Countryside Cougars Boys Track Team Snatches Seventh Place at State Meet

There were some let downs, some surprises and some things that were bound to happen at this year’s track and field state finals.

One of the let downs was senior Wylan Bernitt in the 300m hurdles. Bernitt ran a 39.30 second race in prelims. He ran a 38.87 to win regionals and that time would have at least got him into the finals.

“I was sick all week. I definitely didn’t run my best today,” Bernitt said.

But he was able to help the boys 4x400m get on the medal stand at sixth place. Together, they ran a 3:19.48 minute race - an improvement on their regional championship time. Bernitt was not remorseful in any way, though.

“It’s been a great high school experience," Bernitt said. "I made state finals three years in a row."

Senior Ricy Brown, who was state champion in 800m, did not fare well in long jump. He finished last in the field but is capable of much better jumps. He got 20 feet 9.75 inches at state, while jumping 22 feet 7.75 inches at regionals.

Senior Derek Messmore came in right about where he was expected to. He ran a 49 second preliminary heat, then a 49.63 second 400m in the finals. Messmore ran 49.02 at regionals but the field of athletes at states in the 400m was ferocious but Messmore still managed seventh place.

"It's tough when you have to race the top two kids in the nation," Messmore said.

Arman Hall of St. Thomas Aquinas and Hugh Graham Jr. of Miami Northwestern had the top two seeded times in the nation going into the state finals and they both finished in under 47 seconds. 

The boys 4x800m did about what is was expected to. They wound up in fifth place and were able to crack the 8-minute mark, thanks greatly to a scorching 1:53.09 split by Brown. They knocked almost ten seconds off their regional time.

After Brown’s lap in the 4x800m earlier in the day, the stage was set for him to crush the open 800m in the evening.

He did just that.

The group stayed with him for the first lap but the pack started to spread out into the first turn of the second lap. On the following straight-away, Brown separated from all but two other athletes and on the final turn put several yards of distance between himself and the others. Down the straight away, Lake Brantley’s Otniel Teixeria almost caught Brown, forcing a photo finish. But Brown finished by a head's length.

“I didn’t hear him or even know he was there. I looked over and was like, ‘Oh my God’ and lunged for the line,” Brown said. “That’s how I envisioned it going, though, right down to the tape like that.”

The stands at Showalter field were packed and the crowd noise raucous. 

Senior Parker Polgar picked up third place in pole vault for the Cougars. Polgar jumped 14 feet 6 inches, a foot-and-a-half improvement over last year’s 13 foot jump.

“I couldn’t complain, the conditions were perfect today,” he said.

On the girls side, sophomore Victoria Jackson jumped 36 feet in triple jump, an improvement of almost two feet from her regional performance. Unfortunately, it only got her thirteenth place but she will be back next year, and the year after.

The boys finished with 25 points. It was good enough to grab them the seventh spot and was the highest score for any Tampa Bay area school.