Senior Candice Williams wins three events, and teammate Alexis Walker takes the 100 meters.
By BOB PUTNAM
Published April 24, 2004
INDIAN ROCKS - With Keswick Christian and Indian Rocks Christian winning the girls and boys team titles, Hillsborough County teams competing at the Class A, Region 3 meet had to focus on individual honors.
The big winner was Cambridge's Candice Williams. The senior took first in three events. She cleared 5 feet in the high jump, leaped 16-4 in the long jump and ran 47.52 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles. Williams was second in the 200 preliminaries before bowing out, deciding to concentrate on the three events she already had won as she prepares for next week's state meet.
Williams' teammate, Alexis Walker, won the 100. They were the only girls from the county to win individual titles. The 40 points they scored was more than half their team's total (54), but it was not enough to keep the Lancers in contention.
Despite not having much depth in the running events, Keswick won its first region title by the slimmest of margins. The Crusaders scored 80, followed by Shorecrest (79) and defending three-time region champion Lakeland Christian (781/2).
The team title wasn't decided until the final event, the 4x400 relay.
Keswick, which was in fourth place at the time, needed a strong performance in the event to win the team title. Anika Navoroli, Sarah Hodupp, Janelle Devaul and Carolyn Zdzeriak each gave one, finishing in second in 4:21.82.
That was good enough to vault past the three teams ahead of them in the standings.
"That's the way you want a region meet to finish, down to the wire," Crusaders coach Lance Lipham said.
Keswick put itself in contention early with a dominating performance in the shot put and discus. Hannah Nunnally won the discus and took third in the shot put. Her teammates were not far behind. The Crusaders had two other place-winners in each event and scored a combined 38 in both.
"That really got us going," Lipham said. "All those girls set personal records in their throws today. But we knew we'd do well in those two events. It was our runners that really surprised me."
The boys meet had no close calls. Indian Rocks Christian dominated, scoring 106 to beat Moore Haven (79) and two-time defending region champion Admiral Farragut (70).
"Everybody pretty much came through for us today," Golden Eagles coach Kris Williams said.
Berkeley Prep finished eighth, the highest among county schools.
