Competing in track and field never crossed Seth Stockton’s mind when he got to high school.
As a freshman at Columbia, his focus was on basketball and football. But when track and field head coach Lawrence Davis saw Stockton running up and down the basketball court during his freshman JV season, that was all about to change.
“It was his stride, his ability to jump and I just thought he would have some potential at track if he came out,” Davis said.
Davis convinced Stockton to give it a shot. Not only is the rest history, but he made history too.
Stockton capped off a stellar career with the Class 3A state title in the triple jump this spring, becoming the first CHS male individual to win a state championship since Thomas Hosford won the 880-yard run in 1967. It put an exclamation point on a dominant season where Stockton won the triple jump in all nine meets he competed in while also setting a new school record with a leap of 15.31m, which was second best in the entire state for 2023.
His historic campaign is why he is the LCR’s Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
“I feel very accomplished,” Stockton said of his state title. “That was a huge goal of mine and to finally achieve it felt really good.”
It was the end of a redemption arc for Stockton, who just came up short of winning the state title in his junior season following a 11th-place finish as a sophomore. Stockton was one jump away from taking the crown last May when he leapt 14.50m, which led up until the final jump when Kyvon Tatham hit 14.91 to snatch away the gold medal.
As difficult as that was to stomach for Stockton, he returned for his senior season hungrier and more determined than ever.
“It was a punch in the gut…I knew I had to come back stronger this year,” Stockton said.
Stockton did, and he now owns the 13 longest jumps in program history, nine of which came this season to cruise to victories throughout. His dominance continued once he reached the postseason, winning the District 2-3A title by 1.51m with a jump of 14.43m before leaping to the Region 1-3A crown with a jump of 14.66m, which won the event by 0.94m.
It wasn’t until the Class 3A state meet where Stockton was finally challenged, though he never trailed. While he didn’t top his 15.31m school record, which he set at the Don Hall Invitational, he hit 14.51m on his first jump to take a lead he never relinquished.
Stockton topped that later, posting a best jump of 14.55m to win the state title. George Sterr from Archbishop McCarthy was the closest, leaping 14.39m to finish second.
“Everything kind of fell into place this year,” Davis said. “He was second in the state last year in the 3A division so naturally this year he was going to be ranked among the top triple jumpers in the state. Basically, it was just a matter of him taking that next step, and for him that next step was not being runner-up but actually being the state champion. So he just carried over the year he was runner-up. He kept working and improving and it just happened to be one of those years where he proved to be the most dominant triple jumper in the 3A division.”
When Stockton was announced as a state champion, he didn’t quite realize how historic the moment was for Columbia. It wasn’t until Davis told him he was the school’s first male state champ in almost 60 years that Stockton was basically left speechless.
“My coach was like, ‘you know what you did right?’” Stockton recalled. “I said, ‘I won state coach.’ He said, ‘no, you are the first male individual in 56 years.’ I was just sitting there in shock like, what? I was just sitting there. It was crazy. It was a crazy moment.”
While Stockton was dominant in the triple jump this season, he also qualified for state in the long jump. He placed 12th (6.59m) following a third-place finish at districts and a 9th-place finish at regionals.
That came after he won the long jump twice during the season as well, which included a new school record at the Bronco Bob Track Meet (6.74m). It was one of six jumps this season that now all ranked top 10 in program history.
Between the long jump and triple jump, Stockton has made his head coach look pretty smart going back to that night on the basketball court.
“He told me I could be pretty good at jumping so I went out there and the rest is history,” Stockton said. “Whenever I started playing sports, track and field was my last option because of the running and stuff. But once I got into it, it was fun. It’s one of my most loved sports now.”
It’s one he hopes to continue in college too. Stockton has an offer to jump at Kent State, but he says he’s still weighing his options.
As for his legacy at Columbia, he hopes he serves as an example to future athletes that hard work and belief pays off. Anybody can be a state champion if you have the right mindset.
“Anybody that walks into Columbia, when they see my name on the banner they know that you’re going to have to work hard for it,” Stockton said. “Everything is not going to be given to you. Sometimes you’re going to have to take an L just to get back up and come back even stronger. For those kids that are willing to work hard for it, there’s always a miracle behind it.”
ALL-AREA TEAM
100m: Trevis Johnson
Columbia, sophomore
Ran an area-best time of 10.91 seconds to win the Bolles Bulldog Classic. Placed fifth in District 2-3A (11.09).
400m: Trevis Johnson
Columbia, sophomore
Ran an area-best and set a new school record of 48.50 seconds for a runner-up finish at the District 2-3A meet to qualify for regionals. Also posted victories at the Santa Fe Raider Open Classic, Santa Fe Mini #3, Bronco Bob Track Meet and Bolles Bulldog Classic.
400m: Austin Malaguti
Branford, junior
Won the District 5-1A title with a season-best time of 51.34 seconds and then placed sixth in Region 2-1A to qualify for state, where he finished 15th in Class 1A. Also won at Branford Mini Meet #2 and #3 and Lafayette Home Meet.
800m: Jose Rodriguez
Columbia, senior
Ran an area-best 1:58.74 to win the Santa Fe Mini Meet #2, one of three victories that also included the Raider Invitational and Bronco Bob Track Meet. Placed fifth in District 2-3A (2:04.80).
1600m: Morgan Mobley
Suwannee, junior
Ran an area-best 4:37.04 for a runner-up finish at Santa Fe Mini Meet #2 and posted victories at the Raider Invitational and Oak Hall Mini Meet #3. Placed second in District 2-2A (4:45.49) and ninth in Region 1-2A (4:40.76).
3200m: Brig Scott
Suwannee, sophomore
Placed second in District 2-2A (10:56.80) and went on to place 14th in Region 1-2A meet with an area-best 10:44.57.
110m hurdles: Thomas Walker
Columbia, senior
Placed second in District 2-3A with a season-best 16.33 before finishing 12th in Region 1-3A (17.30). Won at the Raiders Open Classic.
400m hurdles: Clay Starling
Suwannee, sophomore
Won the District 2-2A title (59.68) and then placed fifth in Region 1-2A with an area-best 58.22 to qualify for state, where he finished 14th in Class 2A (58.40). Won at Oak Hall Mini Meet #3.
4x100 relay: Columbia (Jeffery Pope, Omarion Udell, Jaidon Miller, Dwayne Cascen)
Ran a 44.70 to place fourth in District 2-3A and then an area-best 43.98 to place 11th in Region 1-3A.
4x400 relay: Branford (Alex Hallstram, Kyshuan Veasey, Cash Blalock, Austin Malaguti)
Ran an area-best 3:38.18 to place ninth in Region 2-1A after finishing third in District 5-1A (3:46.10).
4x800 relay: Suwannee (Issac Starling, Josue Cuevas, William Cerritos, Brig Scott)
Ran an area-best 9:02.76 to place third in District 2-2A for a regional berth.
High jump: Cash Blalock
Branford, senior
Won the District 5-1A title (1.82m) and then placed third in Region 2-1A (1.82m) to qualify for state, where he finished seventh in Class 1A with a season-best 1.87m. Also won at Lafayette Home Meet #2, Bell Meet, Branford Mini Meet #1 and #2, and Cedar Key Field Meet.
High jump: Karlos Murphy
Lafayette, senior
Won the District 3-1A title with an area-best 1.92m and was runner-up in Region 1-1A (1.82m) to qualify for state, where he finished ninth in Class 1A (1.82m). Also won at Branford Mini Meet #3 as well as at Lafayette Home Meet #1 and #3.
Pole Vault: Zander Hegenauer
Branford, junior
Won the District 5-1A title with an area-best 3.00m and placed eighth in Region 2-1A (2.70m). Also won at Suwannee Home Meet and Cedar Key Field Meet.
Long jump: Seth Stockton
Columbia, senior
The LCR’s Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year qualified for state, placing 12th (6.59m) in Class 3A following a third-place finish at districts and a 9th-place finish at regionals. Set a new school record of 6.74m to win at Bronco Bob Track Meet and also won at Raider Invitational.
Triple jump: Seth Stockton
Columbia, senior
The LCR’s Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year won the Class 3A state title with a leap of 14.55m after sweeping District 2-3A and Region 1-3A titles with jumps of 14.43m and 14.66m. It capped off a season where he finished first at all nine meets he competed in — setting a new school record with a mark of 15.31m at the Don Hall Invitational— and he now has the 13 longest triple jumps in CHS history.
Shot put: Will Wainwright
Suwannee, junior
Had an area-best throw of 14.00m to place fourth in District 2-2A before finishing 12th in Region 1-2A (13.34m). Won at Suwannee Home Meet and Oak Hall Mini Meet #3.
Discus: Sam Wainwright
Suwannee, junior
Finished runner-up in District 2-2A with a season-best throw of 42.73m before placing eighth in Region 1-2A (40.84m). Won at Oak Hall Mini Meet #3.
Javelin: Will Wainwright
Suwannee, junior
Was the Class 2A state runner-up with an area-best throw of 53.59m — which set a new school record — after winning titles at the Region 1-2A meet (53.35m) and District 2-2A meet (50.04m). Also won at Capital City Classic, Raider Invitational and Jesse Forbes HS Invitational.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Tim Clark, Branford
Led the Buccaneers to a runner-up finish at the District 5-1A meet, just finishing behind champion Oak Hall’s 162 with 153 points. Clark’s boys had district champions in five events and they grabbed 38 regional slots — by far the most in the area. Two of his athletes qualified for state, with Cash Blalock reaching the medal stand in the high jump.