Under new coaching staff, Rickards sweeps boys, girls titles for the first time in program history
Rickards has been on top of the Big Bend track and field world for a while. Its boy’s team has been a force in districts and its girls’ team has always found itself in the mix of the top two.
However, there’s one thing the program hasn’t done before in its long, decorated history: sweep the boys and girls district titles, and it came in a transition year at the head coaching position.
After 2021 All-Big Bend Coach of the Year John Butler left Rickards to coach women’s sprints and relays at FAMU, Terraca Jones and Michael Cobb stepped up to split the head coaching duties. It wasn’t like Jones and Cobb were strangers to the Raiders, as they’ve been coaching the program for years, but there was an adjustment in getting used to new leadership.
“It was definitely a change,” senior Ivan Donaldson said. “We went from mastering drills to learning new ones, but it’s all good. Learning new things makes me a better athlete overall.”
While the head coaches were “new”, Rickards was still locked and loaded with young talent. All-Big Bend Girls Track Athlete of the Year junior Nya Blocker was back alongside other speedsters like Donaldson, senior Kaseem Ibraheem-Washington, Preston Loggins, and McKenzi Lyons, who has dominated the shot put scene this season.
In Saturday’s Class 3A District 2 meet, early on, it became a battle between Rickards and Lincoln for the championship on both ends. The Raiders and Trojans were neck and neck all day, but it was Rickards at the end that was able to pull out a handful of narrow victories and remain a constant in the top three.
District champion finishes by Angel Roberts (high jump, 300 hurdles), Dominique Hayes (javelin), Lyons (shot put), Blocker (100 dash), Demarcus Towels (discus, javelin), Donaldson (110 hurdles), Washington (400 dash, 200 dash), and a handful of relays, helped Rickards edge out Lincoln to win both the girls and boys district titles for the first time.
“It feels awesome,” Jones said. “We’ve been with the program the last couple of years, but this is our first year being the head coaches for both teams and this is the first time both teams have won districts. The last couple of years the boys have been winning and the girls have been getting runner up.”
Rise of the Lady Raiders
Rickards girls team went back and forth with Lincoln throughout the day, seeing the Lady Raiders hold a slim lead of only nine points towards the end of the meet. The closeness was highlighted between two of the fastest sprinters in the Big Bend: Blocker and Lincoln’s Naudia Williams.
It’s no surprise that the two have been competitive in every event they’re up against each other. The two are AAU teammates on Spartan Chosen and competed at the Junior AAU Olympics this past summer. Saturday, Blocker edged out Williams by 0.05 seconds in the 100 dash before Williams fired back with a 0.69-second win in the 400 dash and a 0.08-second win in the 200 dash.
It’s a battle when those two line up and Blocker said that she just needs to focus on herself in order to win.
“I was working on my form and making sure that my legs were lifted high, and that I ran my own race,” Blocker said. “A lot of times I caught myself running her race and I feel like that’s why a lot of my races have been losses against her. I ran my race today.”
Blocker also had a successful showing in the long jump, placing second with a jump of 5.15 meters. The junior is a key piece into what Rickards girls have been able to do this season and makes up a part of a younger core that is on the rise. Roberts still has a year left and its district champion 4×100 team is going to remain in full tact next season.
The Lady Raiders are a team on the rise and they’re not just looking to do damage for the rest of this season, but for years to come.
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“We still have a pretty young team, mostly juniors, and freshmen, so we’re looking forward to great things,” Jones said. “We perceived. Lincoln is a great team and coach Carroll is a great coach as well. I’ve seen him since he was competing. It feels good because of all the hard work we’ve put in and consistently working with the students.”
Saturday was one of those moments that felt like all that hard work paid off for the Raiders. There’s still more work ahead for them, but there wasn’t a lack of celebrations following the meet.
“We’ve had some hard, hard practices and we didn’t give up today,” Blocker said. “Some days were hard, but we had to go through it and make sure we did it. We needed to make sure we had our minds were straight.”
Driving to win
Rickards’ boys’ team held to its championship standard, and one of its biggest stars, Donaldson, had an interesting day, to say the least.
He started out the day winning the 100 hurdles, posting a PR of 14.33, beating out Lincoln’s Garrett Copelin by 0.11 seconds. The two have had a similar relationship on the track to Blocker and Williams, running neck and neck all year. It’s a friendly one, but competitive.
In Donaldson’s second event, the 4×400 relay, he tripped at the second exchange and hurt his ankle. Luckily, he got back up and was able to run the 300 hurdles to qualify for regionals in third.
“I feel pretty good right now,” Donaldson said. “I had to get my ankle taped for my 300 hurdle race. The plan was to make it out and don’t let the injury mess up what I was trying to accomplish.”
With the accident aside, Donaldson has been a dominant runner on the Big Bend scene and holds a similar mindset to Blocker in tight competitions of staying calm and focusing on his own race. In the team aspect, Donaldson is making sure that he does his part to help his team reach the common goal of a state championship.
“Last year I came up short and I’m making sure that doesn’t happen again,” Donaldson said.
There’s a sense of accomplishment from the Radiers all around. They’ve been working towards a team win all season, and they’re hoping they can keep the victories rolling heading to Fort Walton Beach next weekend.
“I’m proud of the whole team,” Donaldson said. “We’ve been working really hard these past couple of weeks, and we’ve just been believing in the program, and you eventually see it.”
Individual district champions
Boys
*Personal record
100 dash: Raylen Wilson (Lincoln) 11.07
200 dash: Kaseem Ibraheem-Washington (Rickards) 21.79*
400 dash: Kaseem Ibraheem-Washington (Rickards) 48.11
800 run: Carson King (Arnold) 2:00.80*
1600 run: Patrick Koon (Leon) 4:20.76
3200 run: Patrick Koon (Leon) 9:25.99
110 hurdles: Ivan Donaldson (Rickards) 14.33*
300 hurdles: Garrett Copelin (Lincoln) 37.73*
4×100 relay: Lincoln 41.68
4×400 relay: Lincoln 3:19.56
4×800 relay: Rickards 8:21.52
High jump: Josh Shelley (Chiles) 1.95 meters*
Long jump: Derrick Thomson (Lincoln) 6.89 meters*
Triple jump: Antonio Cofield Jr (Lincoln) 12.94 meters*
Pole vault: Dyland Kirkland (Arnold) 3.33 meters
Discus: Demarcus Towels (Rickards) 47.94 meters*
Javelin: Demarcus Towels (Rickards) 36.15 meters
Shot put: Ladarion Dudley (Lincoln) 16.36 meters*
Girls
*Personal record
100 dash: Nya Blocker (Rickards) 12.22
200 dash: Naudia Williams (Lincoln) 24.24*
400 dash: Naudia Williams (Lincoln) 57.06*
800 run: Lanayjah Kelly (Godby) 2:29.24*
1600 run: Lily Moore (Leon) 5:23.53
3200 run: Lillee Tang (Leon) 11:51.20
100 hurdles: Cecilia Dixon (Lincoln) 14.55*
300 hurdles: Angel Roberts (Rickards) 45.95
4×100 relay: Rickards 49.85
4×400 relay: Lincoln 4:07.80
4×800 relay: Lincoln 10:24.82
High jump: Angel Roberts (Rickards) 1.52 meters (jump-off)*
Long jump: Alexandria Kennedy (Leon) 5.28 meters
Triple jump: Alexandria Kennedy (Leon) 11.29 meters
Pole vault: Kendall Meyer (Chiles) 3.18 meters
Discus: Megan Henry (Lincoln) 33.53 meters*
Javelin: Dominique Hayes (Rickards) 28.4 meters*
Shot put: McKenzi Lyons (Rickards) 11.79 meters
Jack Williams covers prep sports for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at [email protected], on Twitter @jackgwilliams.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Rickards sweeps boys, girls titles for the first time in program history
