Lakewood Ranch wraps up 4A girls title
BRADENTON -- Sophia Falco's worst performance of the weekend was the one that clinched the Class 4A team championship for the Lakewood Ranch High School girls.
For her, a mediocre effort was still a fifth-place finish in the 200 meters to cap a historic weekend for herself and the Mustangs.
With two events remaining, Ranch had clinched the first state championship in program history -- and the first for any girls team in Manatee County since Palmetto in 1990.
"We've all worked really hard this whole season," Falco said, draped in four individual medals and one for the team performance. "We knew if we could all put in our efforts and train really hard we would have a chance, and then coming out here and winning is definitely a dream come true."
Falco completed her remarkable performance at the 4A championship with three more top-five finishes Saturday at IMG Academy Field one day after winning her first ever state championship in the long jump. Lakewood Ranch finished the weekend with two individual 4A championships and 68 points to win edge Miami Southridge for the team title. Southridge finished with 62 points. Falco alone earned 30 points, and the Mustangs scored 28 points on the final day of the tournament to seal the six-point win.
Reide Ryans, who opened the weekend with a state championship in the long jump Friday, added a sixth-place finish in the 100 hurdles Saturday, finishing two spots behind teammate Kristine Akervold in one of the three eight-point events for Ranch, which tied for most productive of the day. Falco also earned eight points with a silver medal in the triple jump and eight with a second-place finish in the 100.
You can tell just by interactions among the kids we do things as a group," Lakewood Ranch head coach Mark Napier said. "These girls deserved it."
When Napier took over as head coach he had a vision for the team as a well-rounded force capable of scoring events in sprints, jumps, throws, hurdles and distance. Ranch had a reputation as a distance team. To win its first state championship, Lakewood Ranch didn't score any points in distance events.
Instead, the Mustangs leaned on the strength of five girls -- two of whom won individual state titles. Falco, Ryans, Akervold, and pole vaulters Olivia Ogles and Cree Lotterer accounted for all 68 of Ranch's points, and they scored in sprints, hurdles and jumps.
"By taking that holistic approach you create more of a team atmosphere," Napier said. "Track and field is not necessarily classified as a team sport. It's more of an individual sport, but if you do it right it can be a team sport."
Out-of-Door Academy put up the second biggest girls score with 13 points in Class 1A after a pair of top-four finishes on the track. Saraiah Walkes' second-place finish in the 100 was the best individual performance by an athlete not from Lakewood Ranch, and Sofia Gardinier added a fourth-place finish in the 400.
Saint Stephen's girls' finished with seven points when Kaitlyn Siegel followed her fifth-place finish in the high jump Friday with a sixth place in the triple jump Saturday.
The Falcons boys scored 13 points across four events Saturday. Saint Stephen's 400 relay finished fourth, its 1,600 relay finished seventh, its 3,200 relay finished eighth. Junior Jordon Murrell took seventh in the 200.
Manatee put up the biggest boys score with 27 points and finished sixth on the strength of a 4A championship in the 400 relay, two bronze medals by Kavious Price in the 100 and 200, and a fourth-place finish by Seth Walter in the shot put Friday. The Lakewood Ranch boys finished with nine after failing to score on the final day. The girls finished with four.
Palmetto's Elzabeth Atkinson was the only Manatee County medalist in Class 3A with a fourth-place finish in the discus throw to give the Tigers five points.
Bayshore's girls were the only area Class 2A team to score, finishing with four points on Alexus Norman's fifth-place finish in the high jump Friday.
The Mustangs separated themselves with top-heavy talent, but also with depth. Ranch had multiple medalists in three events, including three medalists in the long jump Friday. Lakewood Ranch had athletes willing to try new events late in the season to pick up points and in Ryans' case with the high jump it made her a state champion. It made the whole team a state champion.
"We're definitely a family," Falco said. "We work together all the time. We're really good competitors, so coming out here and our coaches coaching us--we're all just one big family."
David Wilson, Herald sports writer, can be contacted at 941-745-7057 or on Twitter@DBWilson2.
This story was originally published May 7, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Lakewood Ranch wraps up 4A girls title ."