By Kyle LoJacono
The Wiregrass Ranch boys and girls track and field teams finished third at the Class 3A regional meet April 28 one week after each won district championships.
The girls also finished in third last year, but the boys made a jump up from a ninth place performance in 2010.
“It’s a thrill to see both teams up at the top of regionals,” said Bulls second-year girls coach Don Howard. “It’s kind of a friendly competition between the two teams to see who can do better and they all work hard every day in practice. It shows what hard work does.”
The Wiregrass Ranch 4×400-meter girls relay team of Kayla Deloach, Makayla Strickland, Kelsey Sturman and Marissa Tomei won the regional championship in 4:04.80. Marissa teamed with A.J. Blount, Hannah Eder and twin sister Tori Tomei to place third in the 4×100.
Wiregrass Ranch’s Nikita Shah, the reigning All-Laker/All-Lutz News girls Cross Country Runner of the Year, was the runner-up in the girls 3,200 meter, finishing in 11:36.59, a new personal best. She was diagnosed as anemic about five weeks ago and had yet to break the 12 minute mark this year before regionals.
“She’s a really good student and has great character, but a lot of her identity comes from being a runner and you could see it was affecting her mood,” Howard said. “She thought she just wasn’t a good runner any more, but I told her someone as good as she is doesn’t lose it overnight. She made states last year in the 3,200 last year and was one of our best runners in cross country.”
At the district meet the week before Shah said she felt strong again after taking iron supplements for the last five weeks, but still needed to get her speed back.
“She looked as strong as ever to me,” Howard said. “He old personal best was 11:45 and I think she held back a little on the final 400 meters. I think she could have gone faster.”
Teammate Ariel Grey placed fourth in the 3,200. Grey also was part of the 4×800 team with Elise Cedre, Alex Diepholz and Marissa Ginn-Davis that took third. No other team at regionals sent all three relay teams to states.
The Bulls boys scored big in the field events. Senior Alex Kazanski won the district championship with a pole vault of 14-06, the same height he posted to win the 3A state championship last year.
Sophomore Travis Manecki was the runner-up with a discus toss of 149.
In the distance events, Ryan Pulsifer finished as the runner-up in 9:44.12 in the 3,200 meter. Teammate Logan Selzer took fourth in the 1,600.
The Wiregrass Ranch boys 4×800 relay team of Ian Cassette, Tyler Mattera, Josh Reilly and Selzer came in third in 8:14.20.
The Bulls girls scored 45 points at the meet, behind regional champion Bellview’s 72.66 and Kethleen’s 68. The boys posted 50, behind Orlando Edgewater’s 67 and Winter Haven’s 62.
The top four finishers in every event qualify for the Class 3A state meet on Friday, May 6 at Winter Park. The Bulls girls did not score any points in last years finals, but the boys put up 10 from Kazanski’s championship vault.
“We hope to have some Wiregrass Ranch names on the final leader board,” Howard said. “The goal is for the kids to win championships and I think they’re ready to compete against the best athletes in the state.”
–All results as recorded by the Florida High School Athletic Association.
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