FACA Senior All-Star Info and Watch List #1

FACA Senior All-Star Meet
Ryan Raposo

Now that we're more than halfway through this 2014 cross country season, here's some information pertaining to one of Florida's most prestigious events of the year, the Florida Athletic Coaches Association's Senior All-Star Meet! Every year during the post season, after the FHSAA State Championship, the F-A-C-A extends official invitations to the top 64 senior athletes from around the state (32 boys and 32 girls) to be able to participate in an intimate, fun, and entertaining competition that is traditionally held in Tallahassee. Unfortunately due to there being a home FSU football game, we are unable to stay in our state's capital.

This year's FACA Senior All-Star Meet will be hosted on Saturday, November 22nd, which is one week after the FHSAA State Championship and a week before the Foot Locker South and Nike Cross Southeast Region races. This year the event will be hosted in the southern Orlando area at Lake Nona High School, and we want to thank Head Coach Ryan Lowe and his school's administration in helping secure his school for this event. Once again we should have sponsorship from distancepreps.com for the jerseys and racing bibs and as we get closer to the event date, we'll be adding in more details and really trying to spruce up this year's competition!

So for all of those earning the honor of competing for their respective geographical locations from around the state, the selected seniors of 2014 will also be honored at the event in a variety of fashions. All competing seniors will receive official FACA team jerseys (as seen below), FACA commemorative t-shirts, FACA drawstring shoe bags, all-star gold medallions, and the winner of each gender race will receive an individual championship plaque! The FACA wants to ensure that all of our state's top seniors come home with many great memories and keepsakes from this great annual event! So without further delay, here are this year's All-Star Coaching Staff followed by the intial watch list!

The 2014 FACA Senior All-Star Coaching Staff:

East Boys Coach: Ryan Lowe, Lake Nona HS
East Girls Coach: Kevin O'Grattan, Olympia HS

North Boys Coach: Jim Schmitt, Mandarin HS
North Girls Coach: Kelly Gooding, Creekside HS

West Boys Coach: Bryan Garcia, HB Plant HS
West Girls Coach: Phuong Nguyen, North Port HS

South Boys Coach: Joe Hazera, Pembroke Pines Charter HS
South Girls Coach: Ryan Raposo, John A. Ferguson HS

 

Last year's FACA Senior All-Star girl's team champions from the South.


Now that we know a little bit about the event, here's how you can make the cut to participate. Simply put, just keep racing strong all year long and as these Senior All-Star Watch Listings come out we'll be looking for the top eight athletes in each geographical area. After the FHSAA State Championship, we will release a final listing which will determine which athletes have made the team based on an athlete's performances from the end of the season. But don't worry if you're not one of the top right, because much of the time many athletes have other commitments, so it's not uncommon for us to slide down the list and select other athletes. In some cases we'll even pull athletes from one geographical region to substitute for another region depending on what is available.

In helping kick off this 2014 event, here's the top 14 athletes in each geographical region from around the state!

Current Girls FACA Senior All-Star Watch Lists:

East Girls – Initial Watch List

Rank Time Athlete/Team Class Meet
1
18:12.58
2015
2
18:22.98
2015
3
18:28.31
2015
4
18:33.13
2015
5
18:40.08
2015
6
18:51.20
2015
7
19:10.30
2015
8
19:17.98
2015
9
19:30.50
2015
10
19:32.36
2015
11
19:37.25
2015
12
19:39.87
2015
13
19:43.09
2015
14
19:44.65
2015

 

North Girls – Initial Watch List

Rank Time Athlete/Team Class Meet
1
18:33.16
2015
2
18:38.12
2015
3
18:46.90
2015
4
18:57.34
2015
5
19:08.37
2015
6
19:11.27
2015
7
19:18.93
2015
8
19:19.51
2015
9
19:23.80
2015
10
19:28.00
2015
11
19:47.48
2015
12
19:48.00
2015
13
19:53.08
2015
14
19:57.16
2015

 

West Girls – Initial Watch List

Rank Time Athlete/Team Class Meet
1
18:11.19
2015
2
18:53.20
2015
3
19:09.60
2015
4
19:17.00
2015
5
19:24.14
2015
6
19:28.18
2015
7
19:35.22
2015
8
20:03.82
2015
9
20:10.50
2015
10
20:10.93
2015
11
20:22.70
2015
12
20:24.64
2015
13
20:30.10
2015
14
20:38.34
2015

 

South Girls – Initial Watch List

Rank Time Athlete/Team Class Meet
1
18:26.60
2015
2
19:00.24
2015
3
19:31.91
2015
4 19:35.61 2015
5
19:39.92
2015
6
19:55.00
2015
7
20:14.85
2015
8
20:26.01
2015
9
20:29.22
2015
10
20:37.44
2015
11
20:48.81
2015
12
20:50.85
2015
13
21:07.96
2015
14
21:12.90
2015
15
21:17.17
2015
16
21:19.63
 Leysha Caraballo FL Pembroke Pines Charter HS
2015

 

 

Last year's FACA Senior All-Star boy's team champions from the West.

Current Boys FACA Senior All-Star Watch Lists:

East Boys – Initial Watch List

Rank Time Athlete/Team Class Meet
1 15:34.67 2015
2
15:44.03
2015
3
15:46.25
2015
4
15:51.79
2015
5
16:03.42
2015
6
16:03.80
2015
7
16:11.70
2015
8
16:14.05
2015
9
16:18.92
2015
10
16:23.35
2015
11
16:29.70
2015
12
16:30.70
2015
13
16:34.19
2015
14
16:36.25
2015
15
16:37.10
2015

 

North Boys – Initial Watch List

Rank Time Athlete/Team Class Meet
1
14:59.94
2015
2
15:37.92
2015
3
15:42.44
2015
4
15:43.03
2015
5
15:43.77
2015
6
15:44.79
2015
7
15:49.49
2015
8
16:05.22
2015
9
16:09.81
2015
10
16:10.92
2015
11
16:14.03
2015
12
16:14.72
2015
13
16:16.31
2015
14
16:18.73
2015

 

West Boys – Initial Watch List

Rank Time Athlete/Team Class Meet
1
15:27.18
2015
2
15:27.95
2015
3
15:40.76
2015
4
15:47.86
2015
5
15:54.75
2015
6
15:55.42
2015
7
15:58.02
2015
8
15:58.17
2015
9
16:01.05
2015
10
16:12.20
2015
11
16:31.53
2015
12
16:34.55
2015
13
16:38.50
2015
14
16:38.54
2015

 

South Boys – Initial Watch List

Rank Time Athlete/Team Class Meet
1
15:20.22
2015
2
15:23.28
2015
3
15:52.26
2015
4
15:54.47
2015
5
15:56.00
2015
6
15:58.98
2015
7
16:12.56
2015
8
16:23.05
2015
9
16:29.22
2015
10
16:32.81
2015
11
16:34.62
2015
12
16:38.33
2015
13
16:44.77
2015
14
16:47.74
2015

 

*Please note that these lists will change throughout the season and the top seniors will not be selected until after the FHSAA State Finals. Although many athletes run great performances at the beginning of each season, we'll be looking for which seniors are performing the best at the end of the season for the final selections, particularly at state. And remember that each geographical region will only have eight individuals selected to represent their team, so keep working hard to make that top-eight, seniors!

If you have any questions, please let us know!

Please contact...
Kristin McWilliams, FACA Cross Country Chair - kristin.mcwilliams@ocps.net
or
Ryan Raposo, FACA Rankings Representative - ryanraposo@gmail.com