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© St. Petersburg Times, published April 13, 2002
TAMPA -- Jesuit won Friday, but the host Tigers didn't draw the most attention.
Rain suspended the meet for an hour and canceled the 330-meter hurdles and the pole vault. Most of the events were held in constant showers.
"Obviously, some of the performances suffered," Jesuit coach Mike Boza said. "I'm sure a lot of the other times suffered.
"Once the gun goes off, I don't think there's a problem. The problem comes keeping their concentration. They're trying to stay dry."
The team titles were never in doubt as Boza's Tigers ran away with the boys championship while Our Lady of Lourdes Academy from Miami won the girls title.
St. Petersburg Catholic had four of the top five boys scorers, including meet MVP Matt Murdock, and had eight first-place finishes to Jesuit's five, but the Tigers came out on top by placing second in seven events and third five times.
"Our main strength is that we have depth at every position, every event really," Boza said. "This year, the top of our depth chart is competitive enough that we should continue to score points all the way through to states."
Lourdes swept the top three slots in the high jump and the 880 to more than double second-place Academy of the Holy Names 186-96.
Mallory Davis had an outstanding performance for AHN. She was the meet's high scorer with 38 points, winning the triple jump, 100 hurdles and long jump. She also placed second in the 100.
Jesuit's Andy Biladeau won the 3,200 in 9 minutes, 56 seconds.