Building Integrity Through Athletics is simply off and running.
By JAMAL THALJI
Published June 22, 2004
WESLEY CHAPEL - Forget the rain-delayed and rained-out Golden South Classic earlier this month. The June 12 AAU regional qualifier at Alachua Santa Fe was the first real track and field meet for the Building Integrity Through Athletics club.
And how did BITA's athletes do?
"Everybody that went," Wesley Chapel boys track coach and BITA co-organizer Brian Colding said, "qualified in something."
That's not a surprise. BITA's roster includes some of the county's top track athletes, and a few from nearby Hillsborough County.
Now they'll move on to the 2004 AAU National Club Championship will be held July 4-9 at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. While there, athletes will vie for the chance to qualify for the 2004 AAU Junior Olympic Games to be held July 31-August 7 at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
"They did okay, they could be in better shape, but they did okay," said BITA co-founder Raven Lewis, a former Pasco and current Jefferson track coach. "They competed and they did what they had to. Of course when they get to the state meet next week, they'll be even more excited and very hungry.
"It's their first time together as a team, and it's good to see them all come together from different schools and do it as a team. There's a lot of unity, they're coming together and cheering each other on in the events."
Pasco graduate LaShawn Vaughns led the way, qualifying and winning the 200 meters, the 400 and the 4x100 (times and distances from the meet were not made available.) Wesley Chapel's Jasmine Cabrera made it in the 200, 400 and 4x100. Pasco's Shalonda Clemmons qualified in the 100, 4x100 and shot put.
The BITA girls 4x100 has girls from three different schools coming together. Vaughns joining with Cabrera, Clemmons and Jefferson's Tiffany Harvey. But like the boys' 4x100 and 4x400 relays, handoffs were a problem. Rain delays have cut into practice time, and the teams are unfamiliar with each other to begin with.
"You've got, undisputed, the two best sprinters in the county on the same relay," Colding said of Vaughns and Cabrera. "I think once the handoffs get smoothed they'll take off.
Jerrica Cabrera qualified in the 100 high hurdles. Former Centennial Middle School eighth grader Marquis Burns (he'll be a high school freshman this fall) qualified in the high jump, long jump, 100 and 4x100. But he had to go to two AAU qualifiers to do it. There's a three-event limit at each qualifier, so Burns made the first three events at Clermont weeks ago and ran in the 4x100 Saturday with Wesley Chapel's Aaron Dickler, Jason Wells and Zach Carter.
Dickler, Wells, Carter and Jefferson's Evander Jones also made it in the 4x400, while Wells qualified in the long jump. Jones was first in the 1,500 and 3,000. Sickles' Nigel Thomas qualified for the long jump and 12-year-old Neke Thomas made it in the 200 and long jump.
Everybody who qualified this past weekend had to. The Alachua Santa Fe meet was the last AAU region qualifier of the summer.
"It was kind of a do-or-die meet for some of the kids," Colding said. "If they didn't qualify this past Saturday then their AAU season would have been over."
Because it was the last AAU region qualifier of the season, but one that proved to be no problem.
