- April 5, 2025
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FPC's Ty Jenkins hangs in the air during the long jump. Photo by Ray Boone
Oriyah Clayton sprints toward the finish line at the 15th-annual East Coast Classic. Photo by Ray Boone
Oriyah Clayton sprints toward the finish line at the 15th-annual East Coast Classic. Photo by Ray Boone
Ruth Rodriguez sprints toward the finish line at the 15th-annual East Coast Classic. Photo by Ray Boone
A jumper from FPC sprints to gather speed for the long lump. Photo by Ray Boone
Ken'Deric Morton gathers speed to prepare for the long jump. Photo by Ray Boone
Brad Cordoma sprints arrowed the track at FPC High School. Photo by Ray Boone
Jaiden Arnett vaults over the bar at FPC High School. Photo by Ray Boone
Marcus Freeman hangs in the air as he does the high jump at the East Coast Classic. Photo by Ray Boone
Trent Steward bows in his head in preparation for a race at the East Coast Classic. Photo by Ray Boone
Ty Jenkins glides through the air during the long jump at FPC High School. Photo by Ray Boone
Ty Jenkins glides through the air during the long jump at FPC High School. Photo by Ray Boone
Tallin Coates goes over a hurdle during a race at the East Coast Classic. Photo by Ray Boone
Nathan Farrell leaps over a hurdle at the start of the 110-meter hurdle at the East Coast Classic. Photo by Ray Boone
FPC's Chris Parks gets in his stance at the starting block. Photo by Ray Boone
FPC's Jahlia McCaskell goes over a hurdle while racing at the East Coast Classic. Photo by Ray Boone
Jahlia McCaskell goes over a hurdle while racing at the East Coast Classic. Photo by Ray Boone
FPC's Kat Kouzina does the pole vault at the East Coast Classic at FPC High School. Photo by Ray Boone
FPC's Chris Parks sprints down the track at FPC High School. Photo by Ray Boone
When the starter fired the pistol into the air, signaling the commencement of the race, the Bulldogs’ Nathan Farrell exploded out of his block and sprinted down the track and Flagler Palm Coast High School.
With each hurdle, the gap between Farrell and the rest of his competitors at widened. Farrell finished the boys 300-meter hurdles in 38.01 seconds — a season-best and a meet record for the East Coast Classic.
Multiple Bulldogs — boys and girls — set season-bests at the 15th-annual East Coast Classic on the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 22, at Flagler Palm Coast High School. The Bulldogs’ boys team took first place and the girls team finished in fifth.
FPC head coach David Halliday was pleased to see his teams’ progresses in the third meet of the year.
There were 21 teams competing in the event, including teams from the Bulldogs’ conference and district. Some of the top teams in the state also competed.
“I thought this was a good barometer to gauge where we are,” Halliday said.
In addition to Farrell breaking the meet record in the 300-meter hurdles, the boys 4x400-meter relay team broke the meet record with a time of 3:22.90, and Nelson Paul won the shot put for the second meet in a row. Paul, who starred at defensive end for the Bulldogs’ football team, won the shot put at the Louie Bing Memorial Classic on Feb. 15, which was hosted by Miami Northwestern High School.
However, the girls team is going through “a bit of a rebuild,” Halliday said.
The girls team graduated several sprinters last year, including state participants Namiah Simpson and Courtney Gales.
Although they struggled in the running/sprinting events, the Lady Bulldogs did well in the jumping events. Prosperity Wright took second with a 10.34-meter leap in the triple jump, and Susann Kaufmann finished fourth in the high jump at 1.42 meters. In addition, Ekatereena Kouzina placed third in the pole vault with a height of 2.45 meters, and Anisa Zwolinski had the best shot put of her career, throwing for 10.31 meters — good enough for fourth place.
“We’re making good progress,” Halliday said.
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