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Sickles' Wehunt Scorches Field In 3,200 Meters

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By BILL WARD wward@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 28, 2009

Sickles senior Derek Wehunt shot to the top of the state leaderboard in another event at Friday's rain-soaked FSU Relays in Tallahassee when he won the 3,200-meter run in 9 minutes, 6.78 seconds.

Earlier this month, Wehunt grabbed the No. 1 spot in the 800 with his 1:52.9.

Wehunt, who has signed with the University of Florida, took the lead with about 800 meters to go and covered the final 400 in 60.6 seconds to beat a field that included four state champions from Florida, another from Alabama and Jesuit star Connor Revord, who ran a personal best of 9:14.94 to earn fourth place. Wehunt's time Friday was fourth-fastest in the nation this season.

Wehunt's time was a whopping 23-second improvement on his lifetime best and was the third-fastest in Hillsborough County, behind Rolf Steier of Berkeley Prep (9:03.25 in 2002) and Jesuit's Andy Biladeau (9:04.12 in 2005).

"My goal was to just run under 9:20, hopefully in the low teens," Wehunt said. "I was surprised to see my time at the end, but I felt really good the whole way."

The county also got a national-class effort from Wharton's boys 4x800 relay team. The foursome of John Grellner, Nick Swain, Sean Obinwa and Gilbert Rodriguez ran a state-leading mark of 7:55.54, which ranks No. 2 in the nation.

Wharton's girls won the 4x800, with Alyssa Franks, Erin Bailey, Shannon Meggs and Brooke Foley running 9:56.48. Individually, Wharton got a first-place performance from senior Amani Bryant, who improved on her state-best mark in the 300 hurdles with a time of 43.91.

Earning a top-three finish at the meet was Tampa Bay Tech junior LeRia Jenerette, who was third in the shot put with a mark of 35 feet, 3.5 inches.

Action concludes today with prep, college and open competition.

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