Monroe County track athletes earn state meet berths after strong regional showings

Monroe County put all three of its high schools on the road to Jacksonville after a regional round that produced gold medals, school records and enough qualifying marks to send a deep local group to the FHSAA state championships at Visit Jax Track.

The county’s clearest title threat was Marathon’s Justice Lee Isom, who left the 1A regional meet at Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar with two regional titles and a silver. She opened with a second-place javelin throw of 99 feet, 1 inch, then won the shot put at 38 feet, 7.5 inches and the discus at 112 feet, 4 inches. Those marks gave her automatic state berths and added to a career that began four years ago in the throws and has since produced 100 district points.

Marathon also punched through in the 4x800 relay, where Kristel Morales, Landon Anderson, Lucian Burns and Tony Bursa ran 8:16 to set a school record and win the regional race. Burns, a freshman distance specialist, added more points with a second-place finish in the 1,600 meters and a third in the 3,200, while the relay showed how much of Marathon’s state push came from athletes at different stages of the program. Bursa, a sophomore, had already won district gold earlier in the postseason.

Coral Shores also got a state qualifier in Ali Wheatley, who won the 3,200 meters at regionals and earned a trip to Jacksonville. Daysi Williams matched her high-jump personal best at 5 feet, 1.75 inches, and Caleb Shelar set a school record in the 400-meter hurdles, further underlining how many different events Monroe County covered in one strong weekend.

The state meet returned to the University of North Florida’s Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, with Class 1A scheduled to compete Wednesday, May 6, and the four-day championships running through Saturday, May 9. The postseason path is narrow: the top two finishers in each event qualify automatically, and the next-best marks from across the four regions can still earn at-large berths, which is how athletes such as Ava Merryman stayed alive after strong pole-vault work.

The larger picture was hard to miss. Monroe County sent athletes to Jacksonville again after doing the same in 2025, and the county’s best results came from a mix of seniors, sophomores and freshmen. From Marathon to Coral Shores, the spring became a countywide showcase, with Isom’s throws, Burns’ distance work and the relay record giving Monroe County a strong case that state medals were within reach.