NORTH PORT — Both Venice tracks and field teams dominated the competition at Thursday’s 4A-8 district meet at North Port High School.
The boys team led all schools with 150 total points to beat out Lakewood Ranch (100) and Manatee (88).
The girls team had an even more impressive showing, leading the pack with 179.50 points over Riverview (112.50) and Lehigh (104).
The boys had a number of strong individual performances that included Matt Groves lowering his school record in the 400-meter dash. He won with a time of 47.92.
Chris Priede won a pair of events, winning the 110 hurdle (15.76 seconds) and the 400 hurdle (57.42) events.
In the 800-meter run, Patrik McDonald secured first place behind a time of 2:00.47. He narrowly beat out teammate Spencer Palmer, who finished in 2:00.70.
In the field events, Venice had a couple pole vaulters finish in the top two.
Chase Graziadei finished in first (4.20 meters), while Alex Lam (3.75 meters) came in second.
The girls team qualified four participants for regionals in the 400-hurdle event with Michelle Croney coming out on top (1:06.76).
In the long distance events, the Indians saw Atarah Robinson win the 800-meter with a finish of 2:16.44, while Mackenzie MacLean grabbed second place in the 1600 (5:15.93).
All four relays on both sides advanced to regionals with the girls 4x100 relay and boys 4x800 relay earning first place finishes on Thursday.
Over 40 Venice athletes qualified for the Class 4A Region 2 meet coming up the week after next.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Venice advanced to the 1A-20 district championship on Thursday — defeating Riverview on Tuesday — but ultimately lost to one of the top teams in the state in Cardinal Mooney.
Venice was ahead in the 1’s match (Brighton Ferguson and JaLynn Gardner) and the 3’s match (Hilary Hupp and Jayda Lanham) during the championship meeting with the Cougars, but teams 2, 4 and 5 each lost in two sets to seal Venice’s fate.
“Mooney’s a good team, but we almost had them (Thursday),” Venice head coach John Richards said. “We would’ve won at the 1 and 3 courts, and the 4 and 5 matches were super competitive. It really came down to a few points.”
Venice lost one of its top players in Taylor Orris to a broken thumb prior to districts, so that caused some lineup shuffling for Richards.
Now, the Indians will have freshman Addie Lariviere and sophomore Melissa Apolonio starting on the 2’s team moving forward.
“I think that’ll be some really good experience for them,” Richards said. “We’re trying to grow this program into the future, and we’ll be losing some key seniors for next year, so to be successful, we’ll have to rely on some young players.”
While the district title loss stings for Venice, its season will continue in the regionals next week.
The Indians will host Calvary Christian at Venice Beach on Monday at 4 p.m.
SOFTBALL
Venice’s softball team ended the regular season this week, splitting a pair of games.
On Tuesday, Venice dropped an 11-8 decision to Sarasota.
The Sailors had 11 runs on 11 hits, scoring all of their runs in the first four innings to put the game away early.
Venice did combine to score five runs in the fifth and sixth innings to make things interesting late, but eventually, Sarasota finished off its three-run win.
Zoey Lyn led the team with two RBIs, while Kaylin Smith, Emily Beam, Myah Purdy, Kinley Rutherford, Alex Evancho and Madison Schilling all brought in a run each.
On Thursday, Venice got back in the win column with a 4-3 victory over Bishop Verot.
After falling behind, 3-1, the Indians scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to move ahead by a run with an inning and-a-half to go.
A bases-clearing three-RBI double by Lynn was the difference in the contest.
Lynn also pitched well in the circle, going seven innings, allowing three earned runs on three hits and striking out four.
The Indians end the regular season at 12-10 and now gear up for a rematch with Sarasota in 7A-8 district play on Tuesday evening.
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