HOLIDAY — For the first time in six years, Wiregrass Ranch is not the top program in Pasco County girls track and field.
The Bulls were knocked off their dominant perch by Land O’Lakes in convincing style Monday in the 24th annual Sunshine Athletic Conference championship meet at Anclote.
The Gators (197.3 points) won five events, including a meet record from Victoria Cannata in the triple jump of 35 feet, 11 inches, 31/2 inches better than the mark set by Pasco’s Isaria Ranson in 2005. Other Land O’Lakes wins came in the 4x400 relay (4 minutes, 23 seconds), Hallie Grimes in the 400 meters (58.88 seconds), Jhade Hayes in the discus (108-2), and Kelsey McGee in the shot put (35-4).
Wiregrass Ranch (107 points) finished second, ending the team’s five-year reign. The only Bulls win came in the 4x800 relay (10:06).
The meet’s star was Pasco’s Alfreda Steele. She won the long jump, 100 and 200 last year as a freshman and was the favorite to repeat. She did so impressively, breaking meet records in both the 200 (24.87 seconds) and long jump (18-101/4), and dominated the 100 (12.15), missing the meet record by just more than 0.1 seconds.
Land O’Lakes won its third straight boys team title, scoring 197.3 points. By comparison, runnerup Ridgewood had 73.
Jake Poore broke the meet record at 3,200 meters, crossing the line in 9:35. Stefan Zapata did the same in the triple jump (45-41/2) and Shaheed Salmon in the discus (152-5). Poore and Tyler Stahl, who also won the 1,600 (4:24), led the 4x800 relay team to a meet record time of 8:28 as well.
Other victories for the Gators came from Deion Strozer in the long jump (21-41/2), Ethan Weilant in the 800 (2:02), and the 4x100 relay (43.88).
Multiple event winners were Zephyrhills’ Jordan Roberts, who took the 100 (11.23 seconds) and 400 (53.79), and Anclote’s Jamaree Ried in the 110 (15.24) and 300 hurdles (39.93). Both of Ried’s times were also meet records.