Track and field | Sophia Falco, Reide Ryans win state championships for Lakewood Ranch
BRADENTON -- A state title was Sophia Falco's to lose Friday.
She entered the state-championship weekend as the overwhelming favorite in the Class 4A long jump at IMG Academy Field and just matching a previous best leap was a formality on her way to her gold medal.
Hours earlier, the top spot of the podium was unexpectedly occupied by one of Falco's teammates. Reide Ryans, with less than two months of experience as a high jumper, won her first state title.
"We all knew she had it in her," Falco said. "She's tall, she's long-legged, she's a great athlete and with our coaches -- I'm really proud of her."
With Lakewood Ranch winning two of the six girls events completed on the first day, the Mustangs lead the team standings with 40 points. Ranch leads Pembroke Pines Flanagan, which finished Day 1 with 24 points.
The state meet marked Ryans' fourth competition in the high jump, an event Lakewood Ranch coach Mark Napier had her try during the regular season simply to pick up a couple extra points in meets.
"I was hoping to win. I
guess that's everybody's goal, but I was just happy to be here, happy to have the experience," Ryans said after clearing 5 feet, 6 inches for gold. "For me to win is awesome."
Ryans tried clearing 5-8, only to clip the bar with her heel.
"Looks like we found you another event," FIU assistant coach Wylleshia Myrick, who had made the trip from Miami, told Ryans after the event. FIU had recruited Ryans as a hurdler -- and she qualified for Saturday's final in the 100 hurdles.
A title was far from her mind at the Charlotte Invitational on March 11 after only a few days of practice in the high jump.
"I was like, 'Let's just wing it,'" Ryans said.
Ryans wasn't sure what she was doing in Punta Gorda, so she tried to mimic teammate Savannah Turner. On Ryans' first attempt, she landed on the bar. By the end of the meet, though, she cleared 5-2 to win the meet.
Illness kept her from trying the event again until the Class 4A-District 8 meet, where she again cleared 5-2 to win a district title. At the regional championship on April 30 in Kissimmee, Ryans cleared 5-6 and finished as the runner-up based on misses.
Falco won her state championship by setting one of the personal records Napier felt she was capable of. She entered the meet with the sixth-best jump in the country, according to MileSplit.com. Still, Napier knew she was capable of climbing higher on that ranking list. She needed to clean up some of her timing issues and string together a handful of good attempts. If she did that, Napier said, "It could be nasty."
Her first jump of 20-4 was the best in the preliminaries. In the finals, she set a personal best of 20-4 3/4.
"It puts up my self esteem," Falco said of her initial jump. "I can go off and help other people and also my coaches try to help me from then on."
Falco will have a chance to win three more state championships Saturday in Bradenton. She's the Class 4A-Region 2 champion in the triple jump, which begins at 9 a.m.
Later in the day, she'll race in the 100 and 200.
The long jump was where Lakewood Ranch shined most during its big first day. Kristine Akervold finished second behind Falco, and Olivia Ogles finished seventh. Ogles also earned a bronze medal in the pole vault. Sam Jackson grabbed a silver in the discus for the Mustangs' other top-three finish. Ranch's boys finished the day in ninth place with nine points. Kissimmee Osceola leads with 16.
Lakewood Ranch also picked up medals in the girls pole vault with Cree Lotterer's fifth-place finish and in the boys 800 run with John Rivera's eighth-place finish.
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 | Sophia Falco, Reide Ryans win state championships for Lakewood Ranch ."