Florida’s High School Track and Field championships are slated for Friday, 1 May 2015, and Saturday, 2 May 2015, at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, with class 4A competing on Saturday. There are no dull events in track and field. Nevertheless, some are more exciting than others, Here are some of the contests in class 4A that promise to be particularly interesting.

Wake up early on Saturday, or skip breakfast if you have to, but be at the University of North Florida track that morning for the class 4A boys 4 x 800 relay. The two fastest squads in the state will be going head-to-head in that event, Dr. Phillips and Coral Reef. Dr. Phillips comes into the event with a twelfth-in-the-nation 7:49.72, while Coral Reef has gone almost as fast at 7:50.24. If either team stumbles, the foursomes from Lake Mary (7:55.34)  or Flagler Palm Coast (7:55.48) are hungry to move up.

Moving on to the afternoon session, you won't want to miss the class 4A girls' 1600-meter race, featuring Fletcher sophomore Kayley Delay. Delay leads all classes in the four-lapper with the 4:57.93 she ran to win the 4A District 1 race. The defending champion in class 4A, Lake Brantley junior Sinclaire Johnson, went 5:02.66 at the 4A Region 1 meet against Delay, but the Fletcher sophomore answered with a 5:02.14. Riverview frosh Bailey Hertenstein lowered her PR to 5:03.99 to win the 4A Region 2 1600; she could also push the pace in the State Final. It has been three years since an athlete went sub-5:00 in the state championship of the class 4A girls 1600. Delay, Johnson, Hertenstein, and company don’t look likely to let that interval stretch to a fourth year.

Plant senior Jack Guyton is the defending state champ in the 4A boys 1600. He’s not undefeated in the event this year, but no one from the state of Florida has beaten him in a 1600. Guyton doesn't just lead Florida in the event, he has the three fastest 1600 times this year--a 4:13.16 at the Steinbrenner Invitational, a 4:13.92 at the 4A Region 2 meet, and a 4:14.96 at the Florida Relays. So if you’re picking favorites in the 4A races at the State Finals, pick Guyton in the boys’ 1600. Coral Reef junior Carlin Berryhill should be Guyton’s fastest challenger. The 4A Region 4 champ, Berryhill went 4:17.10 to win the FSU Relays 1600 back in March.

To see the best athlete in the country in any event, you’d probably expect that you’d have to travel to a national post-season meet somewhere. As it turns out, though, in the girls 400-meter dash you can see her right at the FHSAA-4A State Finals. Oak Ridge senior Sharrika Barnett is the U.S. leader in the girls’ 400 on the strength of the 53.32 lap she ran at the Bob Hayes Classic in March. She’ll be on the track in Jacksonville racing for her first state title. The US #7 in the event, American senior Lenysse Dyer, is also entered. It’s going to be fast.

American also has the US #4 in the boys' 400, senior Ari Cogdell. Cogdell went 46.60 in the 4A Region 4 race, the fastest time by a Florida High School athlete this season. There are other fast athletes entered in the class 4A boys 400 meter--Dr. Phillips senior Jamari Smith and Miami Southridge senior Tyler Johnson, for example. None of them have run as fast as Cogdell, though. At least not yet.

There was no wind gauge when Miami Southridge sophomore Symone Mason ran 23.54 back in February, but she added some credibility to that time at the 4A Region 4 meet when she ran a winning 23.57. Mason has to be considered the leader going into the State Final of the 4A girls' 200. Her closest competitors, St. Thomas Aquinas senior Diamond Spaulding and American High senior Lenysse Dyer, were behind her in the regional race. However, that doesn’t earn Mason a bye on Saturday. She still needs to outrun them again to leave Jacksonville with a gold medal.

Just days before the State Finals, Lake Brantley junior Sinclaire Johnson went 2:10.07 in the girls' 800 at the 4A Region 1 meet. The time vaulted Sinclaire into the U.S. top ten in the event for 2015, established her as Florida's leader in the girls' 800 for this season, and made her the favorite to repeat as class 4A state champ in the two-lap race. At 2:13.24 on the season, Timber Creek frosh Asia Ervin is closest to Johnson in the 800, but three seconds is a long, long way in this event.

The state leader in the boys' 800, Olympia senior Kyren Hollis, doesn't have quite that big an edge over his nearest rivals for the 4A title. Hollis ran 1:52.25 in March, but Flagler Palm Coast junior Justin Pacifico ran 1:53.52 at the Florida Relays in April. Another junior, Johns Volmar of Freedom High, went 1:53.94 behind Hollis in the 800 at the 4A Region 1 meet, where Pacifico was third in 1:54.28. Hollis has exhibited 48.17 speed in the 400, though, and he’s the defending state champ in this event.

Winter Park frosh Rafaella Gibbons isn’t racing the 4A girls’ 1600 at the State Meet. In the 3200 that gives her an advantage over at least two of her competitors, Fletcher sophomore Kayley Delay and St Thomas Aquinas junior Alexa Cruz. Gibbons biggest advantage, though, is that she has Florida's fastest time in the event this year, the 10:42.20 that she ran at the FSU Relays. Montgomery went 10:43.16 in the same race, and Cruz ran 10:48.90 at the Jeff Wentworth Invitational. It should be a good race, but look for Gibbons to pick up a 3200 championship to go with her 2014 State cross-country title.

Plant senior Jack Guyton won class 4A State titles in both the 1600 and the 3200 in 2014. In 2015 he comes into the State meet with the best time in the 1600, but only the second best mark in the 3200. Sickles senior James Zentmeyer leads class 4A with the 9:04.15 he ran at the FSU Relays, a race where Guyton ran 9:08.60. Miami Sunset senior Nick Diaz also ran his Like Zentmeyer and Guyton, Miami Sunset senior Nick Diaz also ran his PR at the FSU Relays, a 9:15.17. Diaz will also be competing for the class 4A State title in the 3200. And on Saturday, the FSU Relays 3200 will be a different race in a different month, and the eight laps that matter will be the eight laps that are about to be run.