American Heritage’s Barnes, Dillard’s Gill are Broward Track Coaches of the Year
Davidson Gill’s Dillard girls’ track and field team did something no team had done for 15 years: Win a team state title over Miami Northwestern.
Greg Barnes’ boys team at American Heritage dominated at state as well en route to the school’s third team state title.
Gill and Barnes, as a result, are the Miami Herald’s Broward Track and Field Coaches of the Year.
For Gill, it was Dillard’s first girls’ team state title since 1978 and ended Northwestern’s run of 14 consecutive team state titles dating back to 2009 (there was no state meet in 2020 due to COVID-19). The Panthers edged Northwestern by just two-and-a-half points (76-73.5) in large part due to their distance running and relays.
Senior Christiana Coleman won a pair of individual titles in the 1,600 and 3,200 and led off Dillard’s 3,200 relay that set the state record with a time of 8:49.73 — a half-second shy of the national record. Shynah Collins, Raquel Edwards and Abigail Richards rounded out the relay.
Dillard’s 1,600 relay finished second and its 400 relay placed fourth.
Meanwhile, Alexia Reid finished as runner-up in both the 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles, while Collins finished third in the 400, Edwards and Richards were fifth and sixth in the 800, and Miley Gill placed fifth in the 3,200.
As for Barnes’ boys team at American Heritage, it was the first team state title for the Patriots since 2016 and the success this year came in large part due to the team’s incredible sprinting depth.
The Patriots set the state record in the 400 relay, with the quartet of twins Brandon and Braylen Bennett, Zamarii Sanders and Xavier Lucas clocking a time of 39.39 seconds — the first time ever a Florida high school relay ran sub-40 seconds in the event.
Beyond that, American Heritage picked up a combined 45 of its 76 points in two events: the 100 dash and 200 dash, with four Patriots runners picking up points in each race.
In the 100, Brandon Bennett second, Lucas third, Braylen Bennett fourth and Braden Parris seventh.
Sanders won the 200 in a time of 20.58, followed by Brandon Bennett in third (21.07), Braylen Bennett a tick behind in fourth (21.08) and Parris in sixth (21.12).
In addition to anchoring the 400 relay, Lucas also finished second in the long jump. Sophomore Christien Moreau also finished as runner-up in the shot put and added a fourth-place finish in the discus.
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