Gaither Track Sending Three Athletes to State Finals

The Cowboys didn't send any athletes to states last year. They only scored four points for the girls, and the boys failed to score a single point. 

If Wednesday's regionals proved anything, they proved that Gaither track is back on the map.

Junior Paul Barrett was entered in four events, wisely dropping out of high jump, where he would not have been as competitive. As it was, Barrett did just what was expected in 110m hurdle prelims. Barrett won his heat in 14.89 seconds. The problem arose in the final as Barrett finished with a 15.15 second time. This put him in fifth place by one-one hundredth of a second.

It was a heart-breaking circumstance, but Barrett picked up the pieces and blasted out his 300m hurdle prelim in 41.12 seconds.

Unfortunately, Countryside's Wylan Bernitt is pretty good at the 300m hurdles and ran a 38.87 second time in the final, just ahead of Barrett with 38.94. The two jumped the last hurdle together, Bernitt was just one half-step ahead. Barrett will run the 300m hurdles at states.

Sophomor Kiana Bryant fell short in her bid to make it in 200m. She made the final with a time of 25.89 seconds and then lost time in the final, dropping to seventh place. However, she did grab the third place spot in 100m with a time of 12.43 seconds. She will be going to states as well.

Freshman Rachel Cazares surprised some people with her 800m run. Rachel won the 800m at districts and ran a 2:22.15 minute 800m that got her 3rd place and a ticket to states.

Senior Carson Baker ran well in the 110m and 300m hurdles but only got as high as 8th place in the 300m hurdles.

Senior Nikki Perrini could not quite get 9 feet 6 inches, which would have given her a shot at qualifying. She jumped 9 feet and finished tenth.

The state finals are Saturday, May 7 in Winter Park.