Buchholz senior and University of Florida signee Riley Smith broke the high school mile record at the prestigious 116th Millrose Games by running 4:05.05 last month. He revealed in a recent episode of DyeStat Discussions that he was planning on opening his outdoor season and running a couple meets before competing at Indoor Nationals

 

Last weekend, Smith put the distance world on notice with a US#1 3,200-meter time of 8:48.11 at the Bolles Bulldog Classic.

"Riley has embraced his aerobic side of training in the last 10 months and it's beginning to pay dividends; 8:48 lifetime opening 3,200 meters with a 4:15.5 final 1,600 amazes me," coach Patrick Douma said.

His time moved him up to third on the all-time state list behind only Rheinhardt Harrison (8:47.43), currently at the University of Oregon, and state record holder Patrick Koon of Leon (8:44.95). Koon, a Stanford signee, was runner-up in the race (8:50.31) followed by Belen Jesuit freshman Marcelo Mantecon, and Smith's future Florida Gator teammates Graham Myers and Joshua Ruiz.

"My goals for him moving on are to have fun, stay injury-free, make smart decisions in training and racing, and continue to develop as a teammate, leader, and citizen," Douma added. "As far as time goes, those will figure themselves out by just getting in the right races."

 

It's not very often that we see a US#1 sprint double, but how about by a brother, and sister duo? That's happened in South Florida with Miami Northwestern's brother/sister twins Tywan Cox and Tyra Cox. Tywan kicked off his 2024 season with a nation-leading 46.43 to win the Southridge Spartan Invitational.

A week later it was Tyra's turn to join the national rankings. The junior ran a new US#1 and personal best of 23.47 to win the 200 at the Sam Burley Invitational.

 

The Dillard girls continued their dominance in the 4x800 relay. After opening the season with a time of 9:20.37 at Louie Bing, the quartet of Raquel Edwards, Shynah Collins, Christiana Coleman and Abigail Richards left no stone unturned Saturday with a new state record and US#1 time of 8:58.50. 

Best of the Rest

Sophomore Zamarii Sanders, a member of American Heritage's standout relays, ran a PR of 20.97 into a headwind to win the Sam Burley 200-meter dash.

 

On the distance side, Belen Jesuit's Marcelo Mantecon, a key member of their NXN team, won the 1,600 meters at the Bolles Bulldog Classic in 4:12.74

Junior Kai Evans of Lake Minneola ran a state-leading 400-meter hurdles time of 53.92 at the River City Relays Classic. Evans won a state title in the event last year and went on to win New Balance Nationals Outdoor as well as the AAU Junior Olympics title.

 

Bayside sophomore Nickiah Wilkinson jumped a state-leading 6-9.50 (2.07m) in the high jump, while Jackson Hamilton of Benjamin School threw an FL#1 discus throw of 180-11 (55.14m).

Sienna Alvarez-Coia won the Sam Burley HOF Invitational girls 1,600 in a state-leading 5:01.30, while Lindy White of Ponte Vedra claimed her FL#1 3,200m time of 10:50.30 at the 10th Annual Craig Speziale Memorial Track and Field Invitational.

Aleesa Samuel, daughter of NFL veteran Asante Samuel, swept the 100, 200, and 100 hurdles at the state meet last year and was fourth at the Brooks PR Invitational. Samuel ran a state-leading time of 13.71 into a headwind during the prelims at the Sam Burley Hall of Fame Invitational before going on to win the final in 13.80.

New state leaders in the field events include Zoe Heizer in the high jump 5-9.75 (1.77m), Omaria Gordon in the long jump 19-9.50 (6.03m), Shirin Djemgou in the triple jump 38-9.75 (11.83m), Mamie McClelland in pole vault 12-4 (3.76m), Elaina Perkins in the javelin 138-6 (42.21m), and Lauren Kirby 49-1 (14.96m) in the shot put.