Three Big Things: Districts Part One

Lee County high school distance runners battled heat and humidity as they started their journey to the State Championships next month in Jacksonville.  Nobody ran exceptionally fast due to the conditions.  Three different meets featured the public high schools in the county plus Bishop Verot.  The other private high schools in the county compete in their district meets later this week.

1.  We'll start with Bishop Verot's trip up to Sarasota.  Both Verot's boys and girls 4x800 teams won their district titles.  The boys were led by Cooper Banks who also made it to Regions by winning the 800 and taking second in the 400.  Antonio Portes advanced in both the 1,600 and 3,200, taking the win in the later. Among the Viking girls, Julia Reitz scored two wins in the 800 and 1,600 and ran on their 4x800 team.  

2.  Fort Myers showed its distance domination at its District meet held at Cypress Lake High School.  The Green Wave boys dominated taking the 4x800.  Then two Fort Myers boys advanced in the 800 as Liam Holston taking the win and teammate Paul Kolson hot on his heels for second.  Ida Baker's Jacob Fritz used a blistering kick to hold off a trio of Green Wave boys to take the 1,600 win in a season's best 4:31.89 while Dunbar's Oglar Bartolon easily took the 3,200.  Fritz also advanced in the 800.  It should be noted that Fort Myers junior Colsen Palmer advanced to Regions in both the 1,600 and 3,200.

On the girl's side Lucy Castro-Waters of Cape Coral took the 800 and helped her team win the 4x800.  Green Wave senior Anna Fischler ran a PR 5:27.81 to capture the 1,600 and junior teammate Amy Meng 11:50.56 to easily win the 3,200.  Fort Myers also qualified its girl's 4x800 team.

3.  Estero found itself in Naples competing against the Collier County schools.  Kolton Pickard showed why he's the best distance runner in Southwest Florida taking both the 1,600 and 3,200.  Pickard ran just hard enough to win running well off of his season bests.  The Wildcat junior also anchored his 4x800 team to a second place District finish.  Estero 4x800 relay member Isaiah Depina also advanced in the 800 taking second.  The Estero girls didn't fare quite as well with only Madison Hood advancing in the 800 and Sofia Bonini in the 3,200.