Track and field | Manatee picks up two field medals on opening day of state, survives injury to defending champion relay team
BRADENTON -- Jacque Armer has been a mainstay at the state championships for Manatee High School. She completed her Hurricane career Friday with her third straight appearance in the shot put state final, the same day the Canes hope a new legacy is beginning.
Armer concluded her career with a fifth-place finish. Seth Walter, a junior in the boys shot put, made his first trip to the Class 4A championship. He finished fourth at IMG Academy.
"He worked very, very hard in the weight room," Manatee head coach Mike Smith said.
Walter and Armer were the only two medalists for the Hurricanes on the opening day of the state championship, which mainly determined field champions while running events ran preliminaries. Walter's rapid progress is emblematic of the Canes' penchant for developing throwers.
Smith remembers when Walter first came out to practices at the beginning of the year. The junior was trying to squeeze them in between weightlifting sessions -- he also went to the state championship as a lifter this spring -- and only putting the shot 43 or 44 feet. As he refined his technique and improved as a weightlifter from a season of working with weightlifting head coach Rich Lansky, Walter was up to 48 feet in the shot put by the time his lifting season ended and the Class 4A-District 8 meet was on the horizon.
During the postseason, Walter set a personal best of 51 feet. In the final Friday, Walter putted 50-11, finishing less than three feet behind the winner. The three top spots were occupied by seniors.
Saint Stephen's joined Manatee and Lakewood Ranch as the only schools to win multiple medals on the opening day in Bradenton, and it joined the Mustangs as the only team with a track medalist.
Kaitlyn Siegel started the day for St. Stephen's by following her region championship with a fifth-place finish in the Class 1A high jump. Andrew Csubak finished sixth in the 800-meter run to win a medal of his own. Csubak will also compete on Saint Stephen's 3,200 relay, which will go for a state championship at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Bayshore's Alexus Norman won the only other medal with her fifth-place finish in the Class 2A high jump. The junior, whose sister won a state championship in the event last year, was competing at the state meet for the second straight year.
Manatee County's only defending state champion took a hit before even getting on the track Friday. The Hurricanes' boys 400 relay had to swap out lead leg Sir Williams for alternate Reggie Carter because of a back injury Williams said limited him to 75 percent. Anchored by Kavious Price, who is the only returning member of last year's champion relay team, the Canes still posted the second-fastest qualifying time at 41.98 seconds.
"Right up until we were getting ready to report we had not decided who was going to lead off," Smith said. "Unless Sir said, 'I'm 100 percent,' we'll probably go with Reggie."
David Wilson, Herald sports writer, can be contacted at 941-745-7057 or on Twitter@DBWilson2.
This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Track and field | Manatee picks up two field medals on opening day of state, survives injury to defending champion relay team ."