Track and field | Sophia Falco wins three individual titles to lead Lakewood Ranch girls to district championship
SARASOTA -- Sophia Falco hadn't tried the triple jump competitively in weeks, and at the Class 4A-District 8 meet Wednesday she had one chance to return to the field.
The junior has dealt with shin splits which she said are turning into stress fractures. She usually takes part in four events, but the injuries had limited her to two since the start of April. Lakewood Ranch's trip to Sarasota for the district meet had to be the time for her to return.
Falco needed a top-four finish to qualify for the Class 4A-Region 2 meet April 30. With three awkward, short strides, Falco found herself atop the leader board in one attempt. This was good enough for her.
"Technique-wise, it's not the best, but it gets me there," she said.
No one matched her 11.41-meter jump and Falco secured her second district title in the field to go along with her long jump championship.
Later in the afternoon, Falco added a district title in 200-meter dash. She qualified for the region meet in Kissimmee in four individual events -- she finished second in the 100 -- to help the Mustangs girls capture a Class 4A-8 championship in Sarasota with 199 points. Ranch's boys finished second with 125 points, falling five short of Sarasota's 130. The girls' victory was a rout. Sarasota Riverview was the next closest competitor with 114 points and Lakewood Ranch racked up 35 qualifiers.
"The way we approach things is just get through, get the top four," head coach Mark Napier said. "At this point venture and then if you're capable of making it toward the state then you get after it."
Before the evening of sprinting even began, Ranch had six champions and a pair of comfortable team leads. Reide Ryans finished first in the high jump and later second in the 100 hurdles, Sam Jackson won a district title in the discus and finished second in the shot put, Ben Lacina finished first in the pole vault, and Olivia Ogles won
the pole vault and finished fourth in the long jump. Michael Petruzzi earned a pair of top-four finishes in the field and then another on the track.
"The girls are obviously doing well. We have high expectations for that team," Napier said. "The boys are doing exceptionally well."
Manatee finished the meet with a pair of top-four finishes as a team on the strength of its sprinters, but started well in the field, too. Jacque Armer and Seth Walter both won district titles in the shot put and the Hurricanes qualified three others. Garrett Ware finished fourth in discus, Brooke Schamber finished fourth in shot put and Reggie Carter finished fourth in triple jump.
"We came out of it doing what we thought we would do," Canes head coach Mike Smith said.
The second half of the meet, though, elevated Manatee's boys to a third-place finish with 112 points and its girls to fifth with 67.
Kavious Price led the Hurricanes with a pair of individual district titles in the 100 and 200, and he anchored the Canes' 400 relay champion. Three of the four legs on the relay also accounted for sweeps of the top three in the 100 and 200. In both races, Lorenz Allen finished second and Darante Copeland finished third. In total, the Canes qualified 20 for the region meet, with Paige Morrison and Deanay Watson each earning multiple individual qualifications.
Lakewood Ranch also collected four more district championships on the track. Kristine Akervold finished first in the 100 hurdles to go along with two other individual qualifications, John Rivera finished first in the 800 run, and the Mustangs swept the two 1600 relays.
David Wilson, Herald sports writer, can be contacted at 941-745-7057 or on Twitter @DBWilson2.
This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Track and field | Sophia Falco wins three individual titles to lead Lakewood Ranch girls to district championship ."