Several athletes are disappointed in their performances at state.
By BOB PUTMAN
Published May 8, 2004
GAINESVILLE - Shamen Washington stared at the medal dangling from his neck and knew it was the wrong color.
Bronze.
The Boca Ciega senior fell short of his goal, taking third for the second straight season at the Class 3A state meet. Washington, who had the second-best seed mark, leaped 22 feet, 113/4 inches on his second jump in the finals.
The winner, Rodderick Owens of Jacksonville Wolfson, jumped 23-5.
"I didn't do as well as I expected," Washington said. "It's tough because I know I could have won."
Washington's best this season was 23-8. He appeared to have topped that in the preliminaries with a leap of 24 feet. But it didn't count because his toe stepped over the line.
"I was so close," Washington said. "It was there for me. I just needed to make that jump."
His performance was one of many disappointments among county competitors.
Lakewood's 4x100 relay team could not defend its state title. The Spartans, who had the fourth-best time entering the meet, failed to make the finals, finishing 14th of 16 teams in the preliminaries.
Their foursome of Mark Fils-Aime, James Green, D.J. Brown and Louis Murphy ran the prelims in 43.56 seconds. Lakewood's poor finish was due in part to a hamstring injury Fils-Aime sustained two weeks ago. Fils-Aime recovered in time to help the Spartans win a region title last week. But he aggravated the injury while running the first leg Friday.
"Mark is the most courageous person I know," Lakewood coach Royston Dillon said. "He was consistent and showed up for practice every day. It's tough for him and the team because he fought through the injury to come here."
Boca Ciega's Leonard Genes was seventh in the triple jump at 44-5. He hit the mark on his third jump in the finals.
Largo's 4x800 team of Karim Abdelbary, Antonio Dearmas, Philip Brookins and and Spencer Gibson (8:05.30) was eighth.
Countryside's Jermaine Filer ran the 100 meters in 11.06 to finish seventh. Filer was well off the pace of Melbourne Palm Bay's Xavier Carter, who capped his senior season with a record night. The LSU recruit won the 100, 200 and 400 for the second straight season. Carter ran the 400 in 45.44 to set a state record. He tied two others for most career state titles (nine).
