Williams wins 2 more gold medals to lead George Jenkins to state runner-up finish

JACKSONVILLE — George Jenkins sophomore Chelsi Williams added two more gold medals to her state medal haul along with two silver medals, set two more personal records — lowering her county records in the process — but had one disappointment in an otherwise stellar day on Saturday at the 2023 FHSAA Class 4A State Track and Field Championships at Hammond Stadium.

Williams' performance along with Maddie Dutz's second-place finish in the pole vault provide George Jenkins with the points needed to finish state runner-up in the team competition for the second year in a row.Overall, Polk County athletes came home with four gold medals and six silver medals. In addition to the George Jenkins duo, Ridge Community's Adrain Rogers won the boys high jump, and Winter Haven's Adrain Lippett won the boys triple jump.

George Jenkins La'Quan Ellis and Jeremiah Rutlege grabbed silver in the triple jump and high jump, respectively, and Winter Haven's Da'Shanique Henry finished second in the girls long jump.

For Williams, it was the third year in a row that she has won two state titles. She now has six gold medals and four silver medals.

"I did all right," Williams said of her day. "I could have done better in the triple jump."

Williams began the day by jumping 19-06 in the long jump to win the state title in the event for the first time. She appeared to be on her way to winning the triple jump as she led after two jumps with a mark of 39-01.75. To save her legs for the hurdles, she passed on her third attempt.

However Ma'Kala Davis jumped 39-03.75 on her last attempt to pass Williams, who fell to second. Williams then attempted a jump on her final attempt but scratched.

"I felt myself going to fault, but it was too late to stop," she said. "And I didn't jump my PR, so it was kind of a lose-lose."

Williams came back strong in the 100 hurdles and ran a personal-record 13.44 to win her second gold medal of the day. In the 400 hurdles, she continued to post her best time as she ran 1:01.49, dropping under 1:02.00 for the first time.

"That was amazing," Williams said. "I was jumping 1:05 all year then dropped down to 1:01. Hopefully, I can drop down more next year."

George Jenkins, which tied for runner-up last year, finished behind Miami Southridge (77.5 points) with 48 points. The Eagles had 44 points going into the final event, the 4x400, to lead Niceville by four points. However, Niceville had a 4x400 team in the fast heat, while Jenkins was in the slow heat."

However, Jenkins ran 3:54.93 to finish fifth to clinch second place as a team. Niceville finished 12th.

"I'm just overjoyed," George Jenkins coach Curtis Williams said. "I'm speechless. I didn't think we had a chance for second place. I knew it was going to come down to the 4x400."

Dutz sets county mark with 2nd place in pole vault

An up-and-down year for Dutz in the pole vault couldn't have ended any better. Dutz, who no-heighted at county one meet after having a season-best effort, set a personal and county record by jumpining 12-03.5 to tie DeLand's Kylie Neira for the best mark in the event. Neira, however, took first in the tiebreaker, and Dutz took second. Last year, Dutz was third in the pole vault.

"I'm very pround of myself," she said. "I set a school and county record too. It came at the perfect time at state. It was a mess of a season. I had a mental block. It was a bad season but the end is great."

Dutz was favored to medal twice as she was seeded tied with the best mark in the high jump. However, she could not make an attempt as the event started while she was still competing in the pole vault.

"She PR'ed in the pole vault and when she got over there, her legs were gone," Curtis Williams said.

Rogers caps high school career with gold medal, personal record

Ridge Community' Rogers missed last year's state track meet because of an injury but he made up for it in his senior year.

After clinching first place in the high jump at 6-09.5, he went on to clear 6-10.25 and 6-11.5 before finally missing — barely — three attempts at 7-0.25. His jump of 6-11.5 is second-best in the state this season."It's great. It's ending (high school) but it seems like it's just getting started," Rogers said. "I want to keep jumping. Now that I know I can win something big, I want to go to college and win someting even bigger than what I did today."Rutledge was second with a jump of 6-07.5.

Lippett wins triple jump for 2nd straight year

Lippitt, after finishing first and second in the triple jump and long jump last year, was looking to win two gold medals this year but faltered in the long jump and finished ninth. However, he came back strong to jump 50-06 to beat Ellis (48-07.25) in the triple jump. Lippett's mark is the second-best, wind-legal time in the nation.

"Coming in, I just wanted to focus," he said. "You can't focus on what happened in the long jump. I felt super confident. I just had to come in and execute."

Hernandez wins two medals

George Jenkins junior Rey Hernandez ran a personal-record of 14.17 and finished third in the 110 hurdles. He finished behind Lake Mary's Markel Jones (13.88) and Sarasota's Tyler Boyer (14.14), who lost to Hernandez at the region meet.

Hernandez then ran 53.14 to finish fourth in the 400 hurdles.