Sixteen teams will compete at the event which should bring together for the second week in a row two of the state’s best female sprinters, Lake Wales’ Octavious Freeman and Osceola’s Tynia Gaither.

Freeman won both the 100 meters (11.52) and 200 meters (23.86) showdowns against Gaither at Harmony last Saturday. Gaither, a four-time state champion, was runner up in both events, clocking a 11.67 in the 100 and 23.90 in the 200.

“She’ll (Gaither) be OK. She did some things strategy-wise last weekend that I didn’t understand, but we talked about it and we’re good,” Osceola Coach Eric Pinellas said.

In addition to Lake Wales, Harmony, St. Cloud, Freedom, Lakeland Jenkins, Lake Region, Gainesville Eastside, Oak Ridge, Lakeland, Kathleen and Zephyrhills will be among the teams running at OHS today. Running preliminaries start at noon, with the finals set 30 minutes after the preliminaries.

Wekiva swept the boys (139) and girls (101) championships at the Harmony Invitational.

The St. Cloud girls (58) were fourth, Osceola (48.5) was seventh, Celebration (20) was 10th, Harmony (15) was 13th and Gateway (9) was 14th.

Osceola’s Jameshia Gant (15.18) won the 100 hurdles and Celebration’s Jessica Harter (9-0) claimed the pole vault.

In the boys meet, Celebration’s Quincy O’Connor won the 1,600 meters (4:28) and 3,200 meters (10:05.5) titles. The Storm’s Tyler Osorio (49.94) was the 400 meters winner.

Harmony girls coach Jerrad Butler said 16 national elite performances were recorded at the meet.

“Our boys got fifth, which was a great finish for them considering the depth of the field,” he said.

At the Poinciana Invitational last Saturday, Winter Haven (181) beat Liberty (144) for the boys championship. PHS (42) finished sixth.

Robbie Johnroe (10:05) won the 3,200 run for Liberty. The Chargers’ 4 x 800 relay (8:43) also won.

Lakeland Jenkins (158.5) won the girls meet over Liberty (138.5). Poinciana (29) was seventh.

Kadijah Brown won championships in the 100 (12.99) and long jump (16-05) for Liberty. She was second (26.88) at 200 meters.

Liberty’s Kelila Naules won the triple jump (34-3) and was second (4-10) in the high jump.

Poinciana’s girls won the 4 x 400 (4:26.90).