This past Saturday, the Buchholz boys track and field team took just five athletes to the FHSAA Track and Field Class 4A State Championships at Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium on the campus of the University of North Florida (UNF) in Jacksonville.

Despite only four participants who scored, the Bobcats came away with a 10th-place finish overall in Class 4A, tying Lake Minneola and Oviedo with 16 points. All 16 points were from their distance squad.

Sophomore Bryan McDonough represented the school in the shot put. He fouled on each of his attempts, so he did not get a place.

The four boys (junior Quinn Meyer, senior Davis Garrett, senior Samuel Freas, and sophomore Andrew Sides) who made up the three All-American relay teams at the Nike Indoor National Championships in March all placed at the state meet.

In the 1600 meters, Sides had a 9-second personal best and placed third overall in a time of 4 minutes, 12.55 seconds. That was the fastest time ever by a Buchholz sophomore.

“Andrew has put in extra work over the last 10 months, often heading to the gym before school, and he has made a leap from being ranked the No. 54 freshman 1600m runner in Florida in 2025 (4:48.0) to the No. 1 sophomore this year,” said Patrick Douma, who is the Buchholz boys distance coach. “Calculated hard work pays off.”

His time at the state meet ranks him as the No. 5 sophomore in Florida track & field history, according to Douma.

“He is a humble kid, easy to coach and would probably give much of the credit to his teammates (Davis, Samuel, Demetrie Meyers, Quinn and Seamus Moran) for pushing him,” Douma said. “His time in part does rely on his older teammates and the expectations for success they set.”

Sides scored six points in the event, and Garrett added four more for 10 of the team’s 16 points.

“Garrett (Naval Academy) had been dealing with a nagging injury for a month that significantly curtailed his training,” Douma said. “Even with that, Davis had an amazing race, finishing in 4:14.22 to get fifth place.”

Meyer had a personal best of 1:54.94 to get eighth place in the 800, and Freas (University of North Florida) had a 3-second personal best in the 3200 to place fourth in a time of 9:07.64.

“As a coach, I feel blessed to have a revolving door of great leaders for our distance squad,” Douma said. “Over the next two years, Andrew will add his mark on that leadership lineage and every Buchholz athlete near enough and with eyes and ears open will benefit.”

As far as the boys distance squad’s overall contribution to the team effort, Douma said they “make great efforts to make sure we consistently contribute points during the state meet and on any big stage.”

“The boys have scored 102 points in the last five years, allowing our team to fare no worse than 10th at the state meet over that 5-year period,” he said. “Each of the boys takes Bobcat pride in showing up in August ready to meet the expectation of scoring for Buchholz when it really counts.”

The girls 4×800 team (junior Phoebe Verschage, senior Jayden Pritt, junior Valerie Beaver, and senior Annika Caedington) finished in 15th place with a season best 9:37.17, while Verschage placed 16th in the girls 3200 with a 4-second personal best. The girls team did not have any points from the meet.

The only field event gold medalist during the four-day event was on Wednesday when Saint Francis Catholic Academy senior Dominick Diaz finished first in the boys pole vault with a vault of 4.50 meters (14 feet, 9 inches) at the Class 1A state championships. It was the first state champion for the Wolves since Twaniese Johnson won the 400 in 2022.

Suwannee (Live Oak) junior Frank Brookins took seventh in the javelin with a throw of 47.56 meters (156 feet) at the 2A state meet on Thursday.

In Class 3A, Gainesville senior Keira Forbes finished fourth in the 800 with a time of 2:14.11 and scored the only five points for the Lady Hurricanes at the Class 3A Track & Field Championships on Friday.

The other gold winner was in a track event.

For the Class 2A girls, Suwannee (Live Oak) senior Ryleigh Hermanson turned in a first-place winning run with a time of 5:01.00, beating her nearest competitor by 3.08 seconds.

Hermanson’s teammate, senior Kennedy Jennings, took seventh in the 400 at 57.87.

Union County (Lake Butler) senior Amia Bethia placed sixth in the 100 (11.97) and seventh in the 200 (24.79).

Eastside’s Tyesha Smith leapt to eighth place in the triple jump at 11.23 meters (36 feet, 10.25 inches) and senior Ingrid Astrom was eighth in the 1600 at 5:13.71.

For the Class 2A boys, Eastside senior Zachary Reed took second in the 200 with a time of 21.03. He also finished eighth in the 100 at 10.85. 

Reed joined seniors Gage Webber and Zion Black and freshman Rarcues Perry on the eighth-place 4×400 relay team, which finished in 3:20.80.