Sharks sophomore fleetest of feet

Dentarius Locke secures the 100 meters win for Riverview, which is second overall.

By BRYAN BURNS
Published April 27, 2007

TAMPA - Riverview sophomore sprinter Dentarius Locke can lay claim to the title of fastest high schooler in the region.

Locke edged Lakeland's Chris Rainey by one one-hundredth of a second to win the 100 meters in 10.63 seconds in the region meet at Gaither on Thursday. Locke also ran the anchor leg on Riverview's first-place 4x100-meter relay team (41.96) that squeezed past Gaither by four one-hundredths of a second, and he finished third in the 200 (22.11).

"I've been training for this for a while," Locke said. "I had to race against one of the fastest sprinters in the state in Chris Rainey. It really means a lot to me to be first in the 100. Last year, I raced Rainey and he was hurt. This year, he's healthy and I lost to him at districts. I knew I had to get him this year."

Riverview finished in second place with 64 points, 10 behind region champion Sarasota Riverview. Sickles, which won the 4x800 relay and got a first-place finish in the 1,600 from Derek Wehunt (4:18.04), tied Countryside for fourth with 47 points. Gaither, led by Kevin Jones' first place in the 800 (1:56.26) and a gold-medal performance from the 4x400 relay team (3:23.21) was sixth (44).

On the girls side, Gaither got first-place performances from Yesenia Perez in the 300 hurdles (46.92) and Morgan Scherschel in the pole vault (9 feet, 6 inches) to finish second, highest among area teams. Vero Beach took first with 80 points, 10 ahead of Gaither.

Sickles qualified three individuals for state and was led by Bianca Morrison's first-place finish in the triple jump. Morrison, a sophomore, leaped 36-7.75 to win by nearly a foot. The Gryphons tied for fourth with Palm Harbor University (41 points).

[Last modified April 27, 2007, 00:08:47]