TRACK

Prep track: CSN's Brown wins twice, First Baptist boys, girls in top 4 in 1A region meet

Jake Perper
Special to the Naples Daily News
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WESLEY CHAPEL – With a trip to the state meet on the line, Community School of Naples proved it can handle the pressure at the Class 1A-Region 2 track and field meet on Wednesday.

So did First Baptist Academy.

CSN freshman Loren Brown finished in first place in the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles.

In her first season on the Seahawks track team, Brown saved her best for last with a 45.31 school record in the 300 hurdles at night.

More:Prep track: Immokalee's Yrelus, Lely's Hart lead state qualifiers at 2A region meet

“It felt pretty good. I knew I tried my hardest,” Brown said. “I know there is still a lot of room to improve but I feel like I did really good this meet. I’m proud of myself and my team.”

Running track since the seventh grade, Brown described her quick success this season as interesting.

“I don’t let it get to my head and I don’t think about it,” she said. “I’m part of the team now. It’s my family and it doesn’t seem like I’ve only been here for a year.”

More:Prep track and field: First Baptist Academy cruises to Class 1A-District 8 titles

Also for Community School, senior Kane Aldrich won the pole vault, clearing 4.57 meters. Next week, the Wake Forest commit will go for his third straight state title.

“It was super exciting,” Aldrich said. “Today was the first day I managed to get on a new pole I’ve been working on. It felt super good. I’m really excited to have a week to practice on it between now and states.”

More:Prep track: CSN trio Kane Aldrich, Alex Murphey, Loren Brown have state-sized ambitions

Only the top-four finishers in individual events on Wednesday earned automatic berths to the state meet. In a change this year, the next eight best performances from across the four region meets will also gain berths.

The First Baptist boys finished third in the region meet with 46 points, led by Ray Pierre and Nick Tompkins. Pierre won the triple jump and was second in the long jump, while Tompkins was third in the high jump and fourth in the long jump and 200 meters. FBA's 4x800 relay team also qualified by placing third.

The FBA girls were fourth with 53 points.  Rose Pierre finished second in the high jump, and Malaya Melancon finished third in the long jump and part of the third-place 4x100 relay team. Katelyn Beam was fourth in the 1,600 and Sydney Beam was fourth in the 300 hurdles.

Sydney Beam was fifth in the 100 hurdles and the 4x800 relay team also finished fifth.

Another standout for Community School was senior Alex Murphey. He captured fourth place in the 100 meters. Murphey, also a Wake Forest commit, Aldrich, Michael Chen, and Alejandro Landron qualified by placing third in the 4x100.

“It has been a really big day with a lot of events,” said Murphey, who was beaten by FBA's Tompkins in the 200 for fourth place. “You just have to go hard but make sure you don’t tire yourself out and advance. I’m really happy for our 4x100 team. We have a stacked region in that event with great teams.”

Murphey is hoping things work out in their favor next week in the 4x100.

“We have to sharpen off the hand-offs a little bit,” he said. “We’ve been working on it in practice and are progressing. It is a new unit and we should be peaking.”

St. John Neumann's Christopher Kimble was a double-qualifier, placing second in the discus and third in the shot put. Seacrest's Peter Charles also just missed qualifying automatically, finishing fifth in the 800.

The state meet is May 4-5 in Jacksonville.

Class 1A-Region 2 meet

at Wesley Chapel-Cypress Creek

Top four individual finishers automatically advance to states; next eight fastest times, distances or heights in the state also qualify.

1A

Girls

1,600 -- 4. Katelyn Beam (FBA) 5:25.07

300 hurdles -- 1. Loren Brown (CSN) 45.31; 4. Sydney Beam (FBA) 48.25

4x100 relay -- 3. First Baptist (Lines-Melancon-Munn-Smith) 49.98; 4. St. John Neumann (Bergstrom-Rice-Jean Felix-Whooley) 50.15

100 hurdles -- 1. Loren Brown (CSN) 15.26

High jump -- 2. Rose Pierre (FBA) 5-01.75; 4. Chanel Whooley (SJN) 4-11.75

Long jump -- 3. Malaya Melancon (FBA) 16-04.50

Boys

200 -- 4. Nick Tompkins (FBA) 22.34

4x100 -- 3. Community School (Chen-Landron-Aldrich-Murphey) 43.10

100 -- 4. Alex Murphey (CSN) 11.04

4x100 relay -- 3. First Baptist (Haskins-O'Dell-Follin-Powers) 8:27.27

Pole vault -- 1. Kane Aldrich (CSN) 15-0

High jump -- 3. Nick Tompkins (FBA) 6-01.5

Triple jump -- 1. Ray Pierre (FBA) 44-05.50

Discus -- 2. Christopher Kimble (SJN) 132-08

Shot put -- 3. Christopher Kimble (SJN) 44-02.50

Long jump -- 2. Ray Pierre (FBA) 21-06.25; 4. Nick Tompkins (FBA) 20-02.25