Lady Devils Dash To First

Avon Park's Chquen Wilmot may have been running on a bad wheel, but that didn't slow her down on Thursday during the Sebring Relays track and field meet at Firemen's Field.

The Red Devil junior powered through a twisted ankle to help the Avon Park girls take first place at the six-team meet, including victories in the 4x200 and 4x400 meter races, to edge second-place Lakeland by six points.

"Chquen twisted her ankle and I tried to sit her out, but she showed a lot of heart and did well," said Avon Park girls coach Dwayne Council, whose ladies also had top finish in the long jump at 14 feet, 11.5 inches by Jamee Hawthorne. "It's always good to win down at Sebring because it's always pretty competitive.

"All of them did well because they practice hard, and we're really happy with the team effort."

The Sebring boys, led by first-place finishes from Rodney Havery in pole vault and Conner Bauer in the open 3,200 meters, took second place behind Lakeland and just ahead of rival Avon Park. The Blue Streaks scored 66 points, two ahead of Avon Park's 64.

"The relays are more of a team thing, and you have to rely on your teammates in order to get those points," said Sebring coach Renee Crenshaw. "The boys had a good night tonight against some good competition, and some of them got woken up a little bit."

Lake Placid's girls finished fifth and were led by senior Julie Shrewsbury who won the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 16:34 and junior Kaelyn Fort who won the pole vault by clearing 7-feet.

"Julie has been solid in the hurdles at every meet for us," said Lake Placid coach Dave Irwin. "Kaelyn continues to improve and the girls are working hard and looking forward to our home meet on Tuesday."

The Green Dragon boys claimed fourth and were paced by junior Stephen Guelff, who won the 110-hurdles in a time of 15:27 and placed fourth in the long jump with a leap of 18-feet, 6 inches.

Lake Placid sophomore Devontra Fleming tied for second in the high jump by clearing 5-feet, 8 inches.

"Stephen is off to a great start this season in the hurdle and field events," said Irwin. "Devontra continues to improve and our boys team gets better with each meet we compete in."

Avon Park's Tim Dennis won the 300 hurdles in 44.53, ahead of Lake Placid's Fleming at 45.57. AP's Teddy Allen took second in the shot put with a 43 foot, 3.75 inch shot, while Stephen Robinson grabbed second in the 110-hurdles behind Guelff with a 16.06.

"We were pretty happy about it, but we had some guys out and some guys dinged up," said AP coach Andy Bonjokian. "The kids are all working hard and we've made some improvements, we just have to keep building to be ready for districts."

On the girls side, Sebring Lisa Przychocki won the high jump with a 4-10 leap, while the Fort sisters (Kaelyn and Blake) tied for top honors in the pole vault after clearing seven feet. Avon Park's Tia Nobles took second in the shot put, while Sebring's Emily Smith and Caitlyn Moulds were tops in the open 3,200 with a 14:21 and 14:34, respectively.

All three teams are at Lake Placid on Tuesday. Meet starts at 4:30 p.m.

NOTE: Longtime Lake Placid coach John Sigmund, who now works at Sebring High and was planning on helping coordinate the meet, suffered an apparent heart attack on Thursday morning and is expected to undergo open heart surgery today.

SEBRING RELAYS TRACK MEET

Team Results from Thursday at Firemen's Field

BOYS: Lakeland 85, Sebring 66, Avon Park 64, Hardee 61, Lake Placid 21, Walker 17

GIRLS: Avon Park 70, Lakeland 64, Hardee 59, Lake Placid 58, Sebring 54, Walker 1