- May 2, 2024
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Spruce Creek's Camryn Cooney in the second leg of the girls 4A 3,200-meter run. Photo by Ray Boone
Spruce Creek's Camryn Cooney holds her hands over her head as she walks off the track at UNF. Cooney will be a member of UNF's track team in the fall. Photo by Ray Boone
Atlantic's Jason Axon in the first leg of the boys 2A 800-meter run. Photo by Ray Boone
Atlantic's David Long competes in the boys 2A high jump. Photo by Ray Boone
Atlantic's David Long competes in the boys 2A long jump. Photo by Ray Boone
When Camryn Cooney walked off the track at Hodges Stadium following a 10th-place finish in the 4A state final for the 1,600-meter run on Saturday, May 5, she put her hands over her head. When she saw her coach, Stephon Gallon, and her parents, that’s when the tears started to flow: Cooney’s career as a member of Spruce Creek’s track and field team had officially come to an end.
“There’s a lot of emotions,” said Cooney, who also finished 11th in the 3,200-meter run. “But I’ve had an awesome four years. I’ve had the best coach and a lot of awesome teammates. As disappointing as this meet was, it was still an awesome memory.”
“This is where you get to say you’re competing against the best of the best because of the new format. We get the chance to build off of this for the future. We can get more kids into the state meet.”
Hawks coach Stephon Gallon
Cooney entered states with season bests of 10:57.93 in the 3,200-meter, set April 26 at the Region 1 meet, and 5:05.84 in the 1,600-meter, set March 10 at the Kowboy Invitational. In her first time competing at the state level individually, Cooney finished with times of 11:15.10 and 5:13.43, respectively.
But while she closed the chapter on her Hawks career, Cooney will begin her next chapter on the very track she last donned the orange and black uniform. Cooney will be a member of the University of North Florida’s track and field team in the fall. Classes start Aug. 10.
“I was hoping for a better end to my high school career, but it was pretty cool getting to do it on my future track,” she said.
The Sharks sent two athletes to the FHSAA track and field state meet: Jason Axon and David Long. Axon competed in the 2A 800-meter run, finishing in 11th place with a time of 1:57.89. Long, who took third place in the high jump last season, finished seventh in the
event with a height of 1.92 meters. The Sharks' senior also competed in the long jump, placing ninth with a distance of 6.63 meters.
