Even as rain exited Gainesville's radar Thursday, several bay area track standouts converged on it.
Day One of the 69th annual Florida Relays was rife with sparkling performances by several locals. Among them: Gibbs senior -- and recent Baylor University signee -- Trayvon Bromell's wind-aided, personal-best time (10.34 seconds) in the boys 100-meter prelims.
Bromell's time was the best among 54 competitors on a cloudy Thursday afternoon. He races in the finals Friday.
Elsewhere, Alonso's William Taylor-Haynes, who won a Hillsborough County 100-meter hurdles title with a 13.98-second effort Tuesday, was second (14.15) in Thursday's prelims. Reigning Class 2A state champ Walter Tucker of Plantation American Heritage finished in 13.83 -- the fastest in Florida this year according to milesplit.com.
Upstaging Tucker was Orlando Colonial's Andres Arroyo, whose winning time in the boys 800 (1:47.79) established a new Florida record and was the nation's top time this year according to flrunners.com.
Locally, Steinbrenner senior Matt Magee (pictured) and Calvary Christian freshman Hannah Brookover finished second in the boys and girls 1,600, respectively. Wiregrass Ranch senior Nikita Shah was second in the girls 3,200 (10:48.10).
In Thursday's field events, Alonso's Brandon Robinson won the boys long jump (22 feet, 10.5 inches), while two-time Hillsborough County shot put and discus champ Andrea Aaron of Chamberlain placed fourth in the discus with a personal-best effort (130-10).
Reigning 4A state high jump champ Faith Woodard of Freedom was third (5-6) Thursday, three spots ahead of Wesley Chapel senior Courtney Prengaman (5-4).
Action resumes Friday at 10 a.m. with more field events. Sprint finals are slated to begin at 12:30. All results and event times can be found here.
File photo: Daniel Wallace