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In helping the Seahawks win the county middle school track title, Asaiah Seward broke the county record in the 100 meter hurdles, and Ziannah Gooden ran and jumped to three more titles. PHOTO/DILLON DISTLER -
In helping the Seahawks win the county middle school track title, Asaiah Seward broke the county record in the 100 meter hurdles, and Ziannah Gooden ran and jumped to three more titles. PHOTO/DILLON DISTLER
When you think of sports dynasties, the recent runs of the New England Patriots and Alabama Crimson Tide in football come to mind, or the New York Yankees, Boston Celtics and L.A. Lakers of years past.
There’s a local one to make you aware of — the Neptune Middle School track program.
The Seahawks became a dominant force under past legendary coach Judi Arnold, and kept their winning ways up of late as Coach Matt Distler now works with the team.
Before the school year ended, both the Neptune boys (140 points, over second-place Horizon’s 85) and girls teams (185, over Harmony at 105) won the Osceola County Middle School team championships impressively. While it was the first time the girls took the trophy since 2019, the boys were champions for the third year in a row. Check out the NMS trophy case and you’ll find a lot of hardware.
In the meet on May 20, the Seahawks had 12 individual champions, and four county records were broken — three by Ziannah Gooden. She ran a 12.21 second 100 meters and a 25.94 in the 200, and went 17 feet, seven inches in the long jump.
On the boys side, Asaiah Seward broke the county record in the 100 meter hurdles in 14.30 seconds.
So, will the Seahawk domination of middle school track continue in 2025? Chances are good — Gooden and Seward are seventh-graders.
“I joke with Judi that she’s blessed and cursed me. A lot of work goes with the legacy,” Neptune Track Coach Matt Distler said. “I see why Judi was so stressed, because it matters. We’ve been lucky in the hurdles. Our team is like a real family.”
NMS’ Nicholas Gordils won the 1600 (5:09.48), Langston Carry won the 800 (2:18.94) and Bryson Hunter led the triple jump. On the girls, Melina Figueroa (16.86) won the hurdles, Nevaeh Cordero (6:07.72) won the 1600 and the 800 (2:37.56), Madeline Thomas won the high jump, and Bailey Devries won the discus.
Horizon’s Amir Davis (11.71) won the boys 100 dash and helped with the 4x100 relay; Bellalago’s Syrus Sinfort just edged him in the 200 (23.70), Canoe Creek’s Yossiel Rodriguez took the 400; Horizon’s Teo Edwards took the long jump. Horizon’s Alanna Smith edged out Gooden in the long jump.
