Kari Grippo is glad to be running for Gulf High School. She transferred there midway through the year last year from Fivay High School so that she could attend their Health Careers Academy, a program that helps prepare students to enter the medical field. The FHSAA saw the move as one for athletic purposes and a recruiting violation. As a result they ruled her ineligible to participate in track and cross country for the Buccaneers. It was a decision the Grippo's fought, but lost on the regional and state level. She looks at the whole process as a blessing in disguise.
"My parents and coaches got me into a lot of open meets at colleges and I got to run against a lot of collegiate athletes. I also did a few AAU meets as well which were good so that is how I trained around it. I did Foot Locker and AAU Nationals at Disney's Wide World of Sports, but that was a 4K. I was still racing and I trained with my team I just couldn't run at FHSAA sanctioned meets. They didn't say anything about open meets so whenever I had the opportunity I took it."
Only in her second year of running, Grippo is not just trying out cross country, but the youngster is also competing in road races. She has seen recent success in the sport and says it will help prepare for her high school season.
"I really liked racing road races because I won overall female for the majority that I did. I was surprised when I first started, but I think they will prepare me for cross country because now I know how to race a 5K. Nobody knows until they try something new how to race more than a 5K. It also prepared me for this season because it gave me more racing experience."
This season Grippo will get to do something she didn't experience last year: be a part of a team. This summer she went with her fellow Buccaneers to camp in the mountains of Tennessee. Grippo also camped in South Carolina at the Embry Riddle camp and has been doing between 55-65 miles per week. She says that combined with a lot of hill training will make running in the flat terrain of Florida much easier.
"For cross country I would like to be conference, district, and regional champion. I want to go undefeated in all the local races like invitationals and districts. I'd like to hit 17:30 this season and maybe run 17:40's at states, but I definitely want to be down there in that time frame. I'd like to be top ten, possibly top five, depending on how I'm running when the time comes. I am hoping my team can go to states again because I know they made it last year. "
After all she has been through Grippo believes she has something to prove.
"That's pretty much the way I feel. I want to show everyone what I can do. I use that as motivational all the time. A lot of times when I race I think about that and it makes me want to run better and get better times."
