BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Keystone Heights High School’s Ryder Thomas ran to victory in both the 1600m and 3200m to automatically qualify for region-level competition at the April 25 District 4-2A track and field meet at Alachua’s Santa Fe High School.
The top four finishers in each event automatically qualified for the Region 1 meet, which will be held Friday, May 2, at Pensacola’s Pine Forest High School.
Keystone had six individuals besides Thomas earn top-four finishes, while the Indians also had three at-large qualifiers.
Thomas won the 1600m with a time of 4:43.34, finishing ahead of Eastside’s Luke Engels, who had a time of 4:47.26.
The Indians’ Hunter Sheppard placed fourth in the event with a time of 4:53.86, which left him trailing Eastside’s Joseph McDonals, who crossed the finish line in 4:53.08.
Thomas finished with a time of 11:06.25 in the 3200m, which put him ahead of Eastside’s Benjamin White, who had a time of 11:06.94.
Jamari Turner was runner-up in the boys high jump, clearing 5 feet, 9.75 inches. That left him trailing only Santa Fe’s Michael Merriex, who cleared 6-2.
The Indians got a third-place finish in the javelin from Luke Lewis, who had a distance of 105-5. Baldwin’s Jeramie Morgan won the event at 118-8, while Newberry’s Keari Neal had a second-place distance of 117-4.
Tyler Kerner just missed out on qualifying in the javelin, with a fifth-place throw of 98-2.
Baylor Ford qualified for regionals in the boys long jump with a fourth-place distance of 19-11.5.
The boys 4x400m relay team of Ford, Sheppard, Turner and Ryeland Wahl fell one spot shy of qualifying for the Region 1 meet, running a fifth-place time of 3:41.83.
Ford also earned points in the triple jump and the 400m, helping Keystone placed fifth overall in the 11-team field. He placed sixth in the triple jump with a distance of 38-8.25 and eighth in the 400m with a time of 54.25.
Also earning points (awarded to top-eight finishes) were De’Shawn Williams, with a sixth-place time of 19.57 in the 110m hurdles, Turner, with a seventh-place time of 1:07.56 in the 400m hurdles, Wahl, with a seventh-place time of 2:13.64 in the 800m, and Mason Clark, with an eighth-place time of 20.61 in the 110m hurdles.
Sheppard just missed scoring in the 800m with a ninth-place time of 2:19.87.
Olivia Griffin and Kaylee Park earned third-place finishes for the girls team, with Griffin running a time of 2:30.77 in the 800m and Park running a time of 16.93 in the 100m hurdles.
Palatka’s Ah’Tilah Dean and Eastside’s Ingrid Astrom placed ahead of Griffin in the 800m with times of 2:27.78 and 2:28.68, while Palatka’s Avre’yana Rodgers and Morgan Hammond finished ahead of Park in the hurdles race with times of 16.74 and 16.92.
Griffin and Park teamed up with Christine DJavaheri and Ashly McCarthy to run a fifth-place time of 4:32.32 in the 4x400m relay. Though one spot shy of automatically qualifying for regionals, the team did earn an at-large bid.
Xana Briley had a fifth-place distance of 73-4 in the javelin and will advance after receiving an at-large berth.
Though finishing 10th in the 400m, Griffin received an at-large bid in the 400m with her time of 1:08.74.
Laura Herndon missed automatically qualifying in the triple jump with a fifth-place distance of 31-7.5.
Keystone, which placed fifth overall in the 11-team field, also got points from Briley, with a sixth-place distance of 69-4 in the discus, Melody Tyre, with a sixth-place time of 6:00.30 in the 1600m, and Park, with an eighth-place time of 1:21.21 in the 400m hurdles.
The girls team also had the following results: long jump — Herndon 13-8.75, Raven Bastin 11-7.75, Jasmine Walls 10-9.5; 100m hurdles — Cali Chamberlain 20.52; 100m — McCarthy 13.54, DJavaheri 13.56, Herndon 14.15; 400m hurdles — Chamberlain 1:25.54; 800m — Bailee Morris 2:53.88, Bastin 3:02.71; and 200m — DJavaheri 28.31, McCarthy 28.38, Sophia Moses 30.27.
Additional boys results were: high jump — Carter Andrews 4-4; long jump — Clark 15-6.75, Williams 15-6.75; triple jump — Andrews 30-1.5, Clark 30-0.75; discus — Ricardo Rosario 94-6; javelin — James Carsey 46-10; shot put — Rosario 34-4, Kerner 32-0.25; 100m — Aaron Wiley 11.37, Turner 11.63; 1600m — Hunter Gray 5:49.99, Eli Rabe 5:56.61; 400m hurdles — Clark 1:11.41; 800m — Gray 2:35.66, Gavin Morford 2:44.35; 200m — Wiley 23.76, Williams 26.95, Andrews 30.36; and 3200m — Jason Parales 13:02.34, Alex Mahaffey 13:25.61, Oliver Miller 13:27.69.
