JACKSONVILLE — He embarked on the Class 3A meet with a state record in his sights. He ended it with pellets of rain in his face.
Hoping to make a splash in the final meet of his prolific prep career, Hillsborough senior Jeremiah Green did just that — with every waterlogged step he took down the slick Hodges Stadium runway.
“Oh man, it was just terrible, man,” the University of Alabama signee said.
Aspirations of breaking the Florida state meet record (52 feet, 5.5 inches) in the triple jump were thwarted by gusts, gray skies and a ceaseless drizzle at the University of North Florida. The consolation: a second state title for Green (48-2) in his signature event.
He also placed second in the long jump (23-2.75). Jefferson senior Jonathan Moore, who captured the boys 800 a year after placing third, was Hillsborough County’s only other state champion Friday.
“I wish they’d just reschedule it for another day, but (UNF) paid a lot of money for this day,” said Green, who entered with the nation’s best triple jump effort (52-1.75) this season. “You’ve still got to come out here and compete.”
Battling adverse conditions of an altogether different sort was Terriers senior Jorian Ordway, an International Baccalaureate student forced to take an English IB exam at noon Friday at nearby Paxon High.
Because the meet began an hour early as a precaution against potential evening storms, Ordway, who owns a 6.3 unweighted GPA, arrived just in time for the running prelims.
She ultimately finished second in the 400 (55.97 seconds) and seventh in the 200 (24.93), and ran a leg on the Terriers’ eighth-place 4x400 relay team.
“You can’t reschedule (the IB exam). The only thing they could do was let me take it here at a school that’s 30 minutes away,” Ordway said. “It’s been just like, a crazy day, but I’m happy with the overall meet performance.”
Also claiming two individual medals was King senior Carrol Hardy. A Western Kentucky signee, Hardy was second in the girls 100 (11.95) and fourth in the 200 (24.51).
Other local girls medalists: Chamberlain senior Andrea Aaron (third in shot put), Gaither senior Kiana Bryant (eighth in 100), Gaither junior Rachel Cazares (fifth in 800) and King junior Rachel Favors (eighth in 800).
Boys medalists were Steinbrenner senior Matt Magee (fifth in 1,600), Hillsborough senior Robert Wilson (fifth in 400), Strawberry Crest junior Chauncey Thomas (eighth in triple jump) and Gaither sophomore Samson Moore (sixth in 200). The Blake and East Bay 4x400 teams placed fourth and sixth, respectively. Jefferson’s 4x100 team was eighth.
A state runnerup in the 110 hurdles last season, Moore bypassed his specialty event this year to focus on speed work. His time in Friday’s prelims (21.77) nearly was a personal best.
3A meet at Jacksonville
Girls
Team results: 1 Miami Northwestern 74.50, 16 King 14, 20 Hillsborough 11, 35 Chamberlain 6, 38 Gaither 5
Individual results: High jump: 1 Greene (PV) 5-05.00; pole vault: 1 Fowlie (Char) 11-00.00, 10 Scherschel (Ste) 9-00.00; long jump: 1 Williams (Hal) 18-07.50; triple jump: 1 Cook-Martin (BC) 38-04.00, 10 Brooks (SC) 34-09.75, 14 Brown (Hil) 34-03.00; discus: 1 Cameron (Nor) 146-08, 12 Aaron (Cha) 101-05; shot put: 1 Cameron (Nor) 44-03.25, 3 Aaron (Cha) 41-01.75, 13 Newsome (Arm) 34-01.75; shot put adaptive: 1 Norton (Bel) 17-05.75; 4x800: 1 Estero (Cline, Slater, Solis, Smith) 9:26.58, 13 Hillsborough (Hawkins, Melendi, Brown, Baptiste) 10:17.25, 15 Steinbrenner (Sikoryak, Murray, Albert, Garris) 10:29.94); 100 hurdles: 1 Whitaker (PF) 13.92; 100: 1 Whitney (ER) 11.79, 2 Hardy (King) 11.95, 8 Bryant (Gai) 12.40; 1,600: 1 Edwards (FM) 5:00.60; 4x100: 1 Stanton (Long, Taralyn and Kayla Heard, Chambers) 48.90; 400: 1 Wimbley (Dil) 55.69, 2 Ordway (Hil) 55.97; 300 hurdles: 1; 800: 1 Zarrella (LR) 2:16.45, 5 Cazares (Gai) 2:19.50, 8 Favors (King) 2:21.59; 800 adaptive: 1 Norton (Bel) 3:02.75; 200: 1 Whitney (ER) 23.40, 4 Hardy (King) 24.51, 7 Ordway (Hil) 24.93; 200 adaptive: 1 Norton (Bel) 37.15; 3,200: 1 Givens (Chi) 11:00.25, 10 Parrish (Cha) 12:01.67; 4x400: 1 Miami Northwestern (Williams, Baker, Springer, Harris) 3:57.82, 8 Hillsborough (Roberson, Ordway, Brown, Hawkins) 4:03.93
Boys
Team results: 1 Bartram Trail 47, 9 Hillsborough 22, 18 Jefferson 11.50, 38 Blake 5, 41 Steinbrenner 4, 46 Gaither 3, 46 East Bay 3, 59 Strawberry Crest 1
Individual results: High jump: 1 Harris (Spr) 6-02.00; pole vault: 1 Akins (Cel) 14-06.00; long jump: 1 Webb (Gai) 23-04.50, 2 Green (Hil) 23-02.75, 8 Porter (Jef) 21-11.00; triple jump: 1 Green (Hil) 48-02.00, 8 Thomas (SC) 42-10.75, 14 Hood (Len) 41-02.75; discus: 1 Droogsma (GB) 183-03, 10 Smith (Gai) 139-07, 15 McKnight (Ste) 118-09; shot put: 1 Droogsma (GB) 57-02.50, 15 Brown (Jef) 45-06.75; shot put adaptive: 1 Giardino (Lec) 23-02.00; 4x800: 1 Belen Jesuit (Rojo, Isaac, Rosete, Lopez) 8:01.98, 10 Jefferson (Palacio, Walton, Erickson, Moore) 8:20.45; 110 hurdles: 1 Burns (Nor) 14.31, 7 Middleton (Dun) 14.82; 100: 1 Bromell (Gib) 10.45; 1,600: 1 Morken (Nic) 4:23.79, 5 Magee (Ste) 4:26.70; 4x100: 1 Gibbs (Stewart, Bromell, President, Daniels) 42.26; 400: 1 Uruburu (BT) 48.28, 5 Wilson (Hil) 50.43; 300 hurdles: 1 Burns (Nor) 38.33; 800: 1 Moore (Jef) 1:55.21, 9 Shaw (Len) 2:00.35; 800 adaptive: 1 Giardino (Lec) 2:53.30; 200: 1 Williams (Sta) 21.12, 6 Moore (Gai) 21.95; 200 adaptive: 1 Gibbs (Van) 38.31; 3,200: 1 Howell (Nic) 9:34.67, 12 Zentmeyer (Sic) 10:08.23, 13 Cerreta (Ste) 10:15.96; 4x400: 1 Bartram Trail (Martin, Taylor, Davis, Uruburu) 3:19.86, 4 Blake (Bythewood, Price-Murray, Wiley, James) 3:23.90, 5 Jefferson (Porter, Moore, Walton, Tiller) 3:30.91, 6 East Bay (Williams, Rannie, Charles, Wykes) 3:24.45,
16 Gaither (Wright, Moore, Williams) 3:34.32
Photo: Hillsborough's Jorian Ordway earns a second-place finish in the 400.