Pine Forest track and field's Blanks, Gee sign to next level

Pine Forest boys track and field head coach Shaun Harris joked that if it wasn’t for the two athletes sitting two his left, this spring may have been his last year as the head coach.

>Seniors Anthony Gee (Houston) and Darian Blanks (Meridian Community College) both signed on June 1 to continue their athletic careers at the next level.

>Gee won the 3A 400-meter hurdle state championship on May 8 and finished third in the 110-meter hurdles. He holds the school records in both events.

>Blanks finished third in 3A in the triple jump and broke the Pine Forest school record in his one year as an Eagle after moving to the Florida panhandle from the Chicagoland area. He also finished ninth in the long jump, which he hadn’t competed in before this season.

>“You inspired a lot of the guys and that’s been awesome to see,” boys assistant coach Sawyer Whatley said. “The people coming behind you, they want that record and that’s going to push them."

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Gee's state breakthrough leads to next levelBefore the 3A state championships in Jacksonville on May 8, Gee wasn’t sure he would go to college. He didn’t have recruiting interest and was planning to apply for his commercial driver’s license and explore his hobby of day trading.

>But that all changed with a massive personal best in the 400-meter hurdles. Gee entered the state meet with a personal best time of 53.92 seconds, which he shattered with a title-winning time of 52.18. After initially being disqualified over clipping a hurdle, officials ruled he ran a clean race.

>On the way back from Jacksonville, Gee said he started hearing from coaches, including University of Houston head coach and nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis. After a little education from his coaches about Lewis’s legend and a visit to the campus, Gee felt at home.

>“It seemed like a really cool environment,” Gee said. “Coach Lewis was cool and the school environment was really nice and Carl Lewis is like one of the best to do it.”

>It’s been quite the journey for Gee, who ran a time of 1:08.72 in his first 400 hurdle race as a freshman, then didn’t have a hurdles coach as a sophomore but tqualified for the 3A state championship anyway.

>He worked with now Tate girls track and field head coach Paul Bryan as a junior, then Whatley this past year. Whatley, who ran hurdles at NCAA Division II Augusta University, said it took time to gel with Gee, but once things clicked they started to focus on the little details. It all paid off on the biggest stage.  Gee set a 3A meet record in the 400-meter hurdles.

>“When they hit that top curve I was like okay he’ s turning it on,” Whatley said. “As soon as they came around that third curve, I started running down the bleachers, I was super excited, I was like he’s got this, he’s got this. One of the greatest moments I’ve had coaching and probably ever will.

>Gee will join his older sister Caliya, who ran at Bethune-Cookman from 2022-26, and Dezire, who ran at Marshall from 2023-25 before transferring to UAB. Gee plans to study biology at Houston.

Blanks makes most of year at Pine ForestBlanks path to the next level was never straight forward.

>When he competed in the sport for the first time as a high school sophomore at Yorkville High School outside of Chicago, he just wanted to become more athletic for football.

>But he soon fell in love with the sport, despite not having a coach. He looked up YouTube videos to teach himself how to triple jump and qualified for the state meet as a sophomore.

>“Being able to physically see your progress, it’s something I’ve always enjoyed,” Blanks said.

>He moved to the Pensacola area ahead of his senior year, where he had to put the work in both on and off the track to get an opportunity to compete in college.

>Blanks arrived at Pine Forest academically ineligible to compete in both high school and college, so he had to get his grades up. He was eligible by the spring, but was dealing with knee strains because of overuse.

>He didn’t compete in the triple jump his first four meets at Pine Forest, instead competing in the long jump and jumping off the opposite leg he used for the triple jump.

>His first triple jump of the season came March 14 at the Battle by the Beach Spring Break Invitational at Pine Forest, and was a school record 48 feet, 5.25 inches. He later reset the mark with a jump of 49-1 at Pine Forest’s Bringing All the Smoke meet in early April.

>Blanks won District 1-3A and Region 1-3A titles in the triple jump before finishing third at the state meet, just missing his PR with a mark of 48-11.

>“I was scared if it didn’t go away I wouldn’t be able to continue jumping,” Blanks said. “I did  a lot of work to help rebuild my body.”

>Blanks is planning to spend one year at Meridian before transferring to a four-year university.

>“The coach really made me feel at home, as well as their history of producing high-level jumpers,” Blanks said. “They had one jumper come in around the same distances that I had and within about a year he’s jumping eight meters plus, like 8.5 meters plus. He’s currently at Kansas State doing amazing.”

>This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pine Forest track's Blanks and Gee sign to continue careers