Area athletes fared well in individual events, earning top eight spots on the podium Friday at the FHSAA Track and Field Championships at Hodges Stadium on the University of North Florida campus.

Eastside junior Tyesha Smith placed fourth in the Class 3A triple jump with a leap of 37 feet,10 inches in the girls’ triple jump. Smith came in seeded eighth and improved 2¼ inches over her previous best.

A year after finishing 15^th in the 100-meter dash, Union County sophomore Amia Bethea turned the tables to finish fourth in the Class 2A 100 with a personal best of 11.87 seconds and seventh in the 200 in 25.14.

“Last year, I didn’t even make it to the 100-meter final, and I didn’t even qualify for the 200-meter,” said Bethea. “In the 100, I was just thinking I had to finish. I came out here and told myself to run my race, and it was going to be what it was going to be.”

The Eastside boys 4×800 relay team finished sixth with a time of 8 minutes, 2.56 seconds in the first relay of the day. Seeded 12th, seniors Eshan Kamal, Abraham Barangoluv and Jonas Traktuev, and junior Joe Blanchard improved on their eighth-place finish from last year.

In the middle of IB exams, Traktuev only learned that he was racing on Thursday afternoon.

“I wasn’t even planning on running states until yesterday afternoon and was really excited to run,” said Traktuev, the third leg of the relay. “The guys put me in a good spot. When I got the baton, I knew I had to go to work to get on that podium and look where we are, 8:02.”

The Eastside boys’ team capped it off with a fourth-place finish in the 4×400 meter relay with a time of 3:22.26.

Friday evening’s 3A meet schedule was canceled due to weather and will resume on Saturday morning beginning at 7:30 AM.

Other top performances earning top eight podium spots included:

• P.K. Yonge sophomore Jeremiah Sallet finished seventh with a mark of 21-08.75 in his first state meet.
• Santa Fe senior Michael Merriex finished in a tie for seventh in the high jump with a 6-1.5” clearance.
• Eastside junior Kristian Martin finished seventh in the 400 hurdles in 56.33.

Other area performances:

• Eastside senior Kashan Kamal finished 11th in the 800 in 1:59.65
• Eastside finished 11th in the 4×400 girls relay in 4:06.50
• Eastside finished 12th in the 4×800 girls relay in 10:00.44
• Eastside finished 12^th in the 4×100 girls relay in 49.97
• Eastside finished 12th in the 4x 00 boys relay in 42.93
• Williston senior Zyon Johnson finished 16th in the shot put with a throw of 31-0
• Suwannee sophomore Frank Brookins finished 15th in the javelin with a throw of 149-11

Editor’s note: The Eastside 4×800 boys relay team did not break the school record on Friday. The record was set in 2004 with a time of 7:56.02.