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Pine Crest's Tsion Yared Breaks Record At SoFla Track Showcase

Sharon BlockSFHSSports: Twitter | Facebook

At the recent South Florida Track and Field Showcase at Calvary Christian, Tsion Yared of Pine Crest unofficially broke the 800-meter school record.

Because it was not an official high school meet, the record didn't count. For Yared, however, it proved that she is 100 percent healthy after being plagued by a stress fracture during the cross country and track seasons.

The 2014 state cross country champion is ready to break more records in the fall when she starts her freshman season according to her coach.

"She broke the school record by half a second unofficially," Pine Crest coach Paul Baur said. "In the next four years, every one of those school distance records is going down as long as she stays healthy. They could all go down next year."

Yared was among several top South Florida performers at the meet winning the 800 title in 2:18.06. The eighth grader decided to forego the Golden South meet in Clermont to focus on her finals.

Yared suffered a stress fracture during the 2015 track season. After resuming training during the summer, Yared made it through most of the cross country season including the district meet before experiencing pain again.

"We shut it down, we didn't want to take any chances," Baur said.

After missing most of the 2016 track season, Yared ran her first meet on April 8, the Eagles Invitational where she finished second in 5:24.45. She then competed in district, region and state meets where she didn't qualify in an individual state event but ran a sub-2:20 split in the 4x800-meter relay at state.

"With barely any running and only on the bike she ran pre-state and had some incredibly fast times just easing back into it," Baur said. "It shows you her ability. Every single time she was on the track her times came down in chunks. It was pretty crazy. She is very talented and works very hard. She is blessed."

The Fort Lauderdale-born Yared, 14, whose parents are Ethiopian, is just happy to be healthy again and looking forward to the summer. She plans on participating with her team at the Brevard (N.C.) Distance Running Camp. She also has a Physics camp at Northwestern scheduled in preparation for an honors class in the fall.

"It feels good to be healthy," said the 5-foot-2, 90-pound Yared. "I feel like I am where I was before I got hurt. There's no pressure anymore. I can go out for a run without worrying about anything."

Yared was surprised at her sub-2:20 race at the Showcase.

"I didn't know I was able to run an 800 that fast," Yared said. I didn't think I was a middle distance runner, I thought I was only a long distance runner. I am learning new things about me. I was going out to break the record even though it didn't count. It showed me I am capable of what I was doing before."

Yared said it was discouraging getting injured for a second time.

"The first time I was working toward getting healthy and then I got injured again at the end of cross country season," Yared said. "I was really depressed. But I learned I can't be mad about it, that wasn't going to help. I had to work hard to get back to where I was. It took a lot of work. I did a lot of cross training on the bike. I would go to practice and even though my team was running I would go on the bike. I wanted my legs to be ready so when I got back into running it wouldn't be as hard."

Baur said during the summer months they will look to be consistent in her training, running at least three days a week and going two days with no running.

"We are at the point now where we don't have to do anything crazy with her, she doesn't have to run crazy miles," Baur said. "We want her to be healthy and get stronger. She has grown six inches in the last year and that's made her stronger. She has grown into her body big time. Her stride looks incredible."

"We are going to take the long approach with her," Baur said. "We want her best years to be toward the end of her high school career as she's approaching college."

SOUTH FLORIDA TRACK & FIELD SHOWCASE

GIRLS RESULTS

100-meter hurdles: 1. Ariayanna Val, Northwestern 14.44, 2. De'Andreah Young, Northwestern 14.68, 3. Carshaylah Harrison, Northeast 15.14.

100-meters: 1. Twanisha Terry, Northwestern 11.65, 2. Ariayanna Val, Northwestern 12.73, 3. Anitria Sangster, Boyd Anderson 12.76.

1600-meters: 1. Alexa Cruz, St. Thomas 5:14.31, 2. Samantha Folio, Holy Trinity 5:15.59, 3. Dominique Spann, Boyd Anderson 5:28.65.

200-meters: 1. Ulani Toussaint, Northwestern 24.61, 2. Aitria Sangster, Boyd Anderson 25.60, 3. Cadeebra Calcote, Calvary Christian 25.70.

3,200-meters: 1. Sydnee Calder, Boca Raton Christian 14:00.19, 2. Sophia Menendez, St. Brendan 14:36.17, 3. Julia Villena, St. Brendan 14:37.24.

400-meter hurdles: 1. De'Andreah Young, Northwestern 1:00.56, 2. Casley Israel, Northeast 1:04.38, 3. Asia McMillon, Teon Elite 1:14.65.

400-meters: 1. Ulani Toussaint, Northwestern 57.85, 2. Twanisha Terry, Northwestern 59.16, 3. Dalina Metayer, Boyd Anderson 59.22.

400-meter relay: 1. Boyd Anderson 49.61, 2. South Florida HEAT 1:00.44.

800-meters: 1. Tsion Yared, Pine Crest 2:18.06, 2. Simone Vreeland, Pine Crest 2:25.31, 3. Destiny Byrd, Northeast 2:26.27.

Discus: 1. Sophia Gustely, Monarch 115-10, 2. Kathy Noel, Boyd Anderson 97-5, 3. Kayla Gordon, Pembroke Pines Charter 96-7.

High jump: 1. Carshaylah Harrison, Northeast 5-4 ¼, 2. Jimeshia Lawson, Boyd Anderson 5-2 ¼, 3. Karly Colford, Westinster Academy 5-1/4.

Hammer throw: 1. Kayla Gordon, Pembroke Pines Charter 77-1, 2. Nicole Whitaker, St. Andrew's 63-0, 3. Nicole Thraum, Pine Crest 47-6.

Javelin: 1. Sophia Gustely, Monarch 113-2, 2. Nicole Whitaker, St. Andrew's 77-0, 3. Kayla Gordon, Pembroke Pines Charter 54-9.

Long jump: 1. Jimeshia Lawson, Boyd Anderson 16-10, 2. Natay Williams, Boyd Anderson 16-7 ½, 3. Lily Cross, Nova Middle School 15-6 ¾.

Pole vault: 1. Talia Thompson, Boyd Anderson 7-6, 2. Diamond Farlow, Boyd Anderson 7-6.

Shot put: 1. Chanel Dawson, Northwestern 39-6 ½, 2. Gracie Allison, South Florida HEAT 30-11, 3. Kathy Noel, Boyd Anderson 29-10.

Triple jump: 1. Jimeshia Lawson, Boyd Anderson 35-6, 2. Natay Williams, Boyd Anderson 35-2, 3. Rebecca Christie, South Florida HEAT 34-4 ¼.

BOYS RESULTS

100-meters: 1. Sandro Joseph, Northeast 10.78, 2. Cameron Leiba, Dillard 10.83, 3. Jeremiah Dixon, Dunbar 10.89.

110-meter hurdles: 1. Darian Adriano, St. Thomas Aquinas 13.63, 2. Malcolm Anderson, Tru Fit Athletics 13.76, 3. Devonte Findley, Boyd Anderson 14.32.

1,600-meters: 1. Ivan Donaher, St. Thomas 4:37.59, 2. Darian Adriano, St. Thomas 4:40.44, 3. Jose Penalver, Cooper City 4:50.39.

200-meters: 1. Cameron Leiba, Dillard 21.65, 2. Jeremiah Dixon, Dunbar 22.23, 3. Juvens Pierre, Northeast 23.81.

400-meter hurdles: 1. McKinly Brown, Teon Elite 52.45, 2. Kenny Charlot, Northeast 56.83, 3. John Zolnowski, South Florida HEAT 56.85.

400-meters: 1. Edens Thermidor, Park Vista 48.58, 2. Devoy Grey, Northeast 49.29, 3. Basil Spencer, Boyd Anderson 52.10.

400-meter relay: 1. Northeast 41.99.

5,000-meters: 1. Ron Knezevich, Pine Crest 18:07.08, 2. Gabriel Ortego, Pine Crest 19:41.00, 3. Shadai Enslei, Coral Glades 20:07.16.

800-meters: 1. Roderic Wilson, Boyd Anderson 2:00.57, 2. Sean Breslin, St. Thomas 2:00.90, 3. Tyree Simeon, Northeast 2:01.56.

High jump: 1. Marcus Gross, Calvary Christian 6-4, 2. Damian Lewis, Plantation 6-2, 3. Kimani Richards, Northeast 6-0.

Javelin: 1. Jake Gilbert, Pine Crest 91-10.

Long jump: 1. Tony Bridges, Pine Crest 20-11 ¾, 2. Jaired Fyffe, Plantation 18-6 ½, 3. Basil Spencer, Boyd Anderson 18-3 ¼.

Pole vault: 1. Thomas Barselou, South Fort Myers 14-6, 2. Godday Hornsby, South Florida HEAT 11-0 ¼.

Triple jump: 1. Wisdom Offor, American 46-5 ½, 2. Tony Bridges, Pine Crest 45-11 ¼, 3. Tylen Small, Plantation 41-0 ¼.

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