Track and field | Saint Stephen's 400 relay wins thriller at district championship
LAKEWOOD RANCH -- Bobby Harrison first turned to his right after crossing the finish line to end Saint Stephen's 400-meter relay to look at St. Petersburg Shorecrest Prep's anchor leg then looked over to his right. A last-second lean pushed Harrison across the finish line ahead of Shorecrest Prep by 0.05 seconds, and for a few moments he shouted back and forth with his rival.
Teammates quickly pulled the racers apart, and Fred Billy was there to meet Harrison.
Billy, the third leg of the relay, had sprinted the length of the straightaway in the grass to Harrison's left, which prompted a scolding from an official.
For now, though, he wanted to celebrate the Falcons' second and final individual title at Thursday's Class 1A-District 7 meet at Out-of-Door Academy.
"Right down to the wire. I knew they had their fastest person on the second leg, so I knew that our third and fourth leg can handle it," said Jordon Murrell, who rain St. Stephen's second leg. "They were talking some mess, but we didn't say anything. We knew that was going to be a team that we were going to have to compete with throughout state."
The race mostly unfolded the way Murrell expected. His team was the favorite entering the event, although the Chargers weren't expected to be far behind. Murrell, who also qualified for the Class 1A-Region 2 meet April 28 with a second-place finish in the 200 dash and third-place finish in the 100 dash, gave Saint Stephen's a sizable edge during the first straightaway, and Billy and Harrison held on.
The emotional finish highlighted the Falcons' performance inside Thunder Stadium. Led by Murrell, Saint Stephen's qualified 12 for next week's region meet in Clearwater. Murrell will also run Saint Stephen's 1600 relay at Calvary Christian High School after it finished third without him Thursday. The Falcons' boys also finished fourth as a team with 93 points. Shorecrest won the meet with 168 1/2.
Csubak, who ran on the 1600, was Saint Stephen's next most prolific performer on the track. He finished third in the 800 and third in 1600 to earn three spots in the region meet.
Kaitlyn Siegel won Saint Stephen's only other district title, in the high jump. She finished second in the triple jump to qualify for region.
"We've got some kids moving forward," Saint Stephen's coach A.J. Brown said. "We've got some work to do. I'm proud of those guys."
Lindsay Leskinen added a second-place finish in the 300 hurdles, Kendall Miller finished third in shot put, Matthew Israel finished fourth in the 110 hurdles, Jett Gillum finished fourth in the 300 hurdles, Josh Stevens finished fourth in discus, Lethario Jones finished fourth in long jump and Saint Stephen's boys 3200 relay rounded out the Falcons' qualifiers with a second-place finish.
Saint Stephen's girls finished sixth as a team with 48 points. St. Petersburg Northside Christian won with 199.
Out-of-Door, the host of the event, claimed one district championship and qualified four others for regionals. Sofia Gardinier earned the district title she was projected for in the 400 and grabbed a surprising second-place finish in the 200.
Gardinier's time was still a bit slower than her best in the 400 as she continued to battle a back injury. Finishing first, though, gave her confidence as she tries to peak before the final races of the season.
"I was happy overall," Gardinier said. "I wasn't really expecting to win at all, actually. I don't know why. I was just really nervous."
Saraiah Walkes also qualified in multiple events for the Thunder, finishing second in the 200 and third in the 100. ODA's 400 relay was its other qualifier with a fourth-place finish.
Out-of-Door finished seventh on the boys side with 12 points and eighth on the girls with 39.
David Wilson, Herald sports writer, can be reached at 745-7057 or on Twitter@DBWilson2.
This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Track and field | Saint Stephen's 400 relay wins thriller at district championship ."