Story by Near Post Sports
The Viking Relays is the first major invitational meet of the 2021 season. And Leggett is still working into form after a deep run into the playoffs with the Raiders basketball team.
“Pulling it over, obviously changed what muscles I’m using for track instead of basketball,” she said mid-afternoon, with bags of ice strapped to each hamstring. “So, right now, I’m trying to recover as much as possible so I can do better and compete for my team.”
A triple jumper was the top Navarre finisher Saturday at the Fort Walton Beach Viking Relays.
Raider senior A.J. Arno landed his hop, step, jump combination at 40 feet 3-3/4 inches for first place.“I was nervous coming into today, because it’s been probably a year since I’ve triple jumped. We only went over it a couple times in practice,” the senior sprinter/jumper said. “I really wasn’t expecting much today. I exceeded my expectations, I guess.”
On the day, the Raiders had eight podium finishes. They boys placed six times, and the girls with two.
Rachel Leggett placed second in the long jump with a new school record, and then leapt 5 foot 3-3/4 inches for second in the high jump.
This was the first big meet for the Raiders in the 2021 season. Earlier in the week, they competed against Gulf Breeze in Russell Stadium.
But on Saturday, Gulf Breeze’s Seth Massie scored a hat trick, of sorts. He won the long jump (22 feet 2-1/2 inches), took second in the pole vault (12-6), and claimed third in the high jump (6 feet 1-1/2 inches).
Another Navarre school record fell Saturday at the Fort Walton Beach Viking Relays. Rachel Leggett eclipsed the 11-year-old girls’ long jump mark by about FIVE inches — setting it at 17 feet 6-1/4 inches — and claimed second place on the day.
“Nobody really tells me as I go, because they don’t want to get my head about it,” she said. “So, whenever I just do it, it’s like ‘Oh, OK’ after.”
She said she’s been jumping consistently, but that particular jump had the high school junior asking for the measurement. “It felt really good, actually.”
Dolphin distance runners faired well. Cade Seeber ran 10:05 and Finn Youberg finished in 10:17 for second and third place in the boys’ 3,200-meter run. And then the boys’ 4×1,600 relay finished third in 19:23.31.
The Lady Dolphins’ top results at the invitational meet were a pair of third place finishes: the 4×200 relay clocking a 1:55.62 and the 4×400 relay timed at 4:27.95.
Five Raiders claimed third place medals on the day. They are:
– Brandon Boynton, pole vault, 12-2
– Talin Griffin, long jump, 20-2
– Elijah Melendez, shot put, 40-1
– Jebari Mitchell, triple jump, 39-6
– Marvin Sacdalan, 100 hurdles, 11.6 seconds
Full meet results are posted at https://fl.milesplit.com/meets/403777-ft-walton-beach-viking-relays-2021/results/720292/formatted#.YDvvo06SmUl.
All Photos by Stu Camp
