Creekside girls track earns FHSAA team title: 'Really amazing'
· Yahoo Sports
After a full day of narrowly missing the top of the podium, Creekside saved the best for last.
Exchange after exchange, lap after lap, the Knights raced away with the last girls race of the night and the most important, capturing the girls team championship at the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 4A track and field meet on May 9.
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The 4x400-meter relay quartet of Parris Lee, Madalynn Clark, Milica Gobec and Sofia Killin needed near perfection in the last race of the night. They got it, wrapping up the Knights' second FHSAA team title in three years at a soggy, stormy Hodges Stadium.
"We were just trying to execute, run fast and do what we needed to do," Lee said.
Creekside's relay and ensuing girls team championship put a fitting cap on the week for Northeast Florida athletes, amassing more than a dozen individual trophies with team titles for Raines, Bolles (the latter shared with Montverde) and now the Knights.
For Creekside coach Ricky Fields, also with the 2024 team, this triumph was special in its own way.
"I'm just so happy for them," Fields said.
TEAMWORK LIFTS KNIGHTS TO TROPHY
In contrast to the Knights' 2024 state title, Creekside relied on scattered points here and there — pole vault, shot put, relays and more — to overcome Aquinas and its South Florida speed under stormy skies at the University of North Florida's Hodges Stadium.
"There were a lot of people who stepped up in a way like we weren't expecting, but stepped up when we needed them," said Creekside senior Sarah Rose, also a standout on the 2024 champions. "It was really amazing to see."
Relays brought steady points: The Knights also took second in the 4x800 and a close second (0.03-second margin) to Miami Southridge in the 4x100. So did the field events, like Camille Andrews' third in the pole vault. With no other teams pulling away, Creekside's chances grew by the hour.
Creekside's Siun Crowley nearly captured the girls shot put championship with her fourth and final attempt, a personal-best 40 feet, 7 3/4 inches. But defending champion Olivia Celiscar of Winter Haven launched a winning 41 feet, 9 1/4 inches on the last attempt of the event, leaving Crowley second.
The Knights trailed St. Thomas Aquinas by three points going into the final relay. They got some help in the first heat when Sanford Seminole edged out Aquinas at the line, which guaranteed that winning the relay would gain enough ground on Aquinas to lift the overall trophy.
Creekside grabbed the lead on the first leg, stretched it out past 10 yards on the second exchange and completed the four laps in 3:49.33. Final score: Creekside 47, St. Thomas Aquinas 45.
"I feel like our relays have really performed in the postseason," Rose said. "We kind of knew it was going to be where every point counted. The girls showed up today and did their job, and you couldn't ask for anything more."
THUNDER RUMBLES, RECORDS TUMBLE
On a day paused for nearly an hour by thunderstorms shortly after 3 p.m., records again went down early and often.
Venice's Atarah Robinson ran 4:46.50 to break the meet record in the girls 1,600, narrowly overcoming Tampa Plant's Katherine Eudaly and Bartram Trail freshman Avery Hartley.
Tampa Sickles' Nia Armstrong also lowered the meet record in the girls 400 hurdles at 58.88.
The wildest event finish came in the boys 3,200, when Andrew Youssef of Vero Beach lunged for the line to win in 9:01.99, only 0.05 seconds clear of Largo's Isaiah Howdeshell and Spanish River's Preston Sangely. Sangely, already winner of the 1,600 and 800, nearly completed the difficult distance triple.
Though Creekside's final relay earned the only area event win, several other locals nearly reached the top of the podium. Knights senior Josh Howell took second in the boys 200, edged when Largo's Kylen Monk ran 20.91 for an apparent U.S. freshman record pending ratification.
Fletcher picked up a third from senior Zyaire Thomas in the girls 400 and a third from sophomore Jalani Thomas with a flying 47 feet, 2 1/2 inches in the boys triple jump.
"It felt just right," Jalani Thomas said. "I just had to get a little more speed down the runway, trusting the process and everything."
Nease's Selena Gregory took second in the girls pole vault, Atlantic Coast's Ramell Walley placed third in a boys pole vault that stretched well into evening and Oakleaf placed third in the boys 4x100 relay. That relay helped the Knights finish highest among area boys squads with 13 points in a tie for 13th.
Unlike the girls standings, the boys team race was never in doubt. Pembroke Pines Flanagan dominated the boys tally with 77 1/2 points, clear of Spanish River at 53 and Miami Columbus at 47.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Creekside girls win FHSAA Class 4A track & field championship