Northwestern’s Jackson, Columbus’ Areces are Miami-Dade track coaches of the year

Carmen Jackson’s track and field dynasty at Miami Northwestern continues, while Danny Areces has kept Columbus among Miami-Dade’s perennial state contenders.

After each school’s latest showing at the FHSAA state championships, it was easy to name Jackson and Areces the Miami Herald’s Track and Field Coaches of the Year.

Jackson’s girls’ team at Northwestern won its 13th consecutive state championship as the Bulls scored 94 points in the Class 3A meet, 18 more than runner-up Miami Southridge.

Northwestern’s depth and talent was on full display at Gainesville’s Percy Beard Track for the state meet.

The Bulls’ Aaliyah Butler and Jayda Bushay went one-two in the 400 meter dash and two-three in the 200 meter run, with Bushay also finishing third in the 100 meters. Paris Baker was the state champion in the 300 hurdles and state runner-up in the 100 hurdles, while Shakynah Tresvant finished second in the 300 hurdles, seventh in the 100 hurdles and picked up points in the field with a runner-up finish in the triple jump and seventh-place mark in the long jump. Baker, Bushay, Butler and Emani Perry also teamed up to win the state title in the 4x400 relay.

The Bulls also added points in the field on a fourth-place finish from Me’Kayla Rothmiller and seventh-place mark from Shanell Hester in the discus, as well as an eighth-place showing from Janist Daniel in the javelin.

Areces, meanwhile, led Columbus to a runner-up finish in the Class 4A boys’ meet, with their 68 team points falling nine shy of matching state champion Niceville. This marked the fourth time in the past five state championship outings that Columbus has posted a top-two finish and the first under Areces.

The Explorers had three individual state champions en route to the second-place team mark: Shaddai Carter in the long jump, Darren McQueen in the 100 meters and the 4x400 meter relay team of Durian Moss, Ahmere Foster, McQueen and Cardero. McQueen also finished third in the 200 meters and fourth in the 300 hurdles, while Gustavo Alfonso (third place, javelin) and Moss (fifth place, 100 meters; fourth place, 200 meters) also added top-five finishes.

This story was originally published June 8, 2022 at 10:30 AM.