Hello FLRunners! My name is Blake Riley and I am a junior at Riverview High School in Sarasota. After a successful 1st place finish at the Holloway Park Invitational for my team and my first top five finish in a cross country meet; we were extremely excited coming into week two at the Newsome Wolves Invitational hosted by Newsome High School.
Going into the race Our team was seeded 3rd behind George Jenkins and Tampa Jesuit. This course was our district course last year so I was pretty familiar with it, but due to an unexpected last minute rain the day before I along with the other runners weren't expecting "the pit" It is what we called this one foot deep giant puddle in the middle of the two-lap course!
Other than the pit and a long and muddy course the race went pretty well. At the starting line I already had the whole race planned out in my head. My goal coming into this race was to get a top-five finish again, knowing there would be some tough competition such as Tampa Jesuit's Tim O'Laughlin who placed 3rd in the 2A Cross Country Finals last year. All I can remember was the gun going off, "bang" and we were off.
Other than the pit and a long and muddy course the race went pretty well. At the starting line I already had the whole race planned out in my head. My goal coming into this race was to get a top-five finish again, knowing there would be some tough competition such as Tampa Jesuit's Tim O'Laughlin who placed 3rd in the 2A Cross Country Finals last year. All I can remember was the gun going off, "bang" and we were off.
I along with other runners weren't shooting for time knowing the diffuculty level of the course was really high. I started off fast to get good positioning before we got to the narrow path that led into a "small forest" area. After exiting the forest area a lead pack had been created out of Tampa Jesuit's Tim O'Laughlin, My teammate Warran Grajalez and I, North Port's Billy Castrovince, Robinson's Fredrick Stanford and Jack Rodgers, and a few others. We hit the mile marker a tad under 5:20 with my teammate Warran Grajalez leading the pack. We felt good and communicated with eachother to pick it up a bit, but then came "The Pit!" I and others attempted to jump it but it was just too long!
Shortly after the pit came the 2-mile marker. In the pack was now Tim O'Laughlin, Fredrick Stanford, Jack Rodgers, my teammate and I. After encountering the pit on the second loop we had about 800m to go and it was a pack of three. The pack now included Tim O'Laughlin, Warran Grajalez and myself. I positioned myself from 3rd to 2nd behind my teammate who was in 1st. Then we came around a curve with 4oom to go! I scooted ahead of my teammate and positioned myself in 1st and kicked it in and never looked back. Ifter crossing the finish line I had realized I had won my first meet and better yet the 2nd place finisher was my teammate and training partner Warran Grajalez. My coach came up to me and told me I had gotten the course record by 19 seconds with a 16:51 finish.
The 1st and 2nd place finish by Riverview helped propel our team to a 1st place team finish! Now next week we are headed to the BRC Invite in Bradenton Florida to take on our local rivals for many years: Sarasota High School, who's #1 and #2 placed 2nd and 3rd at the Fort Myers Optimist Invitational, but My team is excited and ready knowing we are seeded on top as a team.
Thank you FLRunners for allowing me to share my experience with you.
Thank you FLRunners for allowing me to share my experience with you.
