakleaf was the top boys team, followed by Orange Park, Ridgeview, Middleburg, Clay, Fleming Island, Keystone and St. Johns Country Day.
