East County track and field championships: Day two

The Out-of-Door Academy eighth grader Saraiah Walkes had three events on her docket Saturday: The 100, 200 and 400 meter races. 

She won all three. 

Walkes ran the 100 in 12.35 seconds, the 200 in 25.20 seconds and the 400 in 55.57 seconds. 

"I'm very happy that God blessed me enough to be healthy," Walkes said. "I'm happy my coaches kept running with me and making sure I was healthy, and never lost faith in me. I'm just excited."

Believe it or not, Walkes was not entirely pleased with her performance on the day. After she crossed the finish line in the 200, Walkes turned to check her time. Once she saw it, she rolled her eyes and swung her body back toward the track's exit. 

"There was a headwind," Walkes said. "As soon as I got to the last 100 meters, the wind was blowing me back. I was battling my other competitors and the wind. I was just like, 'Ugh! Come on!'"

Lakewood Ranch's John Rivera and Sophia Falco again led the way for the boys and girls teams.

Rivera ran the anchor leg of the Mustangs' 4x800 relay team, which finished in first place at 7:53.45, 12.07 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Christopher Columbus High. 

"It was perfect," Rivera said.  "At practice throughout the weeks, we had the state championships on our mind the entire time. We wanted the gold medal. We had the team to do it and it's truly shown throughout this year. I have a boatload of confidence in everyone. I trust them and they trust me. Together as one, it turned out to be something great. That's the best thing." 

Rivera's 4x800 teammate Andrew Dean called him a "cheat code," and said his, Brice Easton's and Johnny Reid's goal is to stay in good position for Rivera to dominate. They did more than that Saturday. Dean started the race by getting the Mustangs in first place. Easton fell behind briefly before regaining control. Reid held steady, and handed Rivera the baton with a lead. At that point, the race was all but finished. 

Rivera also finished second in the boys 1600 meter race (4:22.64). Rivera ran in the middle of a crowded pack for most of the race, with Freedom's Timothy Doyle in front. Rivera made a late, strong charge but ultimately had fallen too far behind Doyle to catch him.  

Mustangs senior Sophia Falco added another gold medal to her collection, winning the girls triple jump with a leap of 13 meters to go with the long jump title she won on day one. She also received a silver medal in the 100 meter race (11.83 seconds) and a bronze medal in the 200 meter race (24.26 seconds). Falco competed in 12 total postseason events between the district, regional and state meets. She won 10 of them, with a second and third place finish in the other two, to close out her high school career. 

Lakewood Ranch senior Sam Jackson finished sixth in the Class 4A boys shot put with a distance of 15.08 meters. Jackson also finished ninth in the Class 4A boys discus (44.21 meters), and teammate Noah Oxley finished 10th (41.85 meters). 

The Lakewood Ranch boys and girls team both finished fourth in the team standings.