PONTE VEDRA BEACH – Orange Park High junior sprinter Alex Collier continued his assault on enemy challengers with decisive wins in the 100 and 400 meters while senior teammate John Abate opened some track eyes with a school record high jump, a hurdles win and runnerup finish and a cap off with a 4 x 400 gold relay leadoff leg as the Raider boys took a strong second to Bartram Trail, fifth in 3A last year, at the district 4-3A track and field championships held at Nease High School on Tues., April 16.

Bartram Trail won with 204 points with Orange Park second at 126 and Creekside third at 97. Middleburg was sixth with 36 points. For the girls, Bartram Trail won with 209 points to Creekside’s 141 with Orange Park sixth at 35 and Middleburg seventh at 32.5.

Abate opened the day’s events in the high jump where he was to face

defending district and region champion Bryce Quiett of Middleburg, who had a 6’-6” jump on his sheet for 2019 with Abate at a 6’-4” best for the season. Quiett hit 6’-7.5” last year to win the district title.

“I kind of thought a 6’-5” would be nice to get to region,” said Abate.

Prophetic as he was, Abate and Quiett went into a mano-a-mano jump off with both hitting first jumps at 5’-9”, 6’-1” and 6’-4” before Abate made his second jump at 6’-6” with Quiett missing on his three attempts.

“I was excited at make 6’-6”, but thanks to Bryce for pushing me,” said Abate. “I knew I had hurdles to run and the relay, but wanted to give the school record a shot.”

Three shots at 6’-10” inches were just missed.

“He’s a competitor,” said Orange Park coach Robert Garcia. “Just look at his athletic career at Orange Park; basketball, swimming, track.”

Later, on the track, Abate won the 300 hurdles in 40.00 seconds and finished second in the 110 high hurdles with quick time of 15.02 seconds with Nease’s Cyrus Ways winning in 14.97.

For Collier, who established his fast feet with nationally ranked times in the 100 and 400, getting the job done was the goal for districts with at 10.71 win in the 100 and a 48.80 win in the 400. One bonus for the Raiders in both events came from teammates Keanen Restall, who was fourth in the 100, but won the 200 in 22.38, and 400 specialist Sean Dixon, fourth in 51.78 to join Collier at regions. Middleburg’s Anthony Havens took third in the 200 in 22.92.

Orange Park’s sprint relays kept Bartram Trail within whiskers with a second in the 4 x 100 by just .11 seconds and a second in the 4 x 400 by just four seconds.

District 4-3A Track and Field Region qualifiers

Top four finishes at district/Regions April 27 at Pensacola Washington High

(District finish, name, school, time)

100

1st Alex Collier, OPHS 10.71

4th Keanan Restall, OPHS 11.11

200

1st Keanan Restall, OPHS, 22.38

3rd Anthony Havens, MHS, 22.92

400

1st Alex Collier, OPHS, 48.80

4th Sean Dixon, OPHS, 51.78

1600

4th John Bear, OPHS, 4:31.13

110 High Hurdles

2nd John Abate, OPHS 15.02

300 Hurdles

1st John Abate, OPHS, 40.00

4 x 100 Relay

2nd OPHS (Markez Sermons, Cainan Walker, Antwaun Cooper, Keanan Restall) 42.76

4th MHS (Calvin Suggs, Britan Bussey, Zarion Jones, Anthony Havens) 45.04

2nd OPHS girls (Celeste Robinson, A’Shanti Williams, Jailin Johnson, DeMia Harris) 51.54

4th MHS girls (Cheyna Kidson, Jamyah Harkins, Kayla Konnick, Stephanie Morelus) 53.12

4 x 400

2nd OPHS (John Abate, Sean Dixon, Diego Soto, Alex Collier) 3:22.11

High Jump

1st John Abate, OPHS, 6’-8.75”

2nd Bryce Quiett, MHS, 6’4.75”

4th girls Jailin Johnson, OPHS, 4’-7”

Long Jump

2nd Marcus Floyd, MHS, 21’-1.5”

4th Dennis Mitchell, OPHS, 10’-9.5”

2nd girls Cheyna Kidson, MHS, 16’-2.5”

Triple Jump

3rd Dennis Mitchell, OPHS, 40’-6”

4th Anthony Havens, MHS, 40’-0.5”

Shot Put

4th Kendy Charles, OPHS, 43’-11.75”

2nd girls Destiny Basden, OPHS, 37’-6.75”

Discus

3rd girls Destiny Basden, OPHS, 109’-6”