BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Keystone Heights High School competed in the March 7 Clay County Championships in Orange Park, with the boys 4x800m relay team breaking the school record it had set just five days earlier and Kaylee Park establishing another school-best performance in the 100m hurdles.
The team of Hunter Sheppard, Ryder Thomas, Ryeland Wahl and Tyler Griffin ran a time of 9:16.93 to earn a third-place finish. The team ran a time of 9:22.67 at its previous meet.
Park’s school record was a time of 17.19. It was her first time competing in the 100m hurdles at the varsity level (she last competed in the event at the Florida Youth Running Association Middle School State Championship in May 2023).
The Keystone boys team earned points for top-eight finishes in six other events. Griffin placed fourth in the 800m with a time of 2:11, while Thomas was sixth in the 1600m with a time of 4:55. The Indians also got sixth-place finishes in the 4x100m relay (48.59) and the 4x400m relay (3:45) and from Jamari Turner in the 400m hurdles (1:08) Luke Lewis in the javelin (99-2).
Turner was one spot shy of scoring in the 100m hurdles with a ninth-place times of 20.03.
Other boys results for Keystone, which was seventh in the team standings, were: 100m — Jaden Park 12.09, Josiah Durrenberger 12.62, Sapp 12.93, De’Shawn Williams 13.9, Taylor Rozier 15.81, Carter Andrews 16.77; 200m — Park 24.37, Durrenberger 25.0, Rozier 32.87, Andrews 33.96; 400m — Tyler Sapp 56.95, Lewis 1:04, Williams 1:05; 800m — Wahl 2:22, Sheppard 2:23, Jason Parales 2:39; 1600m — Sheppard 5:17, Wahl 5:24, Parales 5:53, Parker Pescara 6:13; 3200m — Pescara 13:35; long jump — Park 18-6, Turner 18-5, Williams 15-5; shot put — Ricardo Rosario 29-6.75; discus — Rosario 62-11; and javelin — Rosario 60-11.
The Keystone girls team, which placed seventh, got a sixth-place finish from Cali Chamberlain, who ran the 400m hurdles in 1:20. The Indians earned seventh-place finishes in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays with times of 57.77 and 4:50.
Cali Chamberlain, Christine DJavaheri, Kaylee Park and Olivia Griffin
Park just missed scoring in the 200m with a ninth-place time of 28.54.
Other girls results: 100m — Laila Briseno 14.9, Brook Graudons 15.76, Jasmine Walls 16.58; 100m hurdles — Christine DJavaheri 23.66; 200m — DJavaheri 29.78, Chamberlain 30.73, Briseno 31.52; 400m — Kenslee Phillips 1:11, Graudons 1:15, Walls 1:21; and long jump — Park 14-3.25, DJavaheri 11-2, Graudons 11-0.
