RIVERVIEW — His hamstrings throbbed, like “somebody dropped bars” on them. On a 1-10 scale, Spoto senior Eric Moate said, the pain registered a nine. In lieu of a Gatorade shower Thursday evening, he was planning an ice bath.
Such is how redemption feels.
A day shy of the one-year anniversary of his season-ending left hamstring injury at the Class 2A, District 10 meet, Moate found atonement at the same meet on a breezy, partly cloudy afternoon on his home track.
Nursing a sore right hamstring this time, Moate won the 100 (10.9 seconds) and high jump (5 feet, 10 inches), placed second in the 200 (22.44) and finished third in the long jump (21-5).
“I’m proud of the effort,” said Moate, a county 100- and 200-meter champion last spring before pulling his hamstring in the district 100 finals.
“When I came out here earlier this week I told coach (John) Rhodus that mentally I was beat, like injuries had me beat. I came out here today to try to erase that from my mind and do what I did.”
Moate and the Spartans’ slew of other top-four finishers in each event move on to next week’s Region 3 meet in Titusville. Spoto’s boys and girls both finished second to Lakewood in the team standings.
Perhaps Moate’s most gratifying moment Thursday came in the 100 finals, where he not only vanquished a 364-day-old demon, but edged former Arcadia elementary-school buddy Tajahs Jackson of DeSoto in a photo finish.
“I knew he could do it,” Rhodus said of Moate’s overall effort. “I just told him to concentrate on getting top four, then he could take another week to rest and another week for that hamstring to heal.”
Discus specialist Dion Byrd was Spoto’s only other boys champion. On the girls side, rookies ruled the day for the Spartans.
Freshman Janae Caldwell extended her breakthrough season by winning the 200 (in a personal-best 25.55) and 400 (57.82), and running third leg on the triumphant 4x400 relay team.
Freshman Kela Nelson earned wins in the 1,600 and 3,200, while classmate Brittany Thomas won the 800 and ran a leg on the winning 4x800 relay team.
Class 2A, District 10
at Spoto
Boys team results: Lakewood (Lw) 225.5, Spoto (S) 116, Wauchula Hardee (H) 84, Arcadia DeSoto (D) 71.5, Bradenton Southeast (Se) 53, Sarasota Booker (B) 49, Lehigh (Le) 44
Boys individuals: 4x800: Lakewood 8:37.65, Hardee 9:24.56, Southeast 9:37.31, DeSoto 9:54.12; Pole vault: Borjas (H) 10-6, Garcia (H) 9-6, Rodriguez (H) 9-6, Mejia-Flores (H) 9-6; Discus: Byrd (S) 116-0, Copeland (Lw) 114-2.5, Buchanan (S) 112-5, Richardson (Lw) 107-7; Shot put: Copeland (Lw) 45-0, Watson (B) 42-2, Delhomme (H) 41-2.5, Williams (B) 40-8.5; High jump: Moate (S) 5-10, Buchanan (S) 5-6, Johnson (Lw) 5-4; Long jump: Shaquem Griffin (Lw) 22-4, Shaquill Griffin (Lw) 22-0, Moate (S) 21-5, Bryant (Lw) 21-1; Triple jump: Shaquill Griffin (Lw) 47-7, Shaquem Griffin (Lw) 46-1, Jackson (D) 43-0, Golden Jr. (Lw) 39-10.5; 110 hurdles: Holmes (Lw) 14.50, Gunter (Lw) 17.71, Williams (Lw) 17.72, Sheppard (Se) 17.84; 100: Moate (S) 10.90, Jackson (D) 10.94, Boykins (Lw) 11.17, Timmons (Se) 11.23; 1,600: Vazquez (Le) 4:49.53, Whittington (S) 4:55.11, Manzaneras (Le) 5:05.71, Beatty (H) 5:06.31; 4x100: Lakewood 41.44, DeSoto 42.60, Southeast 43.92, Lehigh 44.81; 400: Johnson (B) 50.70, Pelham (D) 50.71, Eady (S) 52.14, Carley (Se) 52.39; 300 hurdles: Holmes (Lw) 38.53, Richardson (D) 43.55, Williams (Lw) 43.93, Gunter (Lw) 43.95; 800: Persha (Lw) 2:03.49, Whittington (S) 2:08.44, Tomlinson (Lw) 2:11.07, Smith (Lw) 2:13.40; 200: Timmons (Se) 21.97, Moate (S) 22.44, Boykins (Lw) 22.57, Golden Jr. (Lw) 22.76; 3,200: Vazquez (Le) 10:50, Manzaneras (Le) 11:53, Cisneros (D) 12:00, Fields (S) 12:09; 4x400: Lakewood 3:27.07, Booker 3:46.49, Southeast 3:47.66, DeSoto 3:52.73
Girls team results: Lakewood (Lw) 171.5, Spoto (S) 139, Wauchula Hardee (H) 108.5, Bradenton Southeast (Se) 108, Lehigh (Le) 70, Sarasota Booker (S) 27, Arcadia DeSoto (D) 12
Girls individuals: 4x800: Spoto 11:21.90, Southeast 11:28.39, Hardee 12:22.23, Lakewood 12:39.24; Pole vault: Dones’ (Lw) 8-0, Grisinger (H) 8-0, Sentmanant (S) 6-6, Gibson (Lw) 6-0; Discus: Bell (Le) 91-8.75, Porter (Se) 84-5, Clark (Se) 83-11, Smith (H) 82-9.75; Shot put: Bell (Le) 31-2, Clark (Se) 30-0.5, Porter (Se) 29-6.5, Vasquez (Lw) 28-11; High jump: Funderburk (Lw) 5-0, Carlton (H) 4-8, Mitchell (Lw) 4-6, Faulk (Lw) 4-6; Long jump: Valcin (Se) 15-10.5, McCoy (S) 15-9, Carlton (H) 15-3.5, Cineus (Se) 15-3.5; Triple jump: Funderburk (Lw) 32-8, Valcin (Se) 32-2, McCoy (S) 31-8.25, Clayton (Lw) 31-0; 100 hurdles: Dones’ (Lw) 17.89, Wimberly (Lw) 18.27, Grisinger (H) 18.75, Williams (Lw) 18.87; 100: Allen (Lw) 12.90, Keys (Lw) 13.01, Whitfield (Le) 13.12, Stewart (Le) 13.29; 1,600: Nelson (S) 6:15.49, Avila (H) 6:20.26, Lopez (Se) 6:24.56, Hawkins-Smyk (Se) 6:29.20; 4x100: Lehigh 49.06, Lakewood 50.85, Southeast 52.06, Spoto 52.26; 400: Caldwell (S) 57.82, Shuler (S) 1:01.73, Rose (L) 1:02.07, Ezewa (Le) 1:02.68; 300 hurdles: Funderburk (Lw) 47.08, Araciaga-Munoz (D) 51.71, Dones’ (Lw) 54.04, Williams (Lw) 54.34; 800: Thomas (S) 2:41.74, Avila (H) 2:44.33, Forschner (B) 2:47.71, Gordon (Lw) 2:49.20; 200: Caldwell (S) 25.55, Allen (Lw) 26.30, Whitfield (Le) 26.68, Benjamin (S) 27.43; 3,200: Nelson (S) 14:05.51, Lopez (Se) 14:10.31, Ramos (H) 14:38.76, Lopez (Se) 15:49.06; 4x400: Spoto 4:17.88, Lehigh 4:21.94, Lakewood 4:23.61, Southeast 4:40.33