Around the state today the first official unofficial races are being run! For the first time this season Florida's finest emerge from summer training and road races and compete in the preseason classics. Here is your first peak at who's been working the hardest this summer break.
Lake Mary Summertime Run
Lake Mary, Florida
Coach Luther Davis decided to throw a curveball this year! After many years using the same path around Greenwood Lakes Park (behind Lake Mary High School), he changed up the course. And it was a change for the better! The course began and ended on the football field, which meant it was much closer to parking and had plenty of viewing area for spectators to watch. The proximity also meant you could easily walk just a few hundered feet and catch the mile and two mile mark and still not miss a bit of the finish. Nice job!
In the High School girls division, Erika Langhauser of Oviedo lead virtually the entire race, but she had company. Ocoee High freshman Alyssa Burkert was breathing down her neck, but could never reel her in. Erika managed to get a bit of a gap toward the end and won by almost 10 seconds.
Olympia easily won the team competition with 88 points, with Bishop Moore taking second 41 points back. Lake Brantley was four points behind Bishop More for third place, but were missing #1 runner Brittany McCan who was out with a knee injury. McCan is expected to return to action possibly by the first regular season meet at Lake Brantley.
Winter Springs' Tommy Goodman and Slater Stich of Warner Christian battled it out in the high school boys division. Goodman lead much of the way and was able to muscle out a 5 second victory over Stich. Edgewater senior and forum regular Seth Proctor came in third place.
Trinity Prep, preseason ranked #1 in the 1A, proved they will be a force. The beat out second place Winter Springs 18 points--85 to 103. And apparently third place was Lake Howell, listed in the team scores as "Wolf Cries" (get it? Lake HOWL!). The team names in this race are quite amusing and while some are transparent others are downright riddle-like! Next week everyone will be in their school jerseys and the team scores will be back to their recognizable self!!
Photo Gallery
Space Coast Jamboree
Cocoa Beach, Florida
The Satellite girls dominated the girls' race proving, placing four in the top five--with only two last names. It was Shriver-Stern-Shiver-Stern going 19:12, 19:36, 19:42 and 20:23, respectively. The Scorpion's fifth runner crossed the line in 17th place in 22:10. While they are almost certainly the second best girls team in the state right now (behind Episcopal and possibly Holy Trinity), if the team rounds into shape and can close up the 4-5 gap, they could even be potentially earn a place in the NTN Southeast rankings. Keep it up, girls!
Astronaut junior, Devin Spoerle, was able to interupt the Satellite sisters. Spoerle finished in second place with a time of 19:26 to start out the season well!
John Culver of Merritt Island showed us all that he's been paying his dues this summer. With his first race of the year, he came through with a big PR and win. Culver outlasted Kyle Miller of Timber Creek with a time of 16:31 to Miller's 16:40. It is Culver's first elite performance.
Broward County 3K
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Canceled.
Buchholz Jamboree
Gainesville, Florida
No results yet.
Red Mule 5K
Brooksville, Florida
Tampa Jesuit and Hernando had excellent showings. Connor Revord of Jesuit lead the way with a 15:58 win. The Martucci brothers of Hernando were close behind: Ben at 16:01, Drew at 16:10.
Chain of Lakes 5K
Titusville, Florida
It was a show of force by Melbourne High! The Mel girls placed four under 21 minutes and all 7 under 21:30 for a sweeping victory. If team scores were being kept the girls would have scored 15. Lyndsey Spraggins lead the way with a time of 20:14.
Mel High freshman boy Brian Atkinson was the male champion. He took the victory with a time of 16:40. Atkinson was a middle school phenom last year and is expected to do great things on the high school level this year.
This was the first race run at the new Chain of Lakes Park. The park is still under construction so the final course will not be exactly the same as was run on Saturday. Many are looking to the Chain of Lakes course as a potential home for the state meet, flrunners.com Invitational, and many other races. It was built specifically for running and the county asked for input from the area cross country coaches when building it. (Nice change from the normal situation!)
USF Twilight 5K
Tampa, Florida
Sophomore Derek Wehunt won the boys division in 16:41. Alexandra Crabb of Lakewood won the girls side in 20:13.