The Crestwood Middle School boys track team won the Palm Beach County Middle School Track Meet held recently at Park Vista High School. The victory was the final culmination to a victorious season. The team did not lose a single meet. The boys then went on to clinch the Western Regional Division, which they have been defending since 2008. The final hurdle was to win the county championship.
The team got off to a great start on the first day, which was when the field events were contested. The team was led by Leon Bryant, who won the long jump in 18 feet, 6 inches, and Jaydon Hood picking up fourth with a jump of 17 feet, 4 inches. Jeremiah Mawali and Kweli McCaskill secured second and seventh place in the shot put. They threw for 46 feet, 7 inches and 42 feet, 1 inch respectively. Leon Bryant and Dishon Francis scored some valuable points in the high jump clearing 5 feet, 4 inches and 5 feet, 2 inches.
The following day, Adrian Hector started off gaining more points by placing second in the 110-meter hurdles in 16.23. Eugene Santa and Xavier Taylor scored more points in the mile run, and the foursome of Leon Bryant, Anjordi Whyte, Jaydon Hood and Giovanni Fraser secured a commanding lead by placing fifth in the 400-meter relay. Next on the track was Obed Lajuenesse, who was fourth with a personal best of 54.58 seconds. Following in his steps were Kwanzi Walker and Ricardo Rosier, who finished second and fourth, before Walker was later disqualified for a line violation. The 800 medley relay team of Anjordi Whyte, Jaydon Hood, Giovanni Fraser and Eugene Santa claimed fifth with a time of 1:49.71. Leon Bryant ended the meet placing fifth in the 200-meter dash in 24.81.
The final event was cancelled due to lightning, however Crestwood had garnered enough points to capture its third championship in six years.
“I’m really proud of what we accomplished this season because we worked really hard every day,” coach Marque Drummond said. “Many times, the boys could have walked away or given up, but they didn’t, because they knew and believed they were winners and could be the winners. They sacrificed and trained hard to accomplish their goal.”
Drummond has been the coach since 1999. He has won five county championships and was the runner-up twice.
“Coach Drummond is a stickler when it comes to time, and he really hates for his time to be wasted,” Lajuenesse said. “He told us on the first day that if we were on the team to waste time, then we were on the wrong team. We didn’t want him to feel like he was wasting his time with us, so we just buckled down and worked hard every day.”
ABOVE: Jahmarie Byam, Coach Marque Drummond, Kyle Spence and Eugene Santa with the trophy.
