Shining Stars: FPC wins Five Star boys track championship

2024 state champ Colby Cronk wins conference shot put title in third meet back.

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Long before Flagler Palm Coast’s Colby Cronk was cleared to toss a shot put or discus this season, he was working on getting back to the state track and field championships.

Competing in his third meet of the year after returning from November shoulder surgery, Cronk won the shot put title and finished second in discus at the Five Star Conference championships on April 10 at Spruce Creek High School. 

FPC’s Ayden Peterson (800-meter run), Corinthians “R.J.” Watson (triple jump) and Tanner Cauley-Bennett (pole vault) also won events as the Bulldogs captured the boys team championship with 176 points. Spruce Creek was second with 131 points. The host Hawks won the girls title with 208.5 points, with FPC second with 164 points.

Last season, Cronk won the Class 4A state championship in shot put and was runner-up in discus. At Five Star, he threw the shot 17.30 meters (59 feet, 9.25 inches) to win the event over New Smyrna Beach's Tim Beauchamp by 11 inches. Cronk placed second in discus behind Beauchamp with a throw of 48.02 meters (157 feet, 6 inches). Those throws are well behind his 2024 state marks of 19.22 meters in shot — the 10th-best shot put in Florida high school history — and 56.06 meters in discus, both school records. But he was happy with his distances a week before the district meet.

“I still have some work to do, but I’m feeling pretty good where I am,” Cronk said. “It’s all due to Coach Speegs (throws coach Paul Spegele) helping me. He’s been coaching me, working on my footwork before I was holding weights,” Cronk said.

It didn’t take long for Cronk to get back on top. His shot put throw of 18.35 meters at the Florida Relays on April 5 ranks first in the state in Class 4A. His discus throw at Five Star ranks sixth.

“I can’t give enough credit to Colby and Coach Speegs for the work they’ve put in,” FPC coach David Halliday said. “I’m super happy about where he is right now.”


MAINLAND, SEABREEZE WINNERS

Mainland placed fourth among boys teams at conference, while Seabreeze was sixth. The Bucs won three events. Houston Cadette won 110 hurdles in 16.42 seconds. Ethan Figueroa won long jump at 6.49 meters (21 feet, 3.5 inches) and also placed second in high jump. And the 4x100 relay team of Javon Estes, Eddie Lake, Javaris Estes and Kyle Moore won with a time of 42.35 seconds.


The Bucs' 4x400 and 4x800 relays placed second. And Moore was the runner-up in the 100 with a personal record 11.05 seconds.

Seabreeze sophomore Dominic Dowell won the 400 hurdles with a personal-record time of 59.18 seconds.

“I came into the race really confident,” Dowell said. “I’ve been trying to break that minute mark for a while, and I finally got it.”

Seabreeze junior Rhett Opalewski won the 400 meters with a PR of 49.96 seconds. He was also fourth in the 200. Opalewski heads into the District 6-3A meet with a No. 1 ranking in the 400 and is closing in on school record times in both events.

The Sandcrabs’ Hunter Shuler placed second in both the 1,600 and 3,200 runs. The junior set a PR in the 1,600 with a time of 4:37.62. Teammate Drayton Bracket placed second in the 110 hurdles with a PR of 16.45 seconds.


BULLDOGS SOLID IN FIELD EVENTS, SPRINTS

FPC senior Cauley-Bennett finished 13th at state in pole vault last year. He improved his PR at Five Star with a vault of 4.27 meters (14 feet) which ranks third in the state in Class 4A.

The Bulldogs were solid in field events and consistent on the track. FPC finished 1-2-3 in the triple jump with Watson setting a PR at 13.51 meters (44 feet, 4 inches), Kenneth Robinson placing second and Lucas Campbell third. Stacy Mitchell placed third in shot put and fifth in discus. Jacob Stevenson was third in javelin and Ladarius Simmons placed fifth.

Logan Jacobelli ran a PR of 22.19 seconds to place second in the 200. He was also fourth in the 100 and helped the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams place third. Jordan Haymon took home third-place medals in the 100, 400 and 4x100. William Roberts was second in the 400 meters.

“We've got a young group of sprinters,” Halliday said. “They did like four events today. I loaded them up. When we get ready for districts, regionals and state they'll probably be doing two events, and we'll back off from the training. I expect a 4x1 and 4x4 and a couple of those guys in the 100 and 200 to do well.”


TYSON, MARCELUS SWEEP 

FPC senior Maya Tyson won the Five Star Conference girls shot put title for the fourth year in a row. She also won discus for the second year in a row. Tyson broke her own school record in the discus with a throw of 37.52 meters (123 feet, 1 inch). She threw the shot 11.27 meters (36-feet-11.75) after breaking her own school shot record the previous week with a 11.78-meter toss.

“I’m comfortable here (at Five Star),” she said. “You see a lot of girls who you’ve competed with before.”

FPC junior Karina Marcelus won three events with a PR in the long jump at 5.35 meters (17 feet, 6.75 inches), a triple jump of 11.16 meters (37 feet, 7.75 inches) a 100 hurdles time of 14.81 seconds. She qualified for state last year in triple jump. This season, she broke a 45-year-old school record in 100 hurdles with a time of 14.45 seconds and broke it again at the Florida Relays with a 14.23.

“Hurdles have been great this year,” she said. “I broke my school record. I broke 15s. I'm in the 14s right now, and by the end of the season, I'm looking for 13s at states. This year has been my year definitely — mentally and physically.”

Leilany Rosa broke FPC’s school record in girls pole vault by 11 inches with a 10-foot, 11.75-inch vault (3.35 meters). Rosa placed third. Other third-place finishers for the Bulldogs were Arianna Slaughter (800 with a PR), Jayden Wright (400 with a PR), Makaylla Williams (high jump) and Madison Hambly (javelin). Wright, Slaughter, Cassidy De Young and Hazel Hutchison won the 4x400 relay. The Bulldogs placed second in the 4x800.


SEABREEZE’S HICK WINS GIRLS 400 HURDLES

Seabreeze sophomore Tabitha Hick won the 400 hurdles with a PR time of 1:08.04, which is just .38 of a second behind the school record. She was also third in the 100 hurdles. Hick ranks first in District 6-3A in the 400 hurdles.

Seabreeze senior Emma Uneda placed second in triple jump and third in long jump. Mainland’s Amyah Watlington was second in long jump and second in 100 hurdles. She was also on the Bucs’ first-place 4x100 relay with Symiah Gillon, Kiana Joseph and Gabreille Lett. Sydney Noelien was third in shot put.

Mainland’s girls placed fourth at the meet with 65.5 points. Seabreeze was fifth with 60 points.


FBCA’S ARNEAUD HAS TOP LONG JUMP

The athlete who actually had the best girls long jump at Five Star was not eligible for the title. Sophomore Sanigh Arneaud of First Baptist Christian Academy in Palm Coast made a request to compete to give her a fifth meet to be eligible for districts. She jumped 5.45 meters (10 feet, 7.5 inches) on her third attempt. That was better than her best jump coming into the meet by 1 foot, 4.15 inches.

“Actually, she has not had that much practice this season for long jump, because she has been doing two sports,” said her mom, Sharelle Arneaud, who is one of her coaches. “All season she had been jumping 4.7 (meters). We made a few adjustments this meet. She implemented them well. Her first jump, she was so excited to have gotten a 4.98. Then her next jump, she PR’d with a 5.06. So she was ecstatic when she jumped to 5.45.”

Email brent@observerlocalnews.com

 

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