THREE-PEAT

There is a reason why the sport is called track and field, as just as many points can be scored inside the oval, which the Key West High squads did during the District 16-2A Championships as 64% of the points that were scored for the now three-time defending district champs Conchs boys came via field events while the Lady Conchs, which finished as runner-up, tabbed 58% of their points in the same fashion on Wednesday, April 24, at Tropical Park.

In fact, all individual champions for the Conchs came from the field events, with Niks-Davis Suharevskis clearing 14 feet, 7.25 inches to claim top honors in the pole vault, Noah Mercer’s heave of 138 feet, 6 inches won the discus, the triple jump was on by Clerf Alexandre with a leap of 41 feet, 5.25 inches and Jean Louis won the shot put with a toss of 43 feet, 10 inches. Of the 180 points scored by the Conchs, 116 came via field events to help the Key West boys defend their championship holding off second-place Gulliver Prep, which tallied 166 points. Aiding in the Key West boys’ seventh title in 21 years of the program and fourth since 2017, were Jeff Dejean taking second in the long jump and triple jump, Ian Newton was behind only his teammate in the pole vault, Louis was runner-up in the discus and Peyton Zubieta in the javelin.

Claiming 92 of its 158.5 points in field events, the Lady Conchs returned home with the runner-up hardware, behind Carrollton’s 210.5, and ahead of Gulliver’s 139, with the Key West individual winners once again all from the field events, specifically the throws, as Audrey Smith won the javelin with a 112-foot, 10-inch throw, Kaylee Matas Cabezuelo was tops in the discus with a distance of 90 feet, 3.5 inches and Claire Boysen win the shot put at 29 feet, 11.75 inches. Claiming second-place finishes were Caylaa Makimaa in the 3,200-meter run, Anabel Portuondo in the pole vault and Matas Cabezuelo in the shot put.

This is just the fourth time in 21 years of the track and field program at Key West High during which both the boys and girls they have placed in the top two of the district the first time was 2017, when the girls were runner-up, and now for three years in a row as the Lady Conchs had also won the district crown the last two season.

The top four finishers from each event qualified for the Region 4-2A Championships on Tuesday, May 7, at Calvary Christian, which will include 19 members of the Key West boys team and 17 Lady Conchs as well as each of the three relay teams from both squads.