The 47th running of the Times News Invitational meet on April 5, hosted at Polk County High, pitted twenty-five schools, nearly 700 entries, in forty different track and field events. This prep competition would be another record-breaking meet. It was an unusually warm day, which paved the way for several Polk prep runners and throwers to heat up going into the last three meets of the outdoor track season.
Polk County’s Men’s 3200 Meter Relay (Sean Doyle, Eli Hall, Jacob Wolfe and Caleb Brown) shattered a twenty-one year old record; their 8:26 performance bettered the 8:38 record set in 1993. The team would be named “Players of the Week” by PolkSports.com.
Senior Jacob Collins would run 4:38 personal best in the 1600 Meter for fourth place. Junior Caleb Brown would run a personal best 53.47 in the 400 Meter for tenth place.
Polk Men’s Performances:

Shot Put – JC Suddeth 5th 41-5, Stephen Stimac 13th 37-11, Alex Leake 17th 36-10.
Discus – Suddeth 4th 115-2, Stimac 14th 98-1, Leake 32nd 78-8.
Long Jump – Will Spencer 9th 19-0, Anthony Carson 25th 16-9.
Triple Jump – Spencer 26th 32-10.
Pole Vault – Spencer 10th 8-6, Price Marshall 11th 7-6.
4×200 – 9th 1:37.19.
1600 – Mitchell Brown 17th 5:02.
4×100 – 10th 48.68.
400 – Matthew Darden 9th 53.34.
300 H – Marino 17th 49.15.
800 – C. Brown 10th 2:07.65, Doyle 12th 2:07.71, Wolfe 15th 2:10.
200 –  Darden 4th 23.57.
3200 – Collins 7th 10:39.
4×400 – (C. Brown, Doyle, Gage Stone, Darden) 5th 3:37.39.
Polk Women’s Performances:
Shot Put – Tameeia Brown 3rd 31-0, Michaela Nelon 12th 25-3.5, Maggie Silvers 20th 22-0.
Discus – Brown 4th 79-7, Shea Wheeler 6th 79-3, Nelon 11th 68-8.
Long Jump – Coleen Burke 8th 14-2, Marissa Longshore 17th 13-3.
High Jump – Longshore 3rd 4-6.
4×800 – (Wheeler, Savannah Robbins, India Godlock, Leah Hardin) 2nd 11:07.
4×200 – 10th 2:09.
1600 – Leah Hardin 13th 6:27, Lacee Keller 19th 7:01, Danielle Holtz 25th 7:23.
4×100 – 11th 1:00.
400 – India Branham 17th 1:09.
300 H – Burke 4th 54.10.
800 – Godlock 5th 2:39, Wheeler 9th 2:42, Emma Wagoner 14th 2:50.
3200 – Shelby Wells 13th 14:22, Selena Chavez 15th 14:25.
4×400 – (Miller, Robbins, Wheeler, Godlock) 2nd 4:31.56.
– article submitted
by Jenny Wolfe