By Gary Curreri

Pompano Beach High School senior Andrew Reising is hoping to extend his pole vaulting career into college.

The 18-year-old Pompano Beach resident won the Broward County Athletic Association Championship this year as he tied his personal best effort with a 14-ft. jump. Reising plans on attending the University of South Florida and was waiting on their coaching staff to offer a spot on the team.

Reising took second in the districts and regionals en route to a sixth place finish in the Class 2A state track and field meet at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. His 13 ft., 6 in. jump at state was just short of his personal best.

“I did cross country and I liked it so I went out for track,” said Reising, who has competed in track and field since the sixth grade. “I just saw them doing (pole vault) when I was running around the track and wanted to try it. I did it one day and I liked it.

“I don’t like running events as much so I got bored and pole vault was always the next thing to perfect in a jump,” added Reising, who spent the first two high school years at Western High School before transferring to Pompano Beach for his last two years.”

A sixth place finish was satisfactory to Reising.

“I am happy with it,” Reising said. “I was able to jump 14 both years. It would be pretty awesome to compete in college.

Admittedly, the first two years of pole vaulting were difficult.

“It was kind of rough because I didn’t have a coach,” Reising said. “The swimming coach would show up like once or twice a week, and I didn’t have good poles so it was rough. I still did good.”

Reising said his pole vaulting career took off in his sophomore year. He believes he could have done better this year.

“In my sophomore year, I thought how practical it would be when I got 13-6,” Reising said. “After the first week or two, I was pretty good and got past the fear.”

Reising said he jumped 8-ft. his first time as an eighth grade middle school competitor and, after a few weeks of practice, was able to get 9-6 at the state meet.

“Winning the BCAA meet was a pretty cool feeling,” Reising said. “I tied my PR from the year before. I went into the meet feeling good, and the weather was good and everything just turned out perfect.”

Pompano Junior Lifeguard program nears

The Pompano Beach Junior Lifeguard Summer Camp is coming up in a few weeks.

It is a unique aquatic experience for boys and girls ages 9 to 17 and will be held from Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon. There will be three sessions in addition to a competition camp.

Session One is slated from June 8 to June 19. Two is June 22 to July 3. Three is July 13 to July 24. The competition camp will be from July 27 to July 31, and all sessions have a maximum capacity of 125 athletes.

Costs are $150 for Pompano Beach residents and $200 for non-residents. Junior Lifeguards returning from the previous year are not required to test, while new applicants must try out and be able to complete a 150-yd. swim, tread water and swim under water for 5 yds. while holding their breath.

There are two testing days remaining: This Saturday (May 23) from 4:30 to 6 p.m. and the following Saturday (May 30) at the same time. Registration and testing is held at the Pompano Beach Aquatics Center.

For more information, contact juniorguards@copbfl.com

By Gary Curreri

Three was the lucky number for the Pompano Beach Bengals girls track team at the Broward County Middle School Track and Field meet recently at South Plantation High School.

Three members of the girls track team won their respective events and helped the Bengals take third in the meet with 48 points. Lauderdale Lakes was first with 73 points, while William Dandy was second with 66 points. The Pompano Middle School boys also took third in the meet with 27 points. Lauderdale Lakes (70.50) and William Dandy (49) were first and second, respectively, as well.

Carshaylah Harrison (high jump) and sisters Dominique Spann (1,600-meter run) and Daishon Spann (800-meter run) each won their events to pace the team.

Harrison, 14, of Pompano Beach, successfully defended her title in the high jump with a personal best jump of 5-ft.

“I’ve been doing track since the first grade,” Harrison said. “I like that you have to be dedicated. It’s a fun sport and you make a lot of friends. Fivefeet was my goal coming into the meet and clearing it gives me confidence. Even though I didn’t win the 400, I am still happy with what I got.

Dominique Spann, 11, a sixth grader at the school, won the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:41.85. Her older sister, Daishon, a seventh grader, repeated in winning the 800- meter run with a personal best time of 2:20.80.

“It is important to carry on the family tradition,” said Dominique, who is the third youngest of six siblings. She laughed when she said they take her phone away from her when she doesn’t run well. “I have a lot of pressure on me. I just have to try my hardest and get a better time.”

Daishon Spann said it was important to repeat the 800- meter champion.

“I had to show people that it wasn’t just luck,” said Daishon Spann, who trimmed five seconds off her personalbest time this year of 2:25.33 with a 2:20.80. “I have a good rivalry with my siblings. It’s good. We go back and forth with, ‘I can beat you.’ We support each other a lot. It was good to know that I sort of had an impact on (Dominique) winning and, when she won, it gave me motivation to win because I knew she would give it back to me at home.”

Pompano Beach Middle’s girls also had Takiyah Johnson (400-meter dash, 4th and 200- meter dash, 8th), Harrison (400-meter dash, 5th) and Dominique Spann (discus, 4th) make the finals.

Pompano’s girls’ relays teams took second in the 4×400-meter relay and seventh in the 4×100-meter relay. Pompano’s boys were led by Marquis Williams (100- meter dash, 4th), Giovanni Campbell (200-meter dash, 4th), Allen Escuage (800- meter run, 2nd), Rayan Miller (1,600-meter run, 6th) reach the finals.

Pompano’s boys’ relays teams took second in the 4×200-meter relay; fifth in the 4×100-meter relay and eighth in the 4×400-meter relay.

TEJADA NAMED ALL-STATE

Blanche Ely point guard Lance Tejada II was recently named first-team all-state in Class 7A by the Florida Association of Basketball Coaches (FABC) and Source Hoops.

Tejada, who was a starter on Ely’s 2012-13 state championship team, averaged 23.3 points per game as a senior, which was nearly double his scoring average from his junior season. Tejada, who signed with East Carolina, also averaged five assists and three rebounds in leading the Tigers to the regional semifinals.

By Gary Curreri

No track. No problem! Highlands Christian Academy seniors Ryan Davis and Kyle Audet picked up where they left off last year as they advanced to the state track meet and came away with stellar performances.

Davis successfully defended his state title in the Class 1A 300-meter hurdles as he clocked a 38.04 time and won by two seconds. Audet was fifth in the event as he ran a 40.88.

Davis was fourth in the 110- meter hurdles with a 14.76 time, while Audet was close behind at 15.43 and took seventh.

Sixth-year Highlands Christian track coach Marc Veynovich said he was not surprised by their performances despite not having a track at the school.

“Watching Ryan when he first started running and how he took to the hurdles, and in pretty much every event you put him in, I wasn’t super surprised,” Veynovich said of Smith, who signed a track scholarship with Liberty. “I definitely expected a repeat from him this year even though he was suffering from a groin injury.

“Ryan had very little practice time, yet he still had the athletic ability to put it all out there and still get down to low 38s,” Veynovich added. “He would have been in the 37s this year if he had any challenge. I really feel for him.”

Veynovich called Audet a “beast.” Audet has been accepted to the University of Florida and said he would try and walk on for track and maybe kick for the football team.

“Kyle is good at whatever he does,” Veynovich said. “He is an excellent football player, an excellent soccer player and what he brought to track was complete athleticism and the ability to do whatever I asked of him. He was also an 11-6 pole vaulter in addition to the hurdles.”

Audet, 18, of Deerfield Beach, has been at Highlands for 14 years. This is his fifth year running track at the school.

“The whole point of not having a track is when you are running on the grass you don’t get correct times that you would usually get on a track,” said Audet, who finished 11th in the state in hurdles as a sophomore and eighth last year as a junior. “You can’t practice your splits in hurdles as well as you could do on a track.

“I mean, it would help a lot to have a track,” Audet said with a laugh. “I just like to consider us the grass hurdle brothers because we have been doing it on grass the whole time.”

Audet said it was a lot of fun attending Highlands where he played football, soccer and track.

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” said Audet, who also plays beach volleyball. “I love the fact that I went to a small school so I’d be able to play all of these sports. It conditioned my body into the perfect athlete.”

Davis, 18, also of Deerfield Beach, has been a Knight since he was in kindergarten. “It is kind of cool to see the people I have grown up with like Kyle,” Davis said. “Just through the years seeing how much I’ve changed and how much the school has changed. I am really proud of what I have been able to do.”

Davis will have a banner up on the gym wall again. Other than former Athletic Director and head boys basketball coach Reg Cook, who won more than 500 games at the school, Davis is the lone individual who is recognized with a banner.

“I was the first individual state champion for Highlands as far as any sport goes so they put that up last year,” Davis said. “I thought that was very nice of them. It feels really good. I feel that God has pushed me in this direction every step of the way. Throughout my life, he has been guiding me the right way and staying here and running track here.”

“It really set in after the race that it was my last race in high school,” Davis said. “It feels great to win states my senior year and the last two years. It was an amazing gift from God.”

Cook, who is an assistant athletic director at the school, said Veynovich has done a wonderful job building the program and guiding it to its first-ever district title this year. He said there were approximately 20 varsity girls, 20 varsity boys and 20 middle school (boys and girls) athletes in the program.

“A lot of credit goes to coach Veynovich and his leadership,” Cook said. “Track, a lot of times, was on the back burner. Now it is a prestigious part of our school. It shows pride in the track program and that is just great.”

By Gary Curreri

S’kaydrah Woods made a triumphant return to South Florida as she capped off her middle school career with a victory in the 200-meter dash in the recent Broward County Middle School Track and Field championships at Coral Springs High School.

The Pompano Beach Middle School eighth grader moved to Central Florida last year with her father but came back in time to turn in a huge performance at the track meet.

Woods was second in the 100-meter dash (13.00) and the 400-meter dash (58.68) before winning the 200-meter dash (26.43) and her efforts helped her school finish fourth with 30 points in the girls competition.

“Track is like a job,” said the 14-year-old Woods. “I love to do it. I like track because it is hard and you have to work for it. You just can’t go out there and expect to win and I like working hard. I like to compete.”

The three-time Junior Olympic champion in 2009 plans to compete this summer in the Junior Olympics with the FINESSE Track Club.

Another Pompano Beach Middle School track athlete also picked up a first place finish with a strong effort.

Marc Maurency, 15, won the boys 800-meter run by nearly four seconds over Arthur Ashe’s Deandre Miles as he completed the race in 2:08.89. Maurency, an eighth grader, came in third last year in the same event.

“I want to do this forever,” said Maurency, who shaved six seconds off his previous best time and helped the boys’ team finish second overall. “I want to go to the Olympics. I love track.”

Maurency said the win was very satisfying.

“This is the biggest thing that ever happened to me and this shows me I can do anything I want if I just set my mind to it,” Maurency said. “A lot of people told me I couldn’t do nothing, but I just proved them wrong. When I went through the finish line, that was the best moment ever.”

Pompano’s Benjamin Victor won the high jump with a 5-8 jump, while Deerfield Beach Middle School’s Jenicka Theodor placed fourth in the long jump for its only points of the meet.