PALM BEACH GARDENS – It was a breeze.
Quite frankly, this is how it went earlier today (April 22) for Benjamin throughout the Class 1A-District 13 boys and girls track meet.
Held at Benjamin high school, the boys earned a grand total of 322 points, while the girls earned a grand total of 218 points. They easily flew past six other teams, such as Pahokee, Jupiter Christian, Oxbridge Academy, John Carroll, St. Edward’s, and Pine School.
You can see the final results below for yourself.
We have multiple winners today from Benjamin. Here are some of the top finishers from today’s track meet.
BOYS
Micah Mays (senior): High Jump (5 feet, 7.75 inches), 200 meters (22.24), 400 meters (49.76)
Cole Grande (senior): 100 meters (10.87)
Jackson Hamilton (junior): Discus (158.9 inches), Shot Put (45 feet, 7.25 inches)
Joshua Luiz (junior): 110 meter hurdles (15.40), 400 meter hurdles (58.62)
Jacob Cosby-Mosley (junior): Triple jump (43 feet, 3 inches)
Robert Letsche (junior): Pole Vault (10 feet, 10 inches)
Quinn Broderick (senior): Javelin (157 feet, 7 inches)
GIRLS
Sophia Buller (senior): 110 meter hurdles (16.21), 400 meter hurdles (1:05.97)
Sofia Balistreri (freshman), Isabelle Downey (eighth grade), Ingrid Corpus (senior), Sophia Buller (senior): 4×800 meter race (10:56.39)
Grande, who has signed with Samford to continue with his track and field on the next level, weighed in on the significance of today’s set of district tournament wins by Benjamin.
“We are peaking at the right time in the season,” Grande said. “Getting great times early in the season is great and all, but it doesn’t really mean anything if you dont run well when it really matters. We had 2 PRs in the 800m, 2 PRs in the mile, and a few season bests as well across the board. So now we have stacked entries going in to regionals with how many people qualified today.”
Buller, who has recently signed her letter of intent with Clemson to continue her track and field career, chimed in.
“My takeaway from today is pride,” Buller said. “I am so proud of my team, both boys and girls. A lot of people stepped up to the challenge and gave their all today, especially those who ran four events and placed in all of them. We also had many people on the cusp of qualifying with their previous PRs who showed up today and showed out to qualify for regionals.”
Buller had more to say about today’s outcome.
“I am incredibly proud to be a part of the outstanding program Coach [Barrett] Saunders has built. It’s been an honor to work with him these last four years. Likewise, we’re all incredibly supportive of each other and it was the perfect way for us seniors to end out last home meet. I’m so excited to see what both the boys and girls teams accomplish headed into regionals and states. This is going to be a year to remember.”
As the defending Class 1A state champion, Saunders has fully prepared his teams for the challenges that will be ahead of them. They will come in the Class 1A regional track meet (May 6) and in the Class 1A state track and field championships (May 17; University of North Florida in Jacksonville).
“I think our guys are gonna have to adjust to having a target on their back,” Saunders said. “Last year, nobody knew what we were to look out for us. So we were able to sneak up on everybody. This year, they have the targets on their back. Can they adjust to be the hunted instead of being the hunter? I think that will determine if we can repeat.”
To find out all of the results from today’s Class 1A-District 13 track and field meet, you can visit the following website:
http://results.tfmeetpro.com/MOGO_Timing_Inc/FHSAA_1A_District_13_Benjamin/results_22.html
PHOTO CREDIT: The Benjamin School Athletics
VIDEO CREDIT: Michelle Grande
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY: Mogo Timing
