On March 13, Marathon sent a scaled-down team to Coral Shores to compete against the Hurricanes and South Dade in a tri-meet. The ’Canes swept past the Fins 89-25 in boys events and 56-2 in girls. Lady ’Cane event winners included Niveah Howard, who won the 100-meter race in 14.14 seconds; Olive Welch, who won the 200 in 30.14; and Kate King, who took first in the 400 with a time of 1:07.50.
Ali Wheatley claimed firsts in both the 800- and 1,600-meter races, finishing in 2:40 and 5:53, respectively. Julieanna Oddo finished the 100 hurdles first in 20.43 seconds, and the Hurricane 4×100 team composed of Howard, Welch, Oddo and King won in 55.02.
In boys events, Coral Shores saw wins from Sean Harm in the 100- and 200-meter races. Harm finished in 11.88 and 23.32 seconds, respectively. Adrik Gadea finished the 400 in 53.90 and Corey Dickerson won the 800 in 2:16. Xavier Johnson was first in the 110-meter hurdles, cruising to a win in 17.55, while Alaric Rodriguez won the 400 hurdles in 1:01.70.
Rodriguez, typically a distance runner, tried out the hurdles for the first time and set a new school record in the event. In the final track win for the ’Canes, Dickerson, Josh Bressler, Willy Vides and Victor Lopez won the 4×800 relay in 10:52.
In the field, Gadea won the long jump with a 10’5.5” leap. Jamoris Davis tossed the shot 36’4.75” and Evan Osipov’s 124’3” discus throw rounded out Coral Shores’ wins for the day.
The Dolphin roster included just two high schoolers due to Marathon’s annual field day events. Despite sending a crew of mostly middle-school athletes, three Marathon records were broken at the event. The Lady Fins had just two winners, but both athletes made the most of their day in Tavernier. Justice Lee, a junior, had a pair of victories in the throwing events. Lee’s 36’11.5” shot put was good for a first place and a new school record, breaking her own mark. Lee won the discus event as well, throwing it 103’5”. The Dolphins’ other winner and school record-setter was sixth-grader Molly Joly, who completed the 3,200-meter run in 13:19.
Lucian Burns was a double winner for Marathon’s boys. Burns, an eighth-grader, won the 1,600-meter race in 5:05, then did another eight laps for a 13:11 win in the 3,200-meter run. Eian Batzer, also an eighth grader, won the high jump with a 4’11.75” mark and seventh-grader Maverick McDonald won the pole vault event, clearing the bar at 8’4” and setting a school record in the event.
Key West opted to take their talents to Ft. Lauderdale on March 14 to compete at the Calvary Christian Invitational, where the boys claimed fourth place and the girls took ninth out of 16 teams.
The Lady Conchs’ Ariel Newton won the pole vault event, clearing 9’10” for Key West’s only win in girls events. Caylaa Makimaa brought home a second place in the 3,200, finishing in 11:45.
In boys events, seven athletes had top-three finishes. The field events proved fruitful for the Conchs, with all of the boys points coming in those events. In pole vault, Ian Newton was first with a 13’9.25” jump and teammate Jorge Sanchez was third, clearing an 11’9.75” height. Peyton Zubieta had the longest javelin throw of the day, hurling the spear 163’10”. Noah Mercer’s 144’7” discus toss was good for second and Josh Johnson’s 43’3” shot put mark was good for third. Malachi Telisma cleared the high jump bar at an impressive 6’3.5” for second place and Jeff Dejean claimed second in the long and triple jump events. Dejean’s long jump mark was 21’4.25” and his triple was 39’1.25”.
