On-Site Coverage
The Mitchell Invitational at Jay B Starkey Park in New Port Richey was in its ninth year on Saturday. However, it was the first year the meet was renamed in memory of former coach Mike Holl. Holl succumbed to brain cancer in February and his presence was an inspiring factor to not only Mitchell runners but to every runner from the 28 teams present.
The course at Starkey Park is unforgiving to the spectator. Runners start down a grass runway, hit sand and limestone and then disappear into the woods for the better part of two miles. Runners emerge from the same trail they went out on and then bend left down a sandy, limestone run before looping around a cluster of trees. They come out near the three-mile mark and finish down the grass straightaway they started down.
The girls race went off first. A tight group carried all the way into the disappearance into the woods. When runners emerged it was a two-girl race between Shorecrest's Olivia Rovin and East Lake freshman Parker Valby.
"It felt great to hang with her (Rovin)," Valby said. "But toward the end, I was winded, she started sprinting and I lost my right shoe."
Valby, who ran middle school cross country in Connecticut, set a season best of 21:03.10 on a tough course with a mix of surfaces. Valby said that she is still adjusting to the heat and the sand of Florida courses but the freshman Eagle made her presence felt on Saturday with team leader Jennifer Lima up in Gainesville competing at UF.
Rovin had some special motivation coming around for the last few hundred meters.
"I was thinking, 'I gotta beat this girl (Valby) so I can get my interview and t-shirt'," Rovin said.
Behind Rovin (20:48.10) and Valby was Sunlake's Jamila Cardwell. Cardwell had to fight off a stout challenge from Mitchell's Isabel Oliveto in the final 100 meters with the gut cramps biting down hard on her but she held for third (21:40) and Oliveto took fourth at 21:45.5. Mustang teammate Grace Phillips took fifth in 22:11.20.
Sickles' Rahyza Garcia grabbed sixth in 22:24 and helped float her Gryphon squad to the team title. The Gryphon girls topped host Mitchell 78-109. Sunlake girls took third with 122, doing so without their number two runner (illness).
Next up, the boys took the course and again, little was settled setting off into the wooded area. When runners emerged near the two-mile mark, Gulf sophomore John Jessup was in control.
"We started out slow, the first mile was 5:37 and I was in fifth but I thought that was too slow and I went straight to the front when I saw an opening in the center of the runway," Jessup said.
A battle for second began coming into the two-and-a-half mile mark between Jesuit's John Robbins and Tampa Bay Tech's Josue Reyes. Around the cluster of trees, completing three miles, it was Jessup taking it in 17:32. Robbins, a junior who'd ran the course at Starkey Park as a freshman, made a big move around the tree cluster and separated from Reyes, taking second in 17:38.70. Reyes, who only ran one other meet this season, the Central Hillsborough Meet, ran a 17:55.20, a season best and personal record for the sophomore.
"It was a little easier today (than in 2014), it had rained before the meet the last time and the course was a lot muddier," Robbins said. "It was good because I knew how the course was laid out, I knew when we got to that cluster of trees how far I had left."
Northside's Justin Nunamaker took fourth in 17:56, the last male varsity runner under 18 minutes.
Robbins' runner-up finish helped the Tigers just edge Sunlake 113-115. The boys team race was so close, few people knew how the final score shook out prior to awards.
The Seahawks got good runs from Dominic Burleson and Austin Jenkins, leading the way. Behind Robbins, Jesuit's Rhett Broz took 15th overall. It was just enough. The Sickles boys just edged a rising Ridgewood squad 139-140 for third place.