Track: Wharton's Enos wins another pole vault title

While some athletes might crumble under the pressure of the state track and field meet, London Enos thrives.

How else can you explain the way the Wharton senior has not only won consecutive state titles in the pole vault and a silver medal her sophomore year, but also has established personal bests in each of those championships?

Her coach, Wes Newton, said Enos is "just mean enough to be a good competitor." And at Saturday's Class 4A state finals, she definitely needed to have an edge to her. Despite being the defending champion, she came in seeded No. 2 behind Clermont East Ridge's Brianna Arellano. She proceeded to miss her opening height of 10 feet.

That hiccup didn't bother Enos.

"You sit here and watch these kids, and when something goes wrong, some of them start (crying) ..." Newton said. "London won't do that. She'll only start crying when she wins."

Enos went on to make 10, then cleared 10-6, 11 and, finally, a lifetime-best 11-6. She didn't get 12 feet on her three attempts, but she got another gold and the interest of University of South Florida vault coach Don Marsh, who was in attendance.

In addition to her ability to focus and countless hours of practice, Enos said the key to her success these past three seasons has been the support of her parents, Mike and Audra Enos, and the coaching she has received from former Wharton and University of Florida standout Natalie Moser, her vault camp coach Bobby Haeck and, of course, Newton.

"I have all these people who put so much time and effort into me and have given me so much," Enos said. "When I stand there on the runway, I realize I'm not only doing this for myself, I'm doing it for them, too."

It was a good day in the vault for Hillsborough County. About an hour after Enos soared to new heights, Plant junior Brian Baird came up with the meet of his life by clearing a personal best of 15 feet. It was 6 inches from the gold medal and 3 inches from eclipsing the school record set by his coach, Justin Semeyn, but Baird was ecstatic with the mark and the bronze medal he earned.

"Everything was in rhythm and going right for me today," Baird said. "My goal was to break the school record or PR by at least a foot, which I got.

"I'm pretty proud of doing that and the (school) record, hopefully, that will come."

Another bronze medalist from the county was Chamberlain senior Mark Parrish, who took third in the 3,200 meters in 9 minutes, 19.22 seconds. It was the second-fastest 3,200 the Florida-bound runner has run, but he was unable to close the gap between himself and winner Armando Del Valle (9:07.98) of Miami Columbus and Melbourne's Brian Atkinson (9:14.99) that opened midway through the race.

Parrish's teammate, sophomore Max del Monte, finished fourth in the 1,600 at 4:20.79, the third-fastest time of his young career.

On the girls side, Tampa Bay Tech senior LeRia Jenrette produced the area's best individual performance, taking fifth in the discus at 127 feet, 4 inches. Riverview freshman Faith Woodard also made the podium, clearing 5-4 in the high jump to earn a tie for sixth.

Alonso's Brandon Holloway took home a medal in the 100 with seventh place in 10.77. Earlier in qualifying, he ran a personal-best and school-record 10.73. The Ravens also grabbed a medal in the boys high jump when GiGi Petion cleared a lifetime best 6-6 to tie for sixth.

Plant's boys 4x100 relay team of Javonte Martin, T.J. Glover, Antonio Crawford and Allen Sampson took sixth at 42.08, and Glover, Sampson, Brenton Honeywell and Trevor Berecz were fifth in the 4x400 at 3:20.98. Individually, Panthers junior Tony Posada was sixth in the shot put at 49-10.

Newsome's boys also scored at the meet when Issac Baker, Michael Tourgee, Tyler Moriarty and Mike Zwijacz took eighth in 4x800 with a school record of 8:06.45.