All things considered, every once in a while it’s a good idea to throw a big party. That way, you have an excuse to clean the place up: dust off the furniture, vacuum and mop all the floors, slap a new coat of paint where it’s needed, and mow and weed the front lawn.
That’s probably what the University of Florida had in mind when they did a complete makeover of their Mt. Dew/UF Invitational. Now 25 years old, it continues to be one of the most popular courses in the state, with or without golf clubs. But what made this year special was a second meet, scheduled for November 1st, which is when the Gators will play host to the 2013 Southeast Conference Championships (and hope to be crowned its king and queen). So this meet was a dry run for the more prestigious one a month and a half from now.
Before this meet, they made sure the place was absolutely spic and span. Every inch of the University Golf Course was cut, cleaned and groomed; each of three courses lined and flagged; and every divot filled and raked. Unfortunately, one of those filled holes was clearly not a divot, as evidenced by poor, nearsighted, Arnie the Armadillo, seen scurrying hither and thither, trying to find his home.
There were also some logistical changes, such as a new, more visible finish line, and having three different, split starting lines--one for the College Men’s 8K, one for the College Women’s 6K, and yet a third for the four high school sprint-of-death starts—and eliminated the false starts, which didn’t disappoint anyone that I know of. There were even handouts for the teacher/coaches who were there, seen smiling as they walked off with their own personal set of results. (Now that made a lot of people happy.)
When all was said and done, this was one first-class event. The only possible way it could have been better is if Mt. Dew had handed out some free samples. (My, oh my, was it hot out there!)
College Men’s 8K
Being the host school, and having about a third of its conference rivals at the meet, UF was pumped, and fully expected to win on their home course. What they may not have expected was their order of finish. In the pre-race hype, senior Mark Parrish grabbed the gator’s share of the press—he was picked to win--and junior Jimmy Clark probably only read about the press conference on the website.
It’s ironic how things work out, though, and now Jimmy is the one who has a “golden gator” to sit next to him at the next team party. He also has a growing reputation as the local guy who runs faster than fingers on a keyboard. I asked him what strategy he brought with him into the race.
“I just ran,” he told me after his 23:53.78 win, a 50 second PR.
Backing up a little, I then inquired, “At what point did your college running first begin to take off?”
“Probably at Stanford (Invitational March 29-30, 2013), during last track season. I ran the 10,000 in the fast heat, and just hung in there with Josh Izewski. I ended up pulling away from him and finished in 29:08. It was my first 10K on the track.”
“Did that change anything in the way you trained, or raced?” I asked.
“I think it was all of the track season that got me excited for summer. I began to analyze my diet and my running more. (Over the summer) I put in a ton of miles—I came in with 1000+ miles—and worked out in the weight room.
“From there”—the start of fall practice—“Coach Spangler did a terrific job with the entire team, and got me to where I am now. And then there are the guys who support me: Mark Parrish, J.L. Hines, and Eddie Garcia.”
Speaking of “the entire team,” Florida placed 1-2 (Parrish was second in 23:59), then 4-8-18-21-22 to win with 30 points. Two other SEC members, Auburn (3-7-11-13-16-33; 50) and Tennessee (5-6-10-15-19-23-29; 55), placed second and third, respectively. 11 Division I (87 runners) and 15 “other college teams” (142 runners) competed.
College Women
It may, or may not, come as a surprise that Florida Gulf Coast has pulled yet another “upset,” this time in running. If you follow the South Florida school’s sports history, you come to expect a surprise every now and then. Long before their Men’s “Dunk City” basketball team caught the attention of the press—and subsequently the basketball world—there was a women’s basketball team that has won 84% of their games over the last 11 years, which included 30-1 and 34-1seasons; a National Champion hockey club (yes, a team that plays a slap shot away from the Everglades won 34 games played on ice); and last year the FGCU women’s soccer team won a third straight conference championship.
So what is the latest feat for the Cinderellas…uh, Eagles? Well, just about everyone following this meet envisioned a Florida shirt crossing the line first, including most—if not all—of those cross country “experts” who spend their evenings writing long, elaborate arguments why this runner or that, based upon other races, will prevail. In this one, they were off by six seconds.
Let’s ask Kelly Perzanowski, a senior at the storied south Florida school how it happened that an eagle-gator confrontation resulted in Floridaticide.
Ralph: “What is your PR for 6K?”
Kelly: “Whatever it was today.”
Ralph: “20:45.06? And before today?”
Kelly: “22:02, at the 2012 South Regional.” (101st place)
Ralph: “What was the race plan today?”
Kelly: “I was planning on going out fast, going with the lead pack.”
Ralph: “When did you know you had the race?”
Kelly: “The very end; probably with 300 meters to go. I wasn’t really thinking about it. I felt good, and just went for it.”
Ralph: “How does your team look?”
Kelly: “Our team has been working really hard. (This year) it’s like a whole different mindset. We’re really proud of our progress.”
Ralph: “How does it look for the end of the season?”
Kelly: “I think that’s something hard to tell. It’s still early. We’re currently fifth in the A-Sun, but we’re going to do the best we can, not look at other people, but concentrate on ourselves.”
Ralph: “How does that translate in meets?”
Kelly: “Our top five switch positions all the time. We like that, the way they push themselves in every practice. Our girls are working very hard.”
Pushing hard was the end game in the DI team race. The first three teams, as would be expected, all came from the SEC: Tennessee, Auburn, and Florida. What probably wasn’t expected was how close the team competition would be. After all three teams’ runners had finished, Tennessee (5-10-15-16-25) was tied with Auburn (4-12-14-20-21) at 71 apiece. To break that tie, the scoring was decided by their sixth runner. Tennessee’s sixth finished in 34th place, Auburn’s was 35th; Tennessee wins. Florida (2-6-13-17-38) finished five points back with 76. There were 24 teams (13 DI and 11 “others”) and 270 (Combined) runners competing in this race.
Varsity Boys
Oddly, all four high school races were won by a varsity athlete, but more on that later. In this race, it was closer than appearances indicated, as the top five runners all cracked 16 minutes: Tyler Bennett in 15:24.29, Manuel Velasquez in 15:42.85, Connor Ferrentino in 15:46.57, Tyler Stahl in 15:55.60, and Andrew Cacciatore in 15:57.03.
Bennett, the eventual winner, took a relaxed approach to the race.
“I just came out here to see what I can do, have fun with it, and go for the top spot,” he said afterwards. “I definitely wanted to go for the win, but with the hills, I didn’t think I could get a PR (he missed by two seconds). I know the times were 20 seconds slower than last year.”
Actually, it was the other way around. Last year’s winner, Avery Lopez, finished first in 15:47.10, and the only other sub-16 was Danny Fernandez (15:59.74). This year, entire teams set PRs.
In any year, however, 15:25 is a fast time, and by the time the VB race went off (9:05), the sun was up above the trees, and the temperature followed.
“It was still cool out,” Tyler tried to convince me, “so the hills (were a challenge) more than the heat.”
With about ten guys right on his heels, Tyler Bennett must have felt some heat from another direction.
“Maybe at the beginning,” he offered. “So I started pushing the pace, but I had a pretty good lead most of the way. Maybe in the last 400 meters is where I really knew I had it.”
With 61 teams—417 runners—the start closely resembled that of the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889. This time around, no one lost a wagon wheel, and the St. Thomas Aquinas Sooners…I mean Pirates…were the first of the teams to stake their claim to the blue chip mat. They had 131 points (2-16-20-25-68-79-135). Next came Bennett’s Fort Myers (1-5-22-84-105-126-132; 217), and in third was nearby Estero (18-39-42-47-74-76-83; 220). Funny how 1-2-3 was, once again, captured by teams from the extreme southern part of the state. (In 2012 it was Belen Jesuit, Miami Columbus, and St. Thomas.) The Region of Fire?
Varsity Girls
Like the BV race, the Varsity Girls took off in a blaze of glory, resulting in an epidemic of 18-somethings--eight to be exact--plus a 19-flat. (In 2012 there was one; Alexa Cruz in 18:52.21.) It must have been this year’s lack of divots.
Julie Wollrath’s 18:17.85 was tops, and so she prevailed.
“I was just going out to follow the leaders; go out easy and pick it up at the end,” Julie explained. “The lead pack went out and I was fifth, behind Emily Edwards and two girls from Estero. I just slowly caught up to them and at mile two I passed Emily (who finished fourth in 18:38.87). It was hard to gain on her. I just kind of…” Julie said, making a sideways sweeping motion with her left hand.
“After that, I just tried to maintain my lead. I did speed up a little, or Emily slowed, I have no idea…maybe a little of both. I’m (just) happy that I was able to maintain it until the end.”
Julie, who has a lifetime best 17:31.79 cross country 5K (Holy Trinity Fall Classic on October 15, 2011), nonetheless finished with her best race since Footlocker South (17:59 on November 24, 2012), but what she couldn’t do was stop the Estero juggernaut. Finishing 2-6-9-12-34-84-134, they scored a skimpy 63 points against a huge 56 team field. Second was Oak Hall (11-14-19-22-35-41-102; 101), and in third was Winter Park (13-18-20-31-46-88-167; 128). 392 runners finished.
JV Boys
What can go wrong, will go wrong. No truer words were ever spoken, and no place is something more likely to go wrong than on I-75. Unfortunately, that also happens to be the road that most of the participating teams used as a main artery to this meet. Read on.
The first time that the “JV” Boys swept past the finish line—at about the one mile mark—its leaders seemed suspiciously un-JV like (the first two went through in 5:07.33 and 5:08.69, respectively). But speed happens early to those with talent, and raised eyebrows do not suspicions prove.
Two miles later, this same dynamic duo were racing both each other, and the minute panel on the clock. Luke Peterson beat both (17:00 and his Shorecrest Prep teammate, Ross Porter).
Luke: “We didn’t plan on running the JV race, but our bus got a flat, and then there was an overturned truck on I-75.”
Ross: “We got here within three minutes of the varsity race. We weren’t going to run it right off the bus, so we took an hour to warm up. One of our team members, Justin Scoby, came on his own, and he ran in the varsity race.”
Despite the fact that he ran in the middle of 416 other runners, Scoby must have felt somewhat isolated. Still, he managed to put on his race face and ran his fastest time of the season--18:25.06—finishing in 166th place overall.
Luke: “It was kind of disappointing not to run in the varsity race, but it was a first time to break 17.”
Luke’s previous best was 17:01 on October 25, 2012 (The Bay Conference Championship).
Ross: “I’ve done it before. My PR is 16:24.21,”—third at the 1A Region 3 meet last November 10th—“but last year at this race I did a 17:14. So I’m pretty happy.”
Ralph: “Now that Luke won, who is the fastest?”
Luke: (points at Ross)
Ross: (points at Luke)
Luke: “We do hill sprints, and they’re easy for him; he just takes off.”
Ross: “He beat me by ten seconds at the last race, the Indian Rocks Invitational (September 5th; 17:34 to 17:44).”
Luke: “Today it was definitely the heat, plus the hills; double death.”
And their next duel?
Ross: “I’m not going to be at the next race, but at FLR XIV I hope to run, maybe, 16:30.”
Luke: “We’re both going to push each other. Hopefully we can both get under 16 by States. That’s what we’re ultimately pushing for.”
Of course, Shorecrest didn’t figure in the JV Boys scoring, but St. Thomas Aquinas (3-6-17-18-22-23-31; 66) and Fort Myers (4-5-16-19-25-37-43; 69) did. That was the same order of finish as the Varsity Boys race, but at half the number of points. Winter Park (7-8-24-29-38-42-45; 106) moved up a place, though, just edging out Miami Columbus (12-13-14-20-47-63-71; 106) because of a sixth place advantage. 30 teams and 343 runners finished.
JV Girls
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As the FHP often says, “It’s déjà vu, all over the median.”
Like Shorecrest, et al. (and probably some other teams), Okeechobee began stretching on the bus, while parked on I-75.
“Both the boys and girls varsity teams missed their race,” explained Tabatha Henry. “We got behind a big truck accident, so only the JV girls ran. The boys and girls varsity are out doing a time trial.”
Fortunately for Tabatha, the JV Girls race started last, at 10:35. But by then, it was heating up pretty fast. Tabatha was relieved just being able to compete.
“I was just thinking about getting to the line on time and finishing,” she told me. “The entire time I was thinking, ‘You know how to run these hills. Push up them and use your momentum to go down.’ This entire summer, I’ve been working on hills. I went to a cross country camp in Georgia, and there I worked on hills.
“My dad wanted me to try a new pacing technique. I ran without my watch. He told me ‘Don’t use your watch for the first two miles, and then try to get your goal mile.’ I was trying to keep a 6:30 pace, but in the last mile I lost it. I ran 6:07, 12:38, and 20:15.
“I’m pretty excited about today. Last week it was an easier course”—20:27.11, placing fourth in the Varsity Girls race at the Martin County Under the Lights Invitational—“but today I got a much better time. I think I got, like, 20:15 (20:16.23). I was surprised, because there are so many hills here. It’s a pretty hilly race; a tough course.
“My biggest, all-time goal is to break 20. If I do, maybe the college coaches will look at me. Then to break the school record, which is 19:17. That was set about ten years ago by Kimi Ruck.”
In the JV Girls team race, a tightly packed Holy Trinity squad (4-5-7-8-13-14-14) knocked off a tough Fort Myers team (2-10-11-12-17-25-59), 37 to 52. Carrolton (9-16-21-40-55-108), with 141, survived a three team duel with St. Thomas Aquinas (145) and Oak Hall (146) to finish third. 280 runners and 26 teams survived the hottest race of the day.
Footnotes: Although this continues as one of Florida’s most popular running events, the 25th was truly silver. Kudos to Coach Spangler, the UF staff, Kelly Reynolds (sports information), and the many, many Gator guys and gals who kept things on schedule. And of course, Scott Peters of Half Mile Timing.
