Ichiban: Raines boys dominate state track, Bolles girls split title

Owen Kaye sensed it coming all along.

"We knew, from the second this season started, that the state series was ours," the Raines senior sprinter said.

He was right.

Staking their claim as the Sunshine State's best before a jubilant hometown crowd, Raines returned to the pinnacle of boys state track and field with a dominant Class 2A team championship on May 7 at the Florida High School Athletic Association meet.

Raines senior Owen Kaye shouts in celebration upon learning that he just won the boys 200-meter dash, and with it the boys team championship, during the FHSAA Class 2A high school track and field championships on May 7, 2026. [Clayton Freeman/Florida Times-Union]

The Vikings swapped their traditional cardinal red for neon green and earned the fourth state championship in program history, blowing away the pack and making the school motto of Ichiban (number one) a track reality for the first time in 28 years.

Raines wasn't the only Jacksonville school celebrating team hardware. Bolles rode field strength to a share of the Class 2A girls team title, finishing in a rare exact tie with Montverde Academy at the University of North Florida's Hodges Stadium.

RAINES ON TOP OF THE STATE

Raines claims the 1976 and 1989 boys championships, under Hall of Fame coach James Day. The 1998 Vikings, too, under Kim Anderson. Now, add the 2026 team of Steven Bellamy to the list.

There never was much doubt. Iason Williams set the tone in the first event of the main boys track session, seizing the lead from the blocks and winning the 110-meter hurdles in 14.21 seconds. The rout was on.

"Last year, I kind of fell short of my goal," said Williams, who followed with a third in the 400 hurdles. "I knew I wanted to make history, so I had to come out here and work hard."

The points had been mounting through the day: Hamire Walker's surprise second from the unseeded flight in the boys long jump, a second in the 4x100 relay, Raheim Roberts with 12 points across three individual events.

Once Kaye unleashed a blistering personal-best 20.87 from the unseeded heat of the 200, bounding in celebration across the infield once the final heat's times confirmed his victory, Raines was mathematically untouchable. Their 83 points overcame runners-up Palatka and Calvary Christian by a 49-point margin.

Appropriately, Kaye -- wearing bib number 1776 just in time for the nation's 250th anniversary -- brought the final fireworks, anchoring the winning 4x400 relay to victory in 3:12.82 and surviving a furious charge by Jackson's Brandon Webb down the stretch.

"It was just a matter of time," Kaye said. "We all put the work in, and now we've got the result."

BOLLES GIRLS ON TOP, TOO

Bolles won team honors as well, but had to share the top spot with Montverde after the Central Florida school overcame a 47-point deficit to tie the Bulldogs at 84 points by winning the closing 4x400 relay.

For Bolles, it all started with senior Evie Freeman, rebounding from an injury-plagued 2025 to demolish her personal best for victory in the girls long jump.

Freeman flew 20 feet, 2 1/2 inches, beating the field by more than a foot and cheering the achievement with basketball teammate Terrell McCoy, who only moments earlier had set a school record of 44 feet, 2 3/4 inches to finish second in the girls shot put.

"Last year I had to sit in the bleachers with injuries [for the state meet]," she said. "So just being in this position was really awesome this year."

Bolles amassed huge points in the early girls events, including a third from Camilla Clarke in the shot put, a second in the 4x800 relay and a repeat title for Sienna Starks through the smoky skies in the girls pole vault.

"It was really hot outside, so I had to make sure not to get too tired," said Starks, who cleared 11 feet, 9 3/4 inches for the win.

With Montverde closing intensely, Bolles leaned on gritty performances from distance runners: Charlotte Joseph passed four runners in the final 100 meters to grab fifth place and four vital points in the 800, and Sofie Stam held on for second in the 3,200.

The exact first-place tie is the first in FHSAA girls records since 1977, when a Ribault squad with a legendary sprinter (Chandra Cheeseborough) and a legendary coach (Gwendolyn Maxwell) tied with Clearwater in Class 4A.

PALATKA'S WRIGHT AMONG DAY'S STARS

Success for Raines and Bolles was just the beginning.

Kedric Wright Jr. of Palatka wasn't even seeded in the boys 100 but won the race anyway, crossing in 10.60 to edge Raines' Kelvin Brown in a rare unseeded sprint 1-2.

The day was one to remember for Palatka, which recorded its highest boys finish in FHSAA records since 1984. Wright followed up with victory in the 400 in 46.07, and the Panthers also grabbed a share of the girls high jump when Kendall Wilkinson finished in a rare three-way tie with Bishop Kenny's Maddie Wilkey and Gulliver Prep's Ellie Schnur at 5 feet, 1 1/2 inches

Bishop Kenny, as usual, fared well in distance. The Crusaders' girls 4x800 quartet of Alexis Wilson, Jillian Jakab, Olivia Lumpkin and Alexis Wilson turned up the speed to win in 9:14.30, holding off Bolles.

Episcopal sophomore Stella Krueger also earned a long-awaited win, leading wire-to-wire in the girls 3,200 in 10:54.29.

Perhaps the most unexpected triumph of the day belonged to Suwannee senior Ryleigh Hermanson. In her final high school meet, she chopped nine seconds from her personal best in the 1,600, running a 1:08 final lap and speeding past Stam and Episcopal's Kate Brice to win in 5:01.

"That much of a gap, I'm so grateful," she said. "It [a PR] was a goal of mine, but I didn't think I would reach it today."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: FHSAA Class 2A track & field championship results