On-Site Coverage:
About the Meet:
- The 2014 edition of the GMAC Championship was an affair at Larry & Penny Thompson Park, featuring better weather that usual, but the same athletes and teams vying for top honors as we've seen the past few years in Miami. The Championship for the Greater Miami Athletic Conference is contested between all of the public schools in Miami, now 38 because of the addition of a couple of smaller academy schools, plus one private school, Christopher Columbus, which was a charter member of the Conference when it first came together in the late 1970s. Heading into this year's competition there were three individual girls who stood out as the top girls in the conference, and the only question looked to be what order were they going to finish in. Interestingly enough, the race for the boys individual title was most likely between three individuals as well. For the team races it looked to be a good head-to-head competition on the girl's side between Ferguson and Coral Reef, while any of four possible teams could have brought home the boy's title between Coral Reef, Columbus, Ferguson, and Sunset. Here's how the day broke down...
Junior Varsity Race Recaps:
- The first two races of the day were the junior varsity division races and unlike every other meet the entire year, this JV competition has always been restricted to only seven athletes per school and only allowed for underclassmen. Between that and having no awards specifically recognizing these athletes, the attendance rate is always fairly low for the JV races. The girls individual winner from Homestead, Antravia Snow, ran away from the pack winning by almost a two minute margin, while the individual boy winner from Columbus, Andy DelValle, finished a mere six seconds ahead of the second place competitior from Coral Gables. Both of the individual champions were freshmen. In the team race on the girls side there were only two complete teams that ran, and there weren't that many more on the boys side with only six complete teams finishing the race. In both cases, only one athlete from another scoring school was able to break into the top five of the girls from Coral Reef and boys from Columbus allowing both squads to take first place JV honors by scoring less than 20 total points.
Junior Varsity Winners:
Girls JV Individual Champion: Antravia Snow, Homestead (22:44.77)
Girls JV Team Champions: Coral Reef HS - 16 points
Boys JV Individual Champion: Andy DelValle, Christopher Columbus (18:23.81)
Boys JV Team Champions: Christopher Columbus - 19 points
Girls Varsity Race Recap:
- As time came for the varsity races, it was apparent that the earlier fear of rain would dissipate and the slightly cooler and shadier weather was sticking around. Although one would think this would lead to faster times for the competition, oddly enough the race started off a little bit slower than in years past and then the previous couple of weeks. The leaders through the first mile were the top two girls from Ferguson and Northwestern, with the top girls from Coral Reef running not too far behind. That top group was immediately followed by the rest of the Coral Reef and Ferguson packs, each squad looking for the team victory. As the race entered into the mile and a half the first two girls from Ferguson separated on the pack, one of the top girls from Coral Reef dropped out, and the Ferguson pack moved just ahead of the remaining Coral Reef pack which is basically how the race was maintained through the finish line. Aylwyn "Aileen" Hernandez and Lauren Gavulic of Ferguson went 1-2 individually and their following four teammates were able to place inside the Reef #4 to secure yet another team GMAC Championship.
Girls Varsity Award Winners:
Girls Varsity Individual Champion: Aylwyn Hernandez, John A. Ferguson (19:48.04)
Girls Varsity Individual Runner-up: Lauren Gavulic, John A. Ferguson (20:05.05)
Girls Varsity Individual 3rd place: Daesha Rogers, Miami Northwestern (20:09.34)
Girls Varsity Team Champions: John A. Ferguson HS - 31 points
Girls Varsity Team Runner-up: Coral Reef HS - 52 points
Girls Varsity Historical Notes:
- This was the 7th overall GMAC Girls Team Championship for Ferguson HS, which has only been open for the past 12 years. They are currently second on the all-time team champions listing behind Miami Sunset HS whose girls team won nine titles between 1988 and 2009. Interestingly enough, with this victory Ferguson HS also tied the GMAC record for the consecutive team winning streak of five years: Miami Sunset HS 1997-2001 and now Ferguson HS 2010-2014.
- Individually this was the 6th GMAC Girls Championship for Ferguson HS in the past 7 years. Last year's individual champion, Daesha Rogers, finished 3rd. The record for girls individual titles is four, which was accomplished by Isel Ramos of Hialeah-Miami Lakes 2002-2005. Rogers, now only a sophomore, can hope to accomplish three total individual titles if she wins her junior and senior years which would tie Natalie Concepcion of Ferguson for second on the all-time list which she accomplished from 2008-2010.
Coach Ryan Raposo and the GMAC Championship girls from John A. Ferguson HS winning their fifth consecutive title.
Boys Varsity Race Recap:
- Leading into the boys individual race, just as in the girls individual race, there were three faces that all looked to have a shot at winning the individual title. Nick Diaz of Miami Sunset, last year's individual champion, and either of the duo from Coral Reef, Kurt Convey or Carlin Berryhill. Through the first mile Diaz and Berryhill were running stride for stride, but Convey was running in the chase pack of Columbus and Ferguson athletes and appeared to be out of contention for the win. By the mile and a half the leaders had maintained their position, Convey dropped out of the race, and the team race all of a sudden started looking like a dual between Ferguson and Columbus very similarly to what was a common theme a few years back. Diaz ended up pulling away by a few seconds in the last quarter mile or so to secure his second individual title, and the team race came down to less than ten points as Ferguson edged Columbus by five points by getting their entire 7-pack inside the Columbus fifth runner.
Boys Varsity Award Winners:
Boys Varsity Individual Champion: Nick Diaz, Miami Sunset (15:48.20)
Boys Varsity Individual Runner-up: Carlin Berryhill, Coral Reef (15:56.74)
Boys Varsity Individual 3rd place: Humberto Freire, Christopher Columbus (16:53.14)
Boys Varsity Team Champions: John A. Ferguson HS - 42 points
Boys Varsity Team Runner-up: Christopher Columbus - 47 points
Boys Varsity Notes:
- There was originally an error in the team scoring as the person working as the bib stringer, the head of the GMAC, misplaced the 13th overall finisher in the 9th position (don't ask how, but that's what happened), which would have resulted in a two-point Columbus victory. After the head coaches from both schools and the meet officials reviewed how the athletes actually finished the competition, the trophies were switched accordingly. This reminded everyone of a similar incident that occurred during last year's Regional Championship, which prompts me to remind Meet Directors and everyone else out there to be extra careful in scoring their Championship meets for the upcoming weeks. And please make sure you have meet officials who know the rules and are following proper procedures to avoid similar conflicts.
The GMAC Championship boys team from John A. Ferguson HS winning their third conference title in school history.
More Historical Notes:
- This marked Ferguson's third GMAC Team Championship on the boys side, tying Miami Central for second on the all-time list, behind the extremely dominant Christopher Columbus program who has achieved 18 titles since 1984. Columbus also has the top two streaks for consecutive titles at six from 1992-1997, and four consecutive from 2008-2011.
- This was only the third time a school won both the Girls AND Boys GMAC Cross Country Team titles in the same year. The sweep of both team titles by a school had only happened twice before in the history of the GMAC: The Felix Varela team in 2003, coached by Victor Kensler, and the 2006 Ferguson team, coached by Victor Kensler (girls) and Ryan Raposo (boys).