In the first 20 years of its existence, the boys track team had won a total of two track meets. In the six weeks of the season so far, they have taken first at five and qualified at the regional level in 10 events. Add that to the girls’ qualifications in four events, and the track team is on its way to having one of the best seasons yet.
At the district meet, held at East River on April 15, the boys team landed a third place finish, with the girls taking sixth. In order to advance to the regional competition, competitors had to either place first or second in the district race for an automatic qualification, or qualify at large with a competitive enough time from earlier in the season to put them in the running against athletes from all over the state.
“[Districts is] an interesting experience, just because the racing there is different than a normal race,” long-distance runner senior Ricardo Hernandez said. “Me and the other top people in our district, we are already further in. We already know we’re going to move on to the next round with our at-large bids. So it’s not as much of racing all-out, but more of a strategic race, of just kind of moving through it and getting this one done to be able to move on to the next race.”
The boys 4x100m relay team qualified automatically, with a second-place finish behind Lake Howell and a time of 42.05. The team consists of (in relay order) senior Miles Painter, junior Colton Hatfield, senior Makiye Ellis and senior Johnathan Gandy.
While many track events depend only on an individual, relays are a different story. Coaches must strategize the best order to place their four runners in, and athletes have to time their hand-offs with immaculate precision in order to compete them in a narrow range of space. Four of the events that the team qualified in are relays, so training needs to incorporate both team and individual elements.
“You kind of have to have—I wouldn’t say teamwork; more like chemistry,” Painter said. “Because you’ve got to be able to perfectly time handing off the baton. It’s really easy to just mess up or cost you, because really, every 10th of a second matters.”
Gandy also qualified in three other events: the 100m and 200m dash, and the 4x400m relay, in which he competes alongside freshman Nick Labonne, Hatfield and freshman Gavin Schneider, making him the only male Hagerty runner to ever advance to the regional level in four events.
“He’s had quite a season, Jonathan [Gandy] has,” head coach for sprints, jumps, hurdles and throws Matthew Malkovich said. “He’s worked quite hard in his career the last two, three years, [and is] going to walk out of here the best sprinter in Hagerty High School history.”
On the long distance side, both the boys and girls 4x800m relay advanced to regionals. The boys team, consisting of Hernandez, sophomore Camden Thompson, senior Justin Ramsey and sophomore Nate Winslow, qualified automatically with a second place finish behind Lake Brantley. The girls team, with senior Ava Howell, senior Alaina David, freshman Madison Thompson and junior Ashley Keefer, secured their regional spot with their at-large time, though they did place third at the district meet.
“I think I’ve just been able to run more smartly,” Howell said. “Like knowing to pick it up on the third lap, and just knowing little strategies and stuff, whether it’s staying with someone in front of you to let them drag you around to go faster, or just knowing the little things that Getty tells us. Versus freshman year, I was kind of just running.”
Hernandez also qualified for regionals in the 3200m with an at-large time and a fifth place finish at districts, making him the only long-distance runner to advance individually.
“It was kind of good, kind of a relief, because that has been the one thing that’s gotten away from me,” Hernandez said. “In the past, I’ve been able to qualify for FSU individually in track and cross country. I’ve been all-conference, all-region, states, medals and stuff like that. But getting it individually out of districts and track was the one thing that kept getting away from me. So being able to finally move on to regions for the [3200m], it was pretty good.”
The field side also had their fair share of qualifiers, with senior Ryan Davis in shot put, sophomore Thearan Nguyen and senior Carter Richburg in triple jump, Labonne in pole vault, junior Kayla Geter in long jump, junior Ashley Carbery in javelin and freshman Emily Jones in high jump.
“[The district meet] was really intimidating because there was a bunch of good girls and guys there,” Jones said. “But it was really fun and it was a really good experience.”
The week before the district meet, despite on-and-off rain showers and gloomy weather conditions that lasted several hours throughout the afternoon and evening, both the boys and girls teams placed fourth in the Seminole Athletic Conference on April 8, located at Seminole High School, the same place where regional championships will occur on May 2.
“Had a couple stumbles along the way, but overall, [I am] pretty proud of the way the girls and the guys competed in terrible conditions,” Malkovich said. “They kind of rose to the occasion and did what they could. Mother Nature’s usually going to win most of the time, and Mother Nature kind of smacked us around at SAC. But overall, pretty proud of the way the kids dealt with the elements that they couldn’t control.”
If the team’s performance at those meets was not enough of an accomplishment, they have also been in the business of setting school records this year: Gandy’s 200m time of 21.96 seconds, the 4x400m team’s time of 3:27.01 and the 4x200m team’s time of 1:29.64 all line the school’s hall of fame for track and field.
The boys also had a solid run of wins, with first place finishes at the Highlander Classic, the Larry Kelly Invitational, the Royal Invitational, the Seminole Athletic Conference Freshman and Sophomore Championships and the Trinity Prep Relays.
The upward trajectory of the team’s success likely stems from a few key factors, the first being the completion of the physical track in 2024. Since all current athletes have had access to the facility for their entire high school career, they have reaped the maximum benefits.
“I kind of liken it to [the fact that] football doesn’t train on a parking lot,” Malkovich said. “Basketball doesn’t train on a grass court. We finally got a track. We can finally train properly.”
And the coaches have taken time to perfect the training sessions themselves. Malkovich and fellow coach Chad Farwig have implemented a system they call “feed the cats,” which prioritizes practicing technical perfection over quantity of reps. Long distance coach Jay Getty holds his athletes to an exact schedule, balancing different kinds of workouts on different days, while training also varies depending on the individual event.
“The practices are always super fun, and they were really helpful in gaining speed,” Jones said. “And it just was really fun overall, which means you wanted to go and train.”
Malkovich also attributes much of the team’s success this season to the coaching staff themselves.
“Everyone has just done a really great job of getting everybody prepared, both boys and girls,” Malkovich said. “I kind of live by a simple statement, ‘surround yourself by greatness,’ and I have surrounded myself by greatness. I can’t say enough about my staff.”
For now, runners continue to follow regular training schedules, with lighter workouts to ensure that they do not feel sore or sustain any injuries during the rest of the postseason.
“Not a lot can be gained in a week at this point, but a lot can be lost,” Hernandez said. “So it’s just kind of making sure I’m maintaining what I’ve worked so hard for, and knowing that [everything] I’ve worked all these past four years, and longer is gonna accumulate into this next week-and-a-half worth of races. So I’m just kind of having to prepare myself, and knowing I’m gonna have to give it my all.”
After the district competition this Saturday, any athletes who advance will move on to the state level for Class 4A on May 9.
“There’s an old saying, ‘The hay is in the barn,’” Malkovich said. “Now we are kind of burning that hay that we’ve built up and sharpening all the edges that we need to get sharp on.”
