Coming off of their district meet where Plant City’s Track and Field team left with 14 district champions and 23 regional qualifiers, they took to Alonso High School for the FHSAA’s 4A Region 2 championships.
Both the boys and girls 4 x 100 meter relay teams from Plant City qualified for the state championships while Kaden Mizell was the lone individual qualifier for states.
The boys’ 4 x 100 meter relay team is composed of four Plant City football players – Ian Jolly, Jae Sawyer, Reggie Bush and Romello Jones – who have all signed to play football at the collegiate level this coming fall. With a time of 42.33 seconds, they finished fourth at the regional meet to qualify for states.
The girls’ 4 x 100 meter relay team – Makenzie Holmes, Makayla Holmes, Jalayah Shaw and Erica Holloman – are all either sophomores or juniors, poised to return for another potentially strong run with Plant City’s team next year. With a time of 48.57 seconds, the girls set a new school record in the event and finished second in the region to qualify for states.
Mizell – a senior and yet another Plant City football player – finished fourth in the region for javelin on his final throw, despite suffering an ankle injury on his first attempt, with a mark of 45.44 meters.
In addition to Plant City’s state qualifiers, they had a number of athletes put together impressive days that fell just short of the mark to qualify themselves.
Sawyer finished sixth in the boys 200 meters with a time of 22.35 seconds, the boys 4 x 400 relay team – Sawyer, Jones, Jolly and Adam Fix – finished seventh with a time of 3:27.10, Rhet Conyers finished sixth in shot put with a mark of 13.63 meters, Javan Futch and Jovani Torres finished sixth and ninth in discus with marks of 38.19 meters and 36.44 meters, respectively, and Conyers finished ninth in javelin with a mark of 41.3 meters.
Holloman finished 10th in the girls 100 meters with a time of 12.57 seconds and fifth in the girls 200 meters with a time of 25.65 seconds, Makenzie Holmes finished sixth in the girls triple jump with a mark of 10.59 meters, Paige Zeracor finished 10th in discus with a mark of 27.08 meters and Alyssa Stahl finished eighth in javelin with a mark of 29.70 meters.
The FHSAA 4A State Championships will take place at the University of Florida on Saturday, May 14.