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Ralph Epifanio takes a look back at 4A Region 1 perhaps one of the toughest regions in the state of Florida. See his account of the action through his photos and writing.
2 Weeks Ago - News
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The 4A District schedule featured four meets, on three separate days (April 18-20), three of which occurred within (roughly) 40 miles of each other, hence this once-in-a-lifetime three-fer.
4 Weeks Ago - News
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Ralph Epifanio recaps the Seminole Athletic Conference Championships in a piece only Ralph can write.
5 Weeks Ago - News
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In a little over a week, Lake Brantley would play host to three days of SAC Championship competition. Little wonder that it would be in such demand. Its athletic complex is a modern, well-maintained, state of the art facility, with a small army of support staff, including highly responsive coaches and trainers
6 Weeks Ago - News
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Ralph recaps the Five Star Conference Championships as only Ralph can.
7 Weeks Ago - News
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In track, there’s an expression that fits most competitive situations quite nicely; “If you can’t run with the big dogs, stay on the porch.” What it means, basically, is that pups need not try. But what if you’re not a canine at all, but rather another carnivore altogether?
8 Weeks Ago - News
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Ralph Epifanio recaps the Deltona Invitational in only a way Ralph can. Check out his piece along with complete meet coverage including results and over 600 photos.
2 Months Ago - News
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If you read his "Big D" story, you might have been under the impression that Ralph Epifanio recently retired as a correspondent for
flrunners.com., in order to "chair" a new trackside venture. As seen in the following photograph, it might almost seem as if his idea has already hit paydirt.
3 Months Ago - News
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No matter where he wheeled it, the Wizard’s track tower seemed surrounded by a speeding swirl of humanity, sending PRs, SRs, DQs, DNFs, DNs, NBs, NHs, NTs, and Fouls spinning off every which way.
3 Months Ago - News
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Ralph Epifanio chronicles the East Coast Classic in a way only Ralph can.
3 Months Ago - News
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Except for one afternoon each February, the term “Last Chance” conjures up completely different images in my mind: My sainted mother, leaning against a porcelain sink in an all-white kitchen, her arms folded across her chest, a wooden spoon stained red with spaghetti sauce clenched tightly in a white-knuckled fist, and on her face “the look,” warning me that the first words out of my mouth could be the last; a no-name, sun-bleached gas station on Nevada Highway 374, perched on the edge of Death Valley...
3 Months Ago - News
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If you live in or around Daytona Beach, Florida, you know that from late January to mid-March, it’s all about speed. (Vrooom,vrooom!) First there’s the Rolex Endurance Race (24 hours of beer, fried food, t-shirts, and of course one long sleepless night of non-stop car racing).
4 Months Ago - News
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In the storm-tossed mind of highly creative individuals, there is no rest, no port that might be called safe harbor. Waves of ideas flood the mind-flowing with inspiration and ebbing with exhaustion. Goals can be short-lived, because new ones quickly take their place. Days are long, and nights short. Even while asleep, the subconscious of these paragons of humanity become a fertile ground of design and innovation.
5 Months Ago - News
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In her three and a half years at Stetson, Maria Harper has starred on Stetson’s Cross Country team for four seasons, fulfilled all the requirements of her pre-med program, served Stetson as an ambassador par excellence, and still found time to volunteer nearly 1400 service hours to the Deland community that was her temporary home.
5 Months Ago - News
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Ralph Epifanio breaksdown the 4A 1 Regional in only a way Ralph can.
6 Months Ago - News
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The running--as well as the outcome--of two races on the same day couldn’t be more different than that of this Girls’ and Boys’ District Championship. It was as if the script(s) for the double feature were planned, so as not to be redundant, lest it lose the interest of its viewers.
7 Months Ago - News
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When I first saw the name of this meet’s location—Crews Lake Wilderness Park--I figured I’d wear my buckskins, and bring my birch bark canoe and axe. But that idea was tempered by what appeared on their website, where Pasco County Parks proudly announced its highlights as being a(n) “observation tower, bird houses, bike path, nature trail, botanical garden, playground (and not just any kind, but a BIG one), outdoor amphitheater, free rides on the Central Pasco and Gulf Railroad, and even primitive camping....Well, maybe I’d just bring the axe (in case it turned into a “Camp-o-runna”).
7 Months Ago - News
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I did not run high school cross country. After entertaining the varsity football players during a daily, 45 minute gym class, I was generally too exhausted to run any further. Beginning in college, however, I did. That was a really long time ago (1967-71), but I do remember that running then was much simpler. The only things we really needed were a uniform, and our black canvas converse track flats. No gloves (we switched our socks from our feet to our hands when it got cold). No tape (except if you wore glasses, and they fell one time too many). And especially no watches (they were considered “banned aids.”)
7 Months Ago - News
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Filling a date previously occupied by the now defunct Stetson Hatter Invitational, UCF moved their September race to mid-October in order to provide a "warm up" for the upcoming conference championships.
7 Months Ago - Meet Summary
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Something old, something new: Deland sophomore Keneth Pineiro, hot off his 16:15, 4th place finish in the New Balance Elite Race at the October8th Hagerty Invitational, set a new course record –17:04--in winning the 5 Star Conference Freshman –Sophomore title. Spruce Creek was the team champion with 37 points.
7 Months Ago - News
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As the result of a Nor'easter off the Florida coast, a deluge of biblical proportions slammed Daytona early Saturday morning. Although the wind, rain and mud--not to mention the hills--made the spectators miserable, the runners had a perfect excuse to get down and dirty.
8 Months Ago - News
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Four years ago, when they hired Cassandra Goodson, Florida Gulf Coast University Men’s and Women’s cross country was given a new life. Evidence of that is easy to find: female athletes that she has coached hold all of the top five school records in the Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior class, and two of five (1st and 5th place) in the Senior category. With the men, the evidence of her influence is even more irrefutable: in the 5K (all ten), 4 mile (all), 8K (all ten), 8K Freshman (all 5), 8K Sophomore (all 5), 8K Junior (3 of 5; 1st, 3rd, and 5th,), and 8K Senior (all 5) occurred while she was coach. Today, thanks to the efforts of its now veteran coach, the Eagles are one of Florida’s most promising collegiate running programs.
8 Months Ago - News
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Day 2 of flrunners.com Invitational 12, through the eyes of Ralph.
8 Months Ago - Meet Summary
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In truth, we take great comfort in the misery attributed to weather. Running around in skimpy shorts and sleeveless shirts, we can’t help but notice that it’s hot or cold or wet. And so we talk about it.
8 Months Ago - News
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In today’s world of instant everything, it is imperative that we each have—at our fingertips--a quick guide to the more important things in life. That way we can be an instant expert--or as nearly so as possible--with a minimum of effort. For those already overburdened with school, work, or life in general, the following is intended to provide everything you will ever need to know about cross country, using an even dozen short questions as an illustration. Owing to the fact that I am the author, the answers are not necessarily as short, and the reader may give pause to consider if reality has surrendered itself to repartee.
8 Months Ago - News
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Our prolific and sometimes controversial contributor Ralph Epifanio gives his take on the 2011 UF Mountain Dew Invitaitonal.
8 Months Ago - News
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8 Months Ago - News
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Peter Licari leads for 2.5 miles before being overtaken by speedster Otneil Teixeira with 600 meters to go. Otneil wins in 16:23. Bryce Seymour shot out from the gun and never looked back, winning with a time of 18:25. Spruce Creek boys win, but Hagerty upsets the Creek girls.
8 Months Ago - News
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Wickham Park was besieged by an abundance of water, and all that comes with it; uncut, overly long grass, patches of soft clay—formerly softball fields--that quickly became quagmires, ankle-deep puddles, rugs of “hitchhiker” seeds that floated on every ripple, and half-drowned insects that clutched at the first leg that went by. By the end of the race, between the water, mud, rugs, and bugs, a slow-moving runner could gain ten pounds in unwanted flotsam. And that, in a nutshell, is why momentum was the key to success.
8 Months Ago - Meet Summary
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On the morning of Saturday, August 26th, a group of runners set out to do a “long run” on the trails of Tiger Bay State Forest, just east of Deland. Around dawn, they drove through the open metal gate, parked their cars, and set out (depending upon the ability of the runner) for up to 90 minutes of heavy breathing.
9 Months Ago - Feature
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One can only assume that Bethune-Cookman got the memo about the scheduled 6:00 (women) and 6:25 (men) ‘’tee times.” However, as race time drew near, the Lady Wildcats were nowhere in sight. Someone suggested that the driver of Wildcatmobile might have hit “scenic route” on her GPS before leaving Daytona, because by the time their bus was finally sighted by the JU Campus Security, those start times had to be adjusted by 15 minutes. Their Women’s team warmed up by sprinting from the bathroom to the starting line, finally arriving at 6:14. A grand entrance? Fashionably late? Team strategy? Who can tell? In effect, however, they made their presence known. First, you have Kadian “The Cleaver” Dunkley, who literally split a powerful Jacksonville women’s team in half.
9 Months Ago - News
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How does one capture the drama that is a Regional Championship? The middle step of three between local and state level competition, it is, if anything, only a glimpse of things to come. Certainly those who will advance are prepared to shed their challengers, real and hopeful alike. But fate can certainly occupy the lane beside you, and this meet had its share of accomplished, confident athletes whose season ended one meet short of a career full of promise.
1 Years Ago - News
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No matter how you look at it, track and field is all about results. Coaches demand it. Athletes aspire to improve upon theirs. Meet directors pay big bucks to people who promise to provide them. And yours truly spends long days at the keyboard searching for the right combination of words to describe them.
1 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Having just entered my eighth decade, and second millennium of life (I was born in 1949), when it comes to fashions I can honestly look back over quite a few indiscretions on my part. In the beginning Mom made all the choices, and my classmates made all the comments. When old enough to do so, I chose clothes to be “in style,” which in the early-to-mid 60s were completely lacking in any.
1 Years Ago - News
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The Flagler-Palm Coast Boys Track and Field team has won the 5 Star title eight times in the past nine years: 2002, 2003, 2005 (129 points), 2006 (159), 2007 (221), 2008 (203.5), 2009 (245), and 2010 (180.5). During this span they have also finished second in the state (2002), and were twice FHSAA overall champions (2007 and 2009). But like a 300 meter hurdler having survived the (first) 8 hurdles in the prelims, they may find the next eight to be far more formidable.
1 Years Ago - News
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Unintentional though it is, high school track is often a race within a race. The obvious, of course, is the event, be it the 200 or the 3200; the first won by superior strength and coordination between opposing muscle groups, the second by cardiovascular development. Underlying each is a race toward physical maturity, and while it might be genetically determined, in many places—Florida among them—it is a result of demographics. At what age did the athlete begin school; four, five, or six? And, after he did, was he ever advanced, or retained, a grade(s)?
1 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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It is the irony of a track meet that its teams (and in this case, unattached participants) travel great distances to gather in one location, only to spend their entire time together running, hurdling, jumping, and throwing things to distance themselves from each other. In this meet, for example, the most accomplished included, among others, a sprinter from Ocala, Florida; a running machine from Eldoret, Kenya—and his female counterpart from across the ocean; a coach (Gothenberg) and an athlete (Karlshamn) from Sweden; a baseball player from Matanzas; a wake boarder from Bolivar, Ohio; a hurdler from Cranfills Gap, Texas, and a now homeless toad. The list could go on, but it has been suggested that my read sometimes exceeds my audience’s grasp.
1 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Sometimes—just sometimes—track meets remind me of cafeteria duty. This was one of them. There was just too much running (“Wait for the gun, ladies!”), cutting in (“Nicky elbowed me, so I went around him!”), tripping (“Ooooh! Did you see that one in the 100 hurdles?”), misuse of athletic equipment (“Gentlemen, please take the balls out of the infield!”), dishes flying everywhere (Was that another UFO?), and noise so deafening that I couldn’t hear the person next to me (“No, K, K! Kody with a K!) This meet even had food. (“We’ll be taking a 45 minute lunch break now.”) By the time the sun set, my ears were ringing so loud that I was beginning to “hunch”. (Or was that just another bell lap?) At any rate, the last thing I remember was thinking that I had Excedrin headache #4 (by four).
1 Years Ago - News
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Capping their banner 2010-2011 Indoor Track Season with identical scores at the NAIA Championships (March 3-5 in Geneva, Ohio), the Men’s and Women’s team each drew upon the strong support of upper classmen Sam Vazquez (senior, Flagler-Palm Coast) and Crystal Bardge (junior, Jacksonville). With 20 points each, the men finished 12th and the women 11th among the field of more than 200 member schools.
1 Years Ago - News
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1 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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A century ago, there was another sort of track running through Bunnell, Florida--that of Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railroad, known as the FEC. Was it fate, or irony, that Flagler-Palm Coast HS (FPC) chose Flagler East Coast Classic (FEC) for the name of their meet? In choosing a derailed, but still famous, transportation line as its namesake, they certainly invited comparisons between the two tracks. And with the bright orange glow of dusk that immediately preceded the finals, Henry’s haunting became all the more evident. The finals schedule, once begun, gained momentum faster than a runaway train (both on and off the track, so to speak), and all you could do was leap aboard when it was your turn to run (jump, throw, or hurdle).
1 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Ralph Epifanio gives his summary of the goings-on at the Embry Riddle Last Chance meet from this past weekend.
1 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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In different parts of the country, at this time of year the sport of track and field, by necessity, goes by several different names. Depending upon where you reside, and perhaps also depending upon the severity of the weather, it may be described as “indoor track,” “winter track,” or “conditioning.” (In Canada it is called skating, skiing, and ice hockey.) Winter, in Florida, as we all know, is absolutely perfect for track and field; subsequently we have an identification problem. In or out? The Embry Riddle people—who no doubt could have gotten the use of a nice cozy airplane hangar if they had so chosen—decided to turn meets inside, out.
1 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Peter Hopfe began coaching high school cross country in 1995, and by the autumn of 2004, he was considered one of the most successful and respected high school coaches in the state of Florida. In the space of ten years, he had gone from a full-time restaurateur, to a part-time coach, to the recognized founder of a distance dynasty at Flagler-Palm Coast High School, and a two-time Florida State Coach of the Year. Who would have even considered gambling that kind of success on a fledgling college program? Knowing Hopfe, however, it was far from a gamble.
1 Years Ago - Feature
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We reached the business end of the season; it was the time for restructuring. When the races ended, only six teams were left. Or, if you were lucky enough to survive regional downsizing as an independent contractor—and were among the top fifteen runners overall--you got one more week on the job (the “one that got away,” so to speak). Everyone else could go on home; see you in the spring.
2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Kacy Smith of Estero won the girls race and set a course record of 18:48 in the process. She lead Estero to a perfect 15 point victory. Cypress Lake's Trent Craig edged out Estero's Aaron Rojas by .27 (16:25. 20 to 16:25. 47). But the Rojas led Estero boys won easily with 36 points: 2-7-8-9-10-(12)-(16). Inside this article Kacy Smith reveals her secret diet for success.
2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Ralph was up in Spartanburg, South Carolina for the Atlantic Sun Conference Championships featuring several Florida colleges.
2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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How does a cross country team define perfection? Is it found in a place, as in “first”? Can it be reflected by a score, such as 15? Could it be claimed in a word, such a “sweep,” or satisfied with repetition, leaving little doubt that it was, and is real? Would long lines of runners, living proof that your success reaches from the present, and into the future, be a metaphor for self-satisfaction? In any of these cases, and along with the support of so many parents, coaches, and (past and present) athletes, Spruce Creek may have arrived at that place where there is little room for doubt that this is about as good as it gets.
2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Like a blind man attempting to envision the whole elephant by touch, mid-season cross country invitationals give us a “peek” at what might be at season’s end, but not entirely so. Thus, while the results of the Boys’ Elite Race may have felt like a trunk, it must be remembered that it is the same basic shape of that pachyderm’s tail. In this race, the two front runners, Eduardo Garcia and Phil Duncan, met for the last time before the State Meet, each trying to ride the elephant, rather than be trampled by it.
2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Inspiration can come in many forms, but without it, we rarely achieve our goals, and may eventually find ourselves caught in that spiraling descent into discouragement. Juxtapose the many middle-of-the-pack, middle-of-the-road-runners (who figuratively “cross continents” in accumulated mileage, still searching for that elusive “outstanding accomplishment”) with the rare runner who seems to grasp success, again and again, and you will see inspiration in the flesh.
2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Another crazy Ralph Epifanio adventure... this time taking him into the heart of Central Florida... eventually. Mount Dora High swept the individual varsity races with Ashley Heitling and Zach McLain taking first.
2 Years Ago - News
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Anyway you look at it, Peter Hopfe was destined to be a successful running coach. A by-product of his abundance of energy, his competitive nature has always sought an outlet, first in his drive to compete on a personal level, then to lead others to unimaginable successes
2 Years Ago - Feature
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Speaking of stars, how many of you have seen Planes, Trains and Automobiles, starring Steve Martin and John Candy? Of course, you may not have heard about its sequel, Planes, Trains and Cross Country—it premiered this weekend--starring various members of the Flagler-Palm Coast Cross Country team. After hearing its story line, I’m sure you’ll agree that it is equally entertaining.
2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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The always entertaining Ralph Epifanio gives his take on the flrunners.com Invitational's Friday night happenings. He has also uploaded about 1000 photos from the Friday night events.
2 Years Ago - News
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A good cross country meet is a lot like chemist Alfred Nobel’s most significant discovery: if handled properly, it will produce fast, predictable, and dramatic results. Take this meet, for example. It has probably been around almost as long as Mr. Nobel’s second most significant contribution to mankind, but, under the more recent management of Deland coaches Jim Lowenstein and Dale Papineau, it has, well, exploded. This year’s event attracted a combined 58 teams and 563 athletes. Kaboom!
2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Another episode of the observations and literary playfulness of Ralph Epifanio. He pulled double-duty on Saturday, attending the college races at Embry-Riddle in the morning before headed off to the Deland Invitational.
2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Being the dedicated coach that he is, he—and no doubt everyone he could find to help--spent most of that Friday preparing what was left of his course for the 6:00 meet. As testimony to his persistence, two world records and 77 personal (every registered runner) records were set at the September 3rd Jacksonville Duals.
2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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2 Years Ago - News
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Ralph Epifanio's take on the district championship meet at Lake Brantley last night. Meet results are posted and photos are being uploaded.
2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Ralph Epifanio's always witty summary of the events as he saw them at the Five Star Conference Championship. Also
photo album is posted with hundreds of photos.
2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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On most days, Sperling Sports Complex is a scene of peace and tranquility. If you sit still long enough, you can almost imagine hearing the grass grow. It is big enough, and the facilities varied enough, that you rarely see more than one or two of the fields occupied at the same time. The usual number of spectators is small, too, and so spread out that an attempt to perform the wave would hardly produce a ripple.
2 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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3 Years Ago - News
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3 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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A Friday night meet, especially this late in the season, can have its drawbacks, as well as its advantages. No doubt having the entire weekend to train--or rest, as the case may be--just prior to the various conference championships will win its share of supporters (explaining why this was one of two such events in the Orlando area alone). It might be considered the last regular season workout, both for varsity and non-varsity athletes, so times would be weighed more as a level of preparation for the championship “season,” than strictly as a performance.
3 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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3 Years Ago - News
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Spruce Creek is a full-service school. For the two buck entry, you not only get to watch the meet dujour, but also audit both football and baseball practice, listen to the marching band, and observe The Gator 4X2 dirt track races. It was all so entertaining--and distracting--that if you didn't pay attention to where you were standing (and what you were watching), it could easily become an interactive experience: "Ralph, move! You're standing in the middle of the finish line!"
3 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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The campus of Seminole State College was as dark as death. Because of the torrid temperatures of the unseasonable, un-autumn-like weather, and the start of Daylight Standard Time still several weeks away, the participants of the Hagerty Invitational were caught between the clock and a hot place. So the runners were forced to wait, camped out on tarps; trapped in the tenebrous moment, while dawn seemed to take its own celestial time to arrive. When the first streams of slanting sunlight finally streaked through the trees, a movement of the multitude signaled that the meet was about to commence.
3 Years Ago - News
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A description of the course had the generality of a quarterback calling a play in a seaside touch football game: “Go long to the right, turn around, go past the line, then deep to the left, turn around and come back. Finish up where you started and I’ll hit you with a finish time.” Unfortunately, when Kristin Hanson, who ran the first pattern—I mean race—didn’t get back from the first 1.1 mile until something like 9:30, there was some grumbling in the boys’ huddle.
3 Years Ago - News
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When did it suddenly become an X? I finally got used to its being called a (lower case, no space)
flrunners.com Invitational. Although, I will be the first to admit that adding the X holds great promise. Look what it did for the NFL.
3 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Some like it hot. For the rest of the 600, the short, flat turf seemed like a grass-green layer of metal, re-radiating the early morning, early fall sunlight like one huge parabolic reflector. No sooner had the blood-red sun risen above the distant trees than it melted through the ground-hugging fog and turned Sperling Sports Complex into a giant solarium.
3 Years Ago - News
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Having never covered the meet, I have to admit the name--Astronaut Classic--had my mind working overtime. Would there be a bunch of our rocket men toeing the starting line? No actual astronauts, but I did find a large meet of 37 teams added up to 216 Varsity Boys, 230 Varsity Girls, 262 JV Boys, 226 JV Girls, and four really wide starting lines.
3 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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3 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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With 35 different high school track meets to choose from, the weekend of March 18 to 21 shuffled the deck better than a dealer in Vegas, and when Deltona was done, Deland carried away all the chips.
3 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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3 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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It was choice day in Mr. B’s gym class. You could either run a 5K (3.1 miles), or a 5K + 10 (half marathon). The vote was pretty much split down the middle, which made for an interesting first mile and a half. Of course, the big question on everyone‘s mind was “Who’s running which one?” Because all runners look pretty much the same from the rear, it wasn’t until the 5K turnaround that the front runners were able to determine which race they were actually winning.
3 Years Ago - News
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In a field top-heavy with some of the area’s best young male runners, and including a large turnout of elementary-aged female runners (aka, Girls on the Run), Embry Riddle’s Stuart Patterson emerged first.
3 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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You’ve trained hard, had pasta for dinner the night before, drunk lots of milk and gone to bed at 9:00 reminiscing about your recent, random acts of kindness. This race is your reward. With racing flats that seem to have sprouted little wings, you’re way out in front of 699 other runners, including a few that certainly had you worried on the starting line. Flying past the mile in 5:25, you even lengthen your commanding lead by the (mile and a half) turnaround and like the prodigal son, start your journey home--to the finish line, your family and friends, the applause, the overall trophy, and some well-deserved turkey. You imagine yourself on the bow of the Titanic.
3 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Well, it’s November--that time of year when you pack a change of clothes, pick up a coffee cake from Thelma’s Bakery, and take that long, long drive to visit those distant cousins that you’ve been reading about in Fl-runners. The District of Death meets the District of Distance. Take Niceville, for example. Look for it on a map, and you’ll find it in the lower left corner of the page, in a little box, about halfway between the corners of Alabama and Georgia. (One has to wonder how often they cross the state line on their long training runs.) According to available Plate Tectonics models, that part of the panhandle will some day swivel around, roughly parallel to the Chattahoochee, and end up as a suburb of Dothan, Alabama. So how is it that Niceville and DeLand are in the same district, anyway?
4 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Although cross country is a sport that is defined on statistics, it is, nonetheless, one that defies statistical analysis. There is something less subjective, and more mortal, that (pardon the double entendre) runs deeper than the times and trophies. It is the human heart.
4 Years Ago - News
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Long before Disney, Benjamin Franklin White, the “Dean of Colt Trainers,” drew crowds of tourists to what was once the largest facility of its kind in the United States. Three tracks, a stable complex, and Pearce’s Dining Room formed the nucleus of a 120 acre trotter park that became the winter home for harness racing and their fans from 1946 until 1978. This winner of four Hamiltonians (harness racing’s highest honor) even managed to parlay a NASCAR Grand National event on the main oval, further showing that he was a man of vision. Although Ben White died in 1958, his spirit still hovers over Orlando Trotters Park and Ledesma Equestrian Center, as is evidenced by the 1100 human athletes who lined up for the start of the six races that made up this year’s Edgewater Invitational. There is, however, no substantiation of the rumor that old Ben is entombed under the finish line.
4 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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You have to take your hat off to John Boyle and Joe Guthrie, co-conspirators in this annual and much appreciated college invitational. Just make sure that the hat you tip is a Stetson, since it is John B’s University that gets the credit for all the hard work that went into this well-planned event.
4 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Home field advantage? Thats supposed to be true in football, or basketball, but cross country? Naw. Well, yeah! Just ask a smiling coach Stephon Gallon of Spruce Creekbut not until the celebration ends. At the conclusion of the meet, his ear to ear grin prevented him from conversing much.
Meet Summary |
Photo Album |
Results4 Years Ago - News
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4 Years Ago - News
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Ralph Epifanio's never dull take on the events as they went down at day one of flrunners.com Invitational 9.
4 Years Ago - News
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Matt Mizereck won the boys race with a 15:06, with Atkinson and Stanford just behind. In the girls race it was the two freshmen from Chiles, Lily Williams and Carly Thomas with times of 18:12 and 18:31. Ralph Epifanio was there for flrunners.com with this great article and photos.
Race Summary |
Photo Album4 Years Ago - News
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Followed by their footsteps, outlined in the predawn dew, slow-moving, blanket-shrouded forms began the day by swishing, slow-motion, in sweats and blankets around Sperlings zig-zaggy course. When, finally, they became energized after the slow rise of the autumn sun, they seemed to be transformed into bunches of charged atoms that vibrated in unpredictable paths, barely contained by boundaries of vegetation, fences, and (to some degree) miles of yellow plastic streamers. Finally, at precisely 8:00, they were lined up, motionless, ready to explode.
4 Years Ago - Meet Summary
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Another fantastic piece of journalism by Ralph Epifanio! You can almost feel the enthusiasm of being at the race!
4 Years Ago - News
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At some point in your life, someone in your family, or someone you know, will need hospice. That simple statement, made by Ed Springer of Merritt Island, is why on this particular September Sunday hundreds of fast moving feet filled the streets of Port Orange in support of Halifax Hospice.
4 Years Ago - News
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A race application is a contract between its organizers and the entrant. As such, when signed and paid for by the runner--or his coach--he is justified in expecting certain things in return. In the very least, the race should start on time, the course he selects should have been accurately measured and reflect the description advertised, results should be prompt and accurate, and some form of refreshment, such as water and fruit, be provided.
This past weekend I witnessed a race that, for the most part, failed to keep its end of the bargain. It started late, was--and Im guessing here--somewhere around a quarter of a mile long (.20144, according to a GPS), and the final results not only inconclusive, but delivered rather tardy. It was a big disappointment.
While cross country courses vary, it is important that meet directors take the extra step to be careful and ensure the course is as accurate as possible.
4 Years Ago - News
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With Brighthouse Football Stadium standing sentinel like a giant, gleaming, concrete and steel metaphor for the paradox that is the Golden Knights cross country program, the five mens and six womens teams that accepted UCFs invitation to run its Black and Gold Meet toured the undeveloped back lots of the campus.
4 Years Ago - Meet Summary
