On-Site Coverage:
About the Meet:
The Greater Miami Athletic Conference (GMAC) kicked off on Friday afternoon with your typical hot and humid Miami weather at Larry & Penny Thompson Park, and by the end of the day there were a couple of interesting surprises that had been seen by the time all of the awards had been given out. Last year, the GMAC Cross Country Championship had been canceled three days prior to the meet due to the threat of Hurricane Sandy. Unfortunately the event was never rescheduled even though the hurricane never hit, and perfect weather surrounded Miami during the would-be competition date. So this year many schools were eager to get on the line to perform their best and try to bring home the conference championship. This year's meet started with two low-key JV races, won by Coral Reef and Columbus respectfully, although only two full girl's teams and only eight full boy's teams ran the competition. Considering that the GMAC has 36 girls programs and 37 boys programs, seeing such a low turn-out was a shame. Good thing the varsity races contained much excitement!
Girls Varsity Race:
The girls varsity race finished a little bit differently than it has in the past few years. The last six years the top runners in the conference, particularly referring to the Championship meet, have all heralded from John A. Ferguson HS: Natalie Concepcion won the meet in 2008, 2009, and 2010; Lauren Gonzalez in 2011; and Katrina Santiago was the Conference leader for 2012 and 2013, until yesterday that is. This year, a newcomer to the Miami scene, Daesha Rogers, made her strong cross country presence known for the first time all season long as compared to her only two other invitational performances this year. Rogers had a very impressive race running in her typical fashion, starting out like a rocket and then just trying to push ahead of her competitors all the way through the line. Santiago, who was handed only her second loss to a GMAC athlete in the last two seasons (the first coming from her teammate Stephanie de la Guarda at the 2012 4A Region 4 Championship), expressed the difficulty in racing Rogers: "Once I caught up to her all she did was keep surging on me. I would surge up to her and she would surge back away. Every five seconds was just one surge after another and I couldn't catch her."
Besides breaking the Ferguson HS individual champion streak, there are a few other reasons pertaining to how impressive this victory was for Daesha. First would include that Daesha's time of 19:03 at Larry & Penny Thompson Park, makes her the sixth fastest female to run on this difficult Miami course. Her time coincidentally surpasses Santiago's mark of 19:05 from two weeks ago at the Junior Orange Bowl Invitational where, awkwardly enough, Daesha ran also ran, but easily coasted a 20:17 victory in a different varsity division. Additional note: The only other two straight head-to-head match-ups by these two top competitors in recent history would include last year's Junior Orange Bowl Invitational where Santiago had opened up a sizeable lead on Rogers over the first two and a half miles, but with a half mile to go Santiago was outkicked by 3 seconds in the final straightaway by Rogers. The other would be this year's Dade County Youth Fair Championship where Katrina ran away with the victory by a margin of 26 seconds. The second impressive aspect of the race is that for all girls in hunt for the 2A State Individual title must now be on the lookout for Daesha. Realize that Katrina finished 9th last week at the FSU Pre-State Invitational with a time of 18:21 (thus moving her to the top of the Class 4A Girls Individual State Rankings), but if you take the 9 second margin that Daesha beat Katrina by at the GMAC and apply that to FSU, Daesha would have been the fifth fastest finisher at FSU, which would then make her the top girl in Class 2A right now. Looks like she's still a force to be reckoned with!
Now as for the rest of the girls championship race behind your leaders, it was basically another major team victory for John A. Ferguson HS as the girls finished in 2-3-4-6-9 places to secure their fifth GMAC Championship in the last seven GMAC races: 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, and now 2013. Recall that 2012 was canceled due to Hurricane Sandy, Ferguson being considered the honorary girl's champions. Although the Ferguson girls have shown major dominance in the conference in recent years, John A. Ferguson only being in it's 11th year as a school, the four year consecutive championship streak they hold isn't the longest streak in conference history. The longest streak, which could possibly be tied next season, is currently held by the Miami Sunset girls team which had an impressive five year winning streak from 1997-2001. The Miami Sunset girls also hold the GMAC cross country record for total championships with nine, spanning between 1988 and 2009. But although the Sunset girls weren't able to bring home the championship this year, their boys team had their eyes set on gold...
Girls Varsity Individual Award Winners:
Varsity Individual Gold Medalist: Daesha Rogers, Miami Jackson HS (19:03.28)
Varsity Individual Silver Medalist: Katrina Santiago, John A. Ferguson HS (19:12.45)
Varsity Individual Bronze Medalist: Emily Hernandez, John A. Ferguson HS (19:55.62)
From left to right: 3rd place Emily Hernandez, Runner-up Katrina Santiago, and Champion Daesha Rogers.
Girls Varsity Team Award Winners:
Varsity Team Gold Medalists: John A. Ferguson HS - 17 points
Varsity Team Silver Medalists: Miami Central HS - 71 points
Varsity Team Bronze Medalists: Coral Reef HS - 73 points
Coach Ryan Raposo and his GMAC Championship girls team that extended their conference winning streak to four consecutive years.
Boys Varsity Race:
Although I wish I could say I had as many major statistics for the boys varsity race, unfortunately some of the big match-ups that were expected didn't end up happening. The big showdowns that many people were looking for were going to be the Nick Diaz vs. Kurt Convey individual match-up, them being currently ranked 1st and 3rd in Class 4A after their impressive 5th and 7th place finishes at last week's FSU Pre-State Invitational, and of course the team match-up between both of their schools. Miami Sunset and Coral Reef, currently ranked third and second respectively in State Class 4A, have flip-flopped in team places this season at many major invitationals. Sunset took Spanish River by 8, Coral Reef got the edge at Flrunners by 7, and then Sunset came back at FSU over Reef, but only by 6 that time. To our spectator misfortune, another week will have to pass before we see another match-up between these two squads. Rather than race hard for the next four weeks in a row, Coral Reef decided to take the week off from racing as they, and all of the top teams in South Florida, prepared for a very competitive upcoming State Series schedule. Coral Reef and Sunset will go head-to-head next week at their 4A District 16 Championship, followed up by a Region meet which then brings in St. Thomas Aquinas, the current #1 boys team in Class 4A. From there the season will conclude with the State Finals. So with these three top ranked programs, you're basically looking at a State Meet preview at the 4A Region 4 Championship, which is only eight days prior to the big show in Tallahassee. It should be very exciting!
But back to the GMAC, while the meet might not have had all of the hype that was initially expected on the boys side, the race still became a fairly competitive one for most of the teams and individuals involved. Nick Diaz took off in the first mile and was followed by a nice pack including three of his teammates: Greenup, Castro, Gunter; plus Saiki of Ferguson; Pozo of Coral Park; and a nick sized pack of Columbus runners. But the next half mile is where the meet really started taking off as the four Sunset boys came through the halfway mark in first through fourth places, towing Saiki and Pozo right behind them, with a few second gap before the top Columbus athletes came through. The only real question at that point was where the Sunset fifth runner was; although if your first four teammates score 10 points, you basically have the meet locked up. Now coming down the final stretch it became apparent that the Sunset four-pack was broken into by both Saiki and Pozo, along with the top Columbus finisher Freire, but with four in the top seven, Sunset still looked like the easy winners. I must mention that Christopher Columbus HS did look impressive with a 15-second 1-5 spread, and a 30-second 1-7 spread, but in the end Sunset did secure the team victory once their fifth man, typically their #7, came in 27th overall, even though it was an over 60 second gap behind their fourth and fifth finishers. The icing on the cake for the Sunset team, besides just winning the championship, was that it was their school's first boy's championship in the over 35 year history of the conference. Congrats, Knights!
Boys Varsity Individual Award Winners:
Varsity Individual Gold Medalist: Nick Diaz, Miami Sunset HS (16:31.53)
Varsity Individual Silver Medalist: Ronny Greenup, Miami Sunset HS (16:45.60)
Varsity Individual Bronze Medalist: Santiago Saiki, John A. Ferguson HS (17:04.07)
From left to right: 3rd place Santiago Saiki, Runner-up Ronny Greenup, and Champion Nick Diaz.
Boys Varsity Team Award Winners:
Varsity Team Gold Medalists: Miami Sunset HS - 41 points
Varsity Team Silver Medalists: Christopher Columbus HS - 50 points
Varsity Team Bronze Medalists: John A. Ferguson HS - 82 points
Coach Alex Shaw and his school's first ever GMAC Cross Country Champions boys from Miami Sunset HS.
(Side note: I tried to get Kenny to smile, but it didn't work! Maybe next time!)