By COOPER BROCK
With the pressure of defending the title on spectators’ minds, junior Marvin Bracy did not disappoint.
At the State Finals on Saturday, May 7, Bracy broke the official meet record in his 100 meter preliminary race with a 10.31, one-hundredth of a second faster than the old time, and won the final at 10.39.
Bracy also became the first boys sprinter to sweep the 100 and 200 meter sprints in consecutive seasons since 1995.
“It felt good when I won the first time and it felt even better when I got the chance to do it again. I am very happy with what I did,” Bracy said.
Along with Bracy, senior Blake Herrington and sophomores Devin Thomas and Aaron Turman made up the 4×100 relay team that set a school record. They placed fourth in States, ahead of Winter Park, at 41.37.
In the 3200m, distance runners John Logan Hines placed third with a time of 9:16 and Phillips Duncan took fifth at 9:28. Both Hines and Duncan signed with the University of Florida and will compete on their cross country team in the fall.
“I wanted to win, but I was happy with how I did [despite my injured knee],” Duncan said.
The boys tied for a third place overall standing in States, beating Dr. Phillips by two points.
One of the hardships the track and field team faced was being a substantially smaller team than the other schools in the 4A division. Boys and girls combined added to just under 90, while Winter Park’s complete team consisted of over 130 runners and fielders.
“This was a very long and competitive season. I’m very proud of how hard everyone worked individually,” coach Joshua Shearouse said. “[Despite our size] we were just as competitive as any other school, everyone on the team, boys and girls, signed up for multiple events to make up for it.”
On April 27, the girls track and field team competed at the Regional meet at Winter Park’s Showalter field. At the end of the day, only sophomore Justice Donald qualified for the FHSAA Finals.
“I feel I did fairly well in Regionals,” Donald said. “I held my own in the preliminaries, and placed third in the final heat.”
Donald placed fifth in the 100 meter dash at the finals, at 11.92.
A week before Regionals, the girls competed in Districts, putting through 10 runners and fielders. Donald placed second in the 100 meter dash between two Osceola sprinters.
“We had a lot of young kids this year,” Bracy said. “We were one of the younger teams out there, but we showed a lot of promise.”