The Seminole Ridge High School track and field teams are fit, fast and in hot pursuit of post-season success.
It has been a strong season for the boys and girls who run track for the Hawks. According to head coach Brian Pollock, 17 of his track athletes — 13 boys and four girls — are currently training for the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Class 4A, Region 3 regional track meet, which will be held at Osceola High School in Kissimmee on May 1.
Based on the success of both of Seminole Ridge’s boys and girls varsity track and field teams during this year’s regular season, Pollock is optimistic that many of his athletes will advance to the Class 4A state track and field meet at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville on May 8.
“This year, our boys won four meets, and the girls won two meets,” said Pollock, now in his seventh year of coaching track and field at Seminole Ridge. “Several school records were broken this year by both teams.”
Pollock’s top athletes include two boys and one girl.
Senior Winifred Porter is a sprinter who runs the 100- and 200-meter dashes. He is the current school record holder at Seminole Ridge in both races — 10.81 seconds in the 100 and 21.91 in the 200. Not surprisingly, he won both races at this year’s Class 4A, District 11 track and field meet, held at Jupiter High School on April 14. Porter has received six NCAA Division I scholarship offers to date. Don’t be surprised to see Porter register strong performances in both races at the regional and state meets.
“Winifred has a good chance making the states in both the 100 and 200, but the Class 4A, Region 3 is tough, as there’s a kid from Viera High School who has run 10.45 in the 100 and 20.95 in the 200. Both of those are unbelievable times,” said Pollock, who ran track at the University of Pittsburgh in the early 1980s.
Seminole Ridge’s top athlete in the field events is senior Frank Schiola, who won the local district title with a 5-foot-10 leap in the high jump. His personal best is 6-foot-0.
Senior Ashley Robinson is looking to improve upon her second-place finishes in the local district meet in both the long jump and the triple jump. Robinson has received three NCAA Division I scholarship offers to date.
