Panthers win Patton titles

The boys pole vault results were not available, so those results were not factored into the team scores listed above.

In the girls meet, it was a tie for the title between Lecanto and Dunnellon with 151 points each. Crystal River was third with 125, followed by Seven Rivers Christian (111), Citrus (38), Hernando (10) and South Sumter (6).

Golds grabbed by county girls

Eight gold-medal performances led the Lecanto girls to the tie with Dunnellon.

The Panther 4x800 started out the meet with a victory in 11:26.82, just .11 seconds ahead of Dunnellon.

Mallory Mushlit and Mackezie Dum each grabbed a pair of individual golds. Mushlit won the 100 hurdles in 18.14 and the 400 hurdles in 1:17.63. Dum struck gold in the 1,600 meter run in 6:04.89 and the 800 in 2:46.30.

Mushlit, coming off another incredible soccer season, is getting back into the feel of the hurdles.

“I feel pretty good. It’s been a while, so just getting back into a rhythm,” she said. “I’ve done hurdles since sixth grade, so it’s just kind of in my blood.”

The 300 hurdles have been replaced by the 400 hurdles this spring in Florida.

“I’ve never really been a fan of the 400, but just pushed through and worked hard,” Mushlit said. “Senior year, just do my best and go as far as I can.”

Other Lecanto champs were Mackenzie Grey with a leap of 5-feet 8 1/2-inches in the pole vault, Mallori Grey with a jump of 33-1 3/4 in the triple jump and Lauren Brady with a toss of 94-5 in the discus.

Other top-three finishers for the Panthers were Isabella Brown, second in the 400 in 1:06.23; Mushlit, second in the 200 in 29.30; Izabel Clemens, second in the 3,200 in 15:02.17; Alyssa Camunas, second in the pole vault in 5-2 1/4; Elisha Bluford, second in the long jump in 14-7 3/4; and Brady, third in the shot put in 27-10.

Crystal River had a pair of title-winning performances from the 4x400 relay team with a time of 5:14.14 and returning state medalist Bailee Einspahr with a toss of 96-7 in the javelin.

“I’m hitting my marks somewhat. Getting first place almost every time, but I’m not quite hitting my marks the way I would like to,” Einspahr said. “But I usually don’t until closer to districts. But every meet up until districts is practice. Have some room to play around with.”

The Pirate has been working with former men’s javelin world record holder Tom Petranoff at the US Training Center in Clermont since July.

“I’m centering my gravity more, so I’m able to find power in all of my body instead of just the right side,” she said. “There’s still some things that need to go together. But they’ll come soon. It’s just a matter of putting it all together.”

Einspahr, who placed seventh in Class 2A last spring, said that gives her a target on her back, but also motivation.

“It puts pressure on me in the fact that everyone wants to beat me,” she said. “But I want to do better than I did last year, so top three is my goal. First would be nice.”

Other top-three performances from the Pirates were turned in by Mayumi Johnson, third in the 100 hurdles in 19.82; Aidan Cordero-Santana, third in the 800 in 2:47.66 and third in the javelin in 92-4; Lilyana Rodriguez, third in the 200 in 31.18; Kayla Bland, third in the 3,200 in 16:47.38; Ijy Edwards, third in the long jump in 14-6 1/2; Neveah Beauchamp, second in the shot put in 28-5 1/2; and Kasey Strom, second in the discus in 83-7.

Seven Rivers Christian earned several golds in the sprints and field events.

Emily Eden won the 100 in 13.55 and the 400 in 1:05.00.

“It was really tough. Mentally just pushed through. Keep my form, do what I was trained to do,” Eden said of the 400. “I was just doing a 400 as a practice to condition. I’ll probably stick with the 200 for the rest of the season, but do 400’s here and there to condition for it.”

Eden, a state qualifier in the 300 hurdles last season, is happy with her early season results.

“I’ve PR’d so far this season, so I’m excited to take Spring Break and heal up and then after that, push through and get new PRs and set new records,” she said.

Nora Leonard claimed the gold in the 200 in 28.73, returning state medalist Julia Shipes won the high jump with a leap of 4-10 and also won the long jump with a leap of 14-9 1/4, another event she qualified for state in last season.

The Warriors also got top-three finishes from the runner-up 4x100 relay team in 53.73; Leonard, third in the 400 in 1:10.75; Moriah Vann, third in the 400 hurdles in 1:27.08; Annalise de Beer, third in the triple jump in 30-2 3/4 and second in the javelin in 92.6.

Citrus’ top finishers were the 4x800 team, third in 11:42.38, and Stephanie Cain, third in the discus in 81-3.

Boys load up on medals

The four teams from the county not only won the majority of the gold medals Friday, but also the silver and bronze ones.

Team champion Lecanto was paced by seven championship performances.

Tez Joseph won the 400 in 55.03, Donovan Foster claimed the 200 in 24.89, Logan Feuston won the high jump with a leap of 5-6 and the javelin with a toss of 148-7, returning state qualifier Morgan Resch won the pole vault, and Darius Gainer won the long jump with a leap of 19-2 and the triple jump with an effort of 40-5 1/2.

Other top-three finishers for Lecanto were the 4x800 team, second in 10:04.67; Ryan Ricci, third in the 110 high hurdles in 21.37; Zachary Curreri, second in the 1,600 in 5:04.79 and third in the 3,200 in 11:25.61; the 4x100 relay team, second in 47.74; Jace Niedermeyer, second in the 400 in 56.70; Gerald Cunningham, third in the 200 in 25.55; the 4x400 team, second in 3:46.63; Nathan Vonderhaar, third in the high jump in 5-4 1/4 and third in the long jump in 17-4 3/4; Joseph, second in the long jump in 18-3 1/4; Foster, second in the triple jump in 39-3; and Burke Malmberg, second in the shot put in 44-10 3/4.

Citrus also had several champions at its home meet.

The 4x800 team won in 8:50.93, Miles Tobin won the 1,600 in 4:59.18 and the 3,200 in 10:40.87, the 4x100 won in 47.42, Logan Shaw won the 800 in 2:08.17, and the 4x400 team won in 3:45.96.

Shaw raced out to a big lead early in the 800 and coasted to the win.

“I actually like to stay in the pack, but I still pushed to do the best I can,” he said. “I wanted to try and get close to my 4x800 time, which is a 2:05. I was only three seconds off, so that’s not too bad.”

Shaw said it was a big race to win at home.

“This is an important race for Citrus, especially for me. It’s my last race here, so I wanted to go out with a bang,” he said.

Other top-three finishers for the Hurricanes were Tyler Cornell, second in the 110 high hurdles in 20.32 and second in the 400 hurdles in 1:08.78; Delonzo Washington, second in the 100 in 11.97; D’Angello Dunois, third in the 100 in 12.02; Evan Tobin, third in the 1,600 in 5:15.32 and third in the 3,200 in 11:23.54; and Luke Martone, second in the 800 in 2:13.73.

Seven Rivers Christian had a trio of champions in Hunter Anderson with a time of 19.37 in the 110 high hurdles, Dominic LaTorraca with a clocking of 1:04.70 in the 400 hurdles and Kamryn Johnson with a toss of 45-2 1/4 in the shot put.

Other top finishers for the Warriors were the 4x100 relay team, third in 49.40; Anderson, third in the 400 hurdles in 1:10.68; Nehemiah Vann, second in the discus in 119-1 and second in the javelin in 130-5; and Johnson, third in the discus in 106-3.

Crystal River’s top finishers were the 4x800 relay team, third in 10:15.42; Luke Fuller, third in the 800 in 2:20.07; the 4x400 relay team, third in 4:08.97; Ben Williams, second in the high jump in 5-4 1/4; and Lane Komara, third in the javelin in 124-0.