Coach Zach Spain of Bishop Kenny announced this morning that star distance runner has verbally committed to attend Florida State University next year.  He will join the Seminole mens' team that has been a national powerhouse in both track & field and cross country over the past several years.  Michael was the 2008 2A cross country champion and 2008 2A 3200 meter champion and should be among the favorites this track season in the 1600 and 3200.

With the cross country season now at a close and the track & field season about a month and a half away, it was suggested that we look back at the 2009 season to honor our state's finest. Inside this article we announce the first and second team All-Florida XC Teams and also the runners of the year.  We plan to do the same thing for track & field this summer.

On Wednesday night at the JW Marriot Grande Lakes in Orlando, the USTFCCCA hosted the first ever Bowerman Awards.  This award is dubbed as the Heisman of track & field and has also been called the "Academy Awards" of our sport.  The absolutely grand hotel, stunningly beautiful presentation, and buzzing atmosphere they created there really lived up to that hype.  They turned this high-class hotel into a shrine to our sport for the week leading up to last night's festivities and concluding today.  To our GREAT joy.... Orlando's own Jenny Barringer was announced as the women's winner!!   I had the pleasure of sharing the evening and dining with Jenny, her parents and family, her high school coach and his wife, and Jon and Betsy Hughes of Track Shack--as well as about 900 NCAA coaches from around the country.  Inside this article there are photos and videos posted from the evening.  CONGRATS TO JENNY!  A GREAT ROLE MODEL FOR OUR FLORIDA ATHLETES!

I love how a race can be a profound metaphor for life in a broader sense.  And just like a good Biblical parable, it can teach you a lot about yourself, others, and the way to be successful and happy.  I decided to pick out a few anecdotes that some of the girls that I covered this weekend taught me. 

Megan Goethals and Chelsey Sveinsson battle to the line, Lukas Verzbicas dominates front-to-back in the boys race.  Tons of coverage from our on-site team...

The Miz ran a great, well paced race this morning in San Diego. He started in the middle of the pack, moved into 14th at half way point and finished in 10th place around 15:37 on the muddy, hilly course, in pounding rain.  Atkinson 23rd, Colin Barker 40th.  Kathryn Fluehr 27th, Erika Fluehr 34th, Shelby Hayes 39th.  More inside....

We are out here at Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego with our six qualifiers, along with a large contingent of Florida supporters and our MileSplit national coverage team.  Today the athletes had their run through at the course and I interviewed all six ouf our Florida qualifiers.  The big race is tomorrow!  See what they all said about their experience so far and looking toward their national championship debuts.

A whole host of folks are leaving on planes (or going on road trips, right, Coach Wills?!) bound for San Diego this morning.  This year is possibly the greatest ever for Florida, with six athletes qualifying for Saturday morning's race at Balboa Park in San Diego:  Kathyn Fluehr, Shelby Hayes, Erika Fluehr, Matt Mizereck, Colin Baker, and Brian Atkinson.  Myself (Jason Byrne) and five others from our MileSplit national team are headed out this morning as well.  We will be on site bringing you coverage before, during, and after the event.  We will have video interviews with all six Florida athletes as well as most of the other 80 qualifiers.  A live video feed from the course will be available here as well starting at 8AM Pacific (11AM Eastern) on Saturday.  Look for thousands of photos and articles as well.  And we'll try to bring you a little piece of what the Foot Locker experience is!!  Congrats to our qualifiers!! This is your weekend!!  More MileSplit National coverage...

It may not be the happiest day in Gator nation after their loss on the football field to Alabama, but at least there is some very good news for cross country and track fans!  Matt Mizereck, the top Florida qualifier at Foot Locker South, has chosen to put on the orange and blue next year.  More inside this article...

Columbus made the trek to freezing Portland, Oregon and competed at NXN today.  It was not the performance they were hoping for, but we are sure proud of our lone qualifying team from Florida!  Here is an interview by Chris Nickinson of RunnerSpace with the team.  On a high note, Armando Del Valle had a great day and finished in 14th place.

It was cold, it was muddy, it was cold! But what a way to end the season. The FACA Senior All Star meet in Tallahassee was enjoyable for both runners and spectators.