BY RON COOKE
Citizen Staff
KEY WEST – On a beautiful Saturday afternoon at the Back Yard, the Key West boys and girls track and field teams took advantage of the great weather and stellar performances by several athletes to vault past Ransom Everglades in their dual meet.
Laurence "Poppy" Marius took first in the 100 and 200 meters, long jump, and anchored the 4x100. Teammate Michael Fain did not fare as well as he would have liked in the pole vault, but still won the event, and took first in the discus throw to help the Key West boys take a 97-44 victory.
The Key West girls captured their meet, 89-52, behind multitalented Hali Lombardi, who flew to top of the heap in the pole vault with a personal record of 10-foot-6-inches. She also nabbed the top spot in the long jump with a 15-foot-7 inch leap, and anchored the 4x100 team to first place.
Chelsea Pearl ran to first in both hurdle events, Bailey Parke blew away the competition in the 1600 and 3200, and Gigi Orofino won the 400 meters and was the third leg in the 4x100 winning team to pace their win.
Key West coach Dave Perkins said that a lot of athletes displayed very good performances at the meet.
"Gigi Orofino has come out with some really good speeds and I'm looking to see what she can do this year," Perkins said.
Both Marius and Fain were disappointed with their performances after not making personal records (PR), but knew the season is early.
"These aren't my PRs but I'll make up for them at the next meet," Marius said.
"I expected to do better and little disappointed," Fain explained. "I jumped 13 today and my PR is 14 but I've been injured. I threw first in the discus with over 119 feet. My leg started bothering me and I wanted to save myself for pole vaulting."
Perkins praised the pole vaulter Lombardi, who flew to first with a new personal record, but the junior credits her recent success to a new pole and hard work.
"We got a new pole for Hali last week and she's shown improvement already," Perkins said. "She's not gymnastically trained like a lot of pole vaulters so it's a little more difficult to get herself upside down. We've been doing drills to help her with that and today it finally came together."
"The new pole gives me a lot more back than the last one did," Lombardi agreed. "I didn't have any drive with it. With this new pole I have drive.
"Coach Perkins has been working with me on some drills and they've really helped. He told me when you've got it you'll feel it. It happened like Thursday at practice, I just like got it. You feel it, you do everything right the same time. I felt it."
rcooke@keysnews.com
Published on Saturday, March 4, 2006
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