On March 11, Keys track and field teams descended upon Marathon to compete against one another as well as some of South Florida’s best. When the final relay was finished, Key West was the clear winner, scoring more than Marathon and Coral Shores combined.
Key West’s Jorge Sanchez was the big winner at the Middle Keys meet. The junior proved to be a multi-talented athlete, winning the 110 and 400-meter hurdles as well as the pole vault. Sanchez finished the high hurdles in 18.63 seconds, the intermediate hurdles in 1:07.58 and cleared 12 feet in the pole vault competition to clinch three wins for the Conchs.
Jeff Dejean also had a trio of wins, taking first place in the 100-meter dash in 11.25 seconds and the long jump with a 21’8” leap. Dejean’s third win was in the Conchs’ 4×100 relay, where he teamed up with Cavane Herron, Roman Van Loon and Walson Morin, finishing in a blazing 43.83 seconds. Morin and Herron were first and second in the 200, crossing in 22.97s and 23.45s, respectively. Van Loon was second in the 100 behind Dejean.
Alex Sarazin made an 11.31-meter leap in the triple jump for first place. Teammate Josh Johnson was second. Johnson, a freshman, is not to be confused with the other Josh Johnson of Key West gridiron and throwing fame.
The older Josh Johnson, a junior, won the discus and shot put competitions. He tossed the disc 39.76 meters, a new PR, and sent the shot out 12.93 meters from the circle. Teammate Christopher Barter was second in discus and Leo Batista was second in shot.
Prometheus Delacerda finished the 3,200-meter race in second place and Anthony Neely was the runner-up in long jump. Rounding out Key West’s top two placers were Ian Torreaba Lopez, who cleared the same height as Sanchez in pole vault but placed second based on misses.
Audrey Smith was the top point-earner for the Lady Conchs. Smith, the current school record-holder in javelin, won the event with a 37.87-meter toss. Smith placed second in shot put, then sent the discus 34.67 meters for another first place.
Fellow record-holder Ariel Newton sailed over the bar for a 3.2-meter first-place pole vault, then won the 200-meter race in 27.86 seconds for a pair of wins.
After the triple jump, Key West had another record holder on the roster. Sophomore Capri Miner bounded 10.39 meters to win the triple jump and break a school record which had stood since 2000.
Damarla Thompson was first in the 100-meter dash, finishing in 13.52 seconds, then took second in the high jump.
Nevaeh Key had a pair of second places in the 110 high and 400-meter intermediate hurdles. The Lady Conchs’ final second-place finishers were Lily Good in pole vault, Alyssandra Camargo in the 800 and Morgan Koskinen in the 1600.
Marathon’s boys had fantastic finishes from Lucian Burns. He picked up a pair of wins, both personal bests, in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races. In the 1,600, Burns crossed in 4:39, then lapped the rest of the field of runners in the two-mile in 10:15. Keeping with Marathon’s distance legacy was Tony Bursa, who finished behind Burns for second in the 1,600 and behind a Westminster Christian athlete for second in the 800 race.
Israel Gonzalez rounded out Marathon’s top finishers. Gonzalez won the javelin event with a 32.05m toss of the spear.
Marathon’s girls had plenty of points in the throwing events. Justice Lee Isom placed first in the shot put with a 12.01-meter toss. Lee Isom was second in the discus and javelin events, adding some distance to her own school record in the latter.
The Lady Fins had another winner with seventh grader Molly Joly, who won the 3,200-meter run. She clocked in at 11:21. Senior Daysi Williams won the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.47 meters. Tinashay Cunningham finished in second place in the 400 to round out the top two finishers for Marathon’s girls.
The Coral Shores boys 4×400 relay team of Alaric Rodriguez, Adrik Gadea, Colton Connolly and Will Theis picked up points for first, crossing the line in 3:32. Rodriguez added a second lap, running in the individual 400-meter race. His 51.88-second finish, good for second place, was a personal best for the senior.
For the Lady ’Canes, sophomore Ali Wheatley finished the 1,600 in 5:40 to win the race, then anchored Coral Shores’ first-place 4×800 relay team with Sammy Bates, Kate King and Jenna Mandozzi. The foursome broke the school’s record in the event. Rounding out the top finishers for Coral Shores was Miracle Woods, who finished second in the 100-meter dash.
Key West ran into foul weather and had their hopes for a second meet last week dashed by the cancellation, but the Hurricanes had better luck at the James Mickey Invitational, which went off without a hitch. The same four Lady ’Canes who broke the school 4×800 record at Marathon re-broke it in Homestead with a 10:39 showing. Not to be outdone, the boys 4×800 relay team of Jaime Cary, Adrik Gadea, Colton Connolly and Alaric Rodriguez ran the race in 8:31, shaving three seconds from the school’s prior record, set in 2024.
