TAMPA — Admiral Farragut’s Brittany McGee took off with the shadow of her toe just behind the scratch line as she uncorked a gravity-defying leap in the long jump.
She was not aided by wind, and when she descended and her heels hit squarely in the sand, she left a lasting imprint at the USF/Steinbrenner Invitational on Saturday.
McGee, the defending champion, set the meet record with leap of 19 feet, 2 1/2 inches, shattering the mark of 18 feet set by DerRenae Freeman of West Orange in 2012.
McGee hit the mark on her first jump in the finals to set a personal record, surpassing her 19 feet, 1/4 inch at the Florida Relays last year.
“I knew I was close because I went pretty good on my two previous jumps in the prelims that were scratches,” McGee said. “I skipped my last two jumps in the finals because I needed to run prelims in my other events.”
McGee finished second in the 300 hurdles (44.99) and third in the 100 hurdles (14.83). Admiral Farragut’s girls were seventh (30 points), the top Pinellas County finish, behind meet winner Hallandale (78).
There were other record-setting performances by Pinellas athletes at the meet. Osceola dominated the pole vault as Jennifer Kistemaker (11 feet, 6 inches) and Carson Waters (15-1) each set meet records.
Kistemaker missed setting a personal record when the bar was raised to 12-2.
Waters, meanwhile, beat his personal record by an inch. He aimed to go higher and started using a 16-foot, 1 3/4-inch pole. But he couldn’t clear 15-7.
“I want to break the state record (16-8) this season, and I feel like I’m on pace to do that,” Waters said. “I think at the end I just became too tired on my last couple of vaults to go higher.”
Dunedin’s Ahmad Middleton was a multiple champion: in the 100 hurdles in 14.18 and the 300 hurdles in a meet-record 38.09.
“I was trying to get under 38 seconds in the 300,” Middleton said. “I felt good the whole race, and I know I’m close to getting there.”
Countryside’s boys 4x800 relay of Ryan Bennett, Billy Fitch, Robert Davis and Andrew Llewellyn won in 7:59.54 to set a personal and meet record.
Gibbs’ Daniel Davis won the 100 in 10.87 and Calvary Christian’s Hannah Brookover took second in the 1,600 (5:07).
Gibbs was the top-finishing Pinellas boys team, scoring 34 points behind winner Hallandale (54).