CLEARWATER — The plan was for Countryside’s Andrew Llewellyn to anchor the 4x800 relay and concentrate on the 1,600 meters at Wednesday’s Pinellas County Athletic Conference track meet.
Llewellyn did that with ease, leading the Cougars to victory in the 4x800 in 8 minutes, 22.77 seconds to avenge a loss to Lakewood earlier this month. In the 1,600, he finished first in 4:28.78.
But Llewellyn wanted more from his final PCAC meet. So the senior ended up completing a rare distance quadruple, adding victories in the 800 (2:01.15) and 3,200 (10:11.78).
“I’ve been training for the mile (1,600) and the original goal was to try to set a personal record in that event,” Llewellyn said. “My coaches were begging not to run the other two events, but I was feeling really good and just wanted to go for it.”
The 40 points he helped accumulate allowed Countryside (128 points) to end a two-year conference title drought and keep coach Eileen Givens’ championship streak alive. Givens, who stepped down as boys coach two years ago, has never lost a conference title, winning seven with Countryside’s boys and 12 before that with Lakewood’s girls. Gibbs was the boys runnerup with 74 points.
“I don’t think we’ll be letting Andrew do that too often,” Givens said of Llewellyn’s four distance wins. “That’s a once-in-a-lifetime achievement.”
Besides Llewellyn, the Cougars also got wins from Robert Davis in the 400 (49.47) and Giovanni Negron in the shot put (45 feet, 2 inches).
Dunedin’s Ahmad Middleton won three events: the long jump (22-5), 110 hurdles (14.56) and 300 hurdles (39.58). Osceola’s Carson Waters continued his dominance in the pole vault, clearing 14-7.
Another quadruple was completed on the girls side by Gibbs’ Jerosan Fletcher, a jumping and sprinting specialist. The senior won the 100 (12.71), 200 (26.02), 400 (58.29) and long jump (17-3 1/2).
“I felt like I had a good shot at winning since I’ve done so well in each one this season,” Fletcher said. “It’s a lot of work in a day, but I’m used to it.”
East Lake (158) won the girls title for the second straight season. Osceola (62.5) was the runnerup. The Eagles racked up the bulk of their points in the distance events with four of the top-five place winners in the 1,600 and four of the top six in the 3,200. East Lake’s Sabrina Siegel won the 1,600 (5:28.34) and sister Julia Siegel won the 3,200 (12:08.25). Sabrina was on the winning 4x800 relay (10:20.11).
Palm Harbor University’s Sara Karuli was first in the shot put (35-0) and discus (106-3.5). Osceola’s Jennifer Kistemaker won the pole vault in 11-6.