by Jacob Rodriguez
Your Explorers Track Team competed in the 4A Regional Championship last week and, after a hard-fought day, finished in first place with 102 points; triumphing over a highly competitive St. Thomas Aquinas team that accumulated 99 points. After their close but well-earned victory, the top-placing Explorers qualified for the next round of the postseason and will advance on to the 4A State Championship held at the University of North Florida on May 20th. Thirteen Explorers qualified over a variety of events.
Coach Areces lauded the success of his team and how it feels having so many runners qualify for the state in just his second year leading the team.
“The success has been part of the program before I became head coach. I am simply just following the lead of past head coaches and mentors. It is a great feeling to have this much success early on but the only way this is getting done is with the help of my assistant coaches. There is no secret, just hard work and dedication," Areces said.
Below are the runners that qualified and their respective events, make sure to congratulate and wish them luck as they continue to represent Columbus in extraordinary ways.
100- 1st place Durian Moss
200- 1st place Durian Moss
400- 3rd place Adrian Cardero
Long Jump- 3rd place Shaddai Carter
Discus- 2nd Collton Stouffer
Javelin- 1st place Lucas Lapido, 2nd place Remington Goins
4x100- 1st place (Darriel Harper, Jancent Wallace, Ahmere Foster, Durian Moss)
4x800- 2nd place (Branden Ruiz, James Orange, Parker Doll, Mario Suerias)
