Although Orlando’s Aloma Ave. (426) can be a nightmare to drive on, it does lead to an occasional surprise—if you know what to look for. Trinity Prep Drive is one of them.
Not too long ago, while driving east-ish in Metro Orlando--well, sitting in traffic might be more accurate--I noticed a tidy patch of green off to the right. The sign that occupied a corner of this oasis, set in amidst endless urban sprawl, might mean little to the traffic weary, but as a cross country follower, it certainly rang a bell for me. “So that’s where Trinity Prep is,” ran through my mind.
Whether subliminally inspired, or in desperate need of hearing that polite, but firm English voice on my Garmin GPS, one otherwise stress-free Thursday—although, as a retiree, every Thursday is potentially stress free--I set out for Orlando during rush hour. After an obligatory, and interminable, crawl along a 6.5 mile corridor of fast-food stores, I found the source of my curiosity: Trinity Preparatory School; a taste of heaven for the faithful…speaking, of course, as someone who has long ago put academic pressures in mothballs.
I know I’m probably going to offend someone by saying so, but there are big differences in how schools are treated by their occupants. This one is skewed way up at the high end of the pride scale. It could be so because the school is tuition-based, but I suspect it goes deeper than pockets.
Take away the signs and a few “schoolish” buildings, and you could easily imagine yourself pulling a set of golf clubs along their well-maintained grounds, or fishing beside the chain of waterways that seem intertwined with academia. (Am I too old to register myself?)
On this campus, a lot of someones really care about how things look. And that is no doubt key to one of Florida’s most successful distance running programs. If you could run in a park every day, instead of stopping at every corner waiting for traffic to pass, fun and run would be synonymous.
When created, I’m sure that the flrunners.com “XC Course Rating” had a point—even though I might have missed it—but on my “scale of runability,” I would rate this one as visually inspiring, both for the runner and the spectator. Pictures may stretch the truth, but they don’t lie.
Girls’ Race
Since I last interviewed her at FLR XIV (September 28th), Lake Highland Prep’s Rachel Stockton must have grown a few inches…which lengthened her legs considerably. I wonder; has she tried hurdling yet?
During the time this was happening, she has won two more races. One, in a near-PR, was the West Orange Invitational on October 19th (a season’s best 19:40.80), five days earlier in the week. These are reasons why she—and I—were equally surprised that it was instead a teammate who quickly took the lead in this District Championship.
“She’s never done that,” Rachel said. “She usually goes out fast, but she’s never passed me. It made me nervous.”
Although only a seventh grader, a confident Caroline Cooper took a commanding lead in the early stages of the race.
“My hip was hurting, and it affected how I ran,” Caroline explained. “I couldn’t run for awhile. (But) it was Districts. It’s your last shot. You’ve had it all this time, and now it is Districts and you can prove it.”
“It is a slow course, and I was planning on running a 6:30,” Rachel continued. “But Caroline pushed me; made me go faster. I ran a 6:05.
“I was second in Districts last year”—20:42.50, behind Adair Lyden’s 19:12 on November 2nd—“so when the season started, I made it my goal to win it.
“(For) the first mile, I was (just) cruising, and she took the lead. I didn’t take the lead until the third lap. I wanted to be in the 21s, but ended up in the 20s.”
Just before they hit the track for the (approximately) last 400, Stockton surged past Cooper, and finished in 20:19. Cooper was ten seconds behind her, in 20:29.84.
“I’m just happy that we won,” Caroline said. “I’m also happy for Trinity….(and) that we all did so well.”
The first Trinity Prep finisher admitted to Caroline’s happy club was eighth grader Juliet Rhodes.
“I was planning on getting a high place,” she said after the race. “I wasn’t worried about time. I was in fifth for awhile, but I was going for first. She was too far ahead. (So) I tried to catch up to fourth, but that didn’t work out either.”
The order of finish, after Rachel and Caroline, was Lake Highland’s Madison Larabee (20:32.42), Montverde Academy’s Ciara Hopkins (20:34.73), and Trinity’s Rhodes (21:05.77).
Team Race – Lake Highland, with the first three places, had only to wait for their numbers four and five. Host school Trinity Prep prevented its being a foregone conclusion. The final results were LHP 33 (1-2-3-13-14-16-19), TP 41 (5-7-8-10-11-15-20), Bishop Moore 74 (6-12-17-1-21-23-25), and Monteverde Academy 85 (4-9-22-24-26). 27 runners competed for these four teams.
Boys’ Race
Success has its advantages. Take, for example, the Trinity Prep Boys team. Running this championship on their own campus--in a 5 team district—they had an opportunity to “shed their inhibitions” and have a little fun. First in line was Chas Cook, both literally and figuratively.
As 5:00 rolled around, TP’s football team graciously surrendered their field for the start of the race. Showing even more class, instead of heading into the locker room for a well-needed shower, most of them hung around to support their cross country counterparts, as did the school’s cheerleaders (hence the cheerleading photos in the IslandwideRunner folder).
As Chas came around the lake, well ahead of everyone else in the race, the footballers shouted their approval. Chas pumped his right arm. They cheered louder. Then he blew them a kiss. The good ‘ol boys raised a ruckus. He got closer; they got noisier.
It was about then that, from somewhere in the deep recesses of my memory, I recalled a similar scene many, many years ago. In that race, one of the more, uh, dedicated defensive football players at that school threw himself, literally, into the celebration, and tackled the runner. It seemed funny at the time, but maybe that was because I wasn’t the tacklee.
This was, however, Trinity Prep, and the Lord was watching over them. So no such shenanigans occurred. Chas, however, did not escape his “fall from grace.” The football players might have known this was coming. In the NCAA, for example, Football Rule 9-2, Article 1(a)(1)(d) prohibits "Any delayed, excessive, prolonged or choreographed act by which a player (or players) attempts to focus attention upon himself (or themselves)." (Stetson’s newly revived football team recently lost for their first time in 57 years—game two of the modern era--because of this rule.)
Fortunately for Master Cook, there were no referees in attendance. However, as we all know, the Lord works in mysterious ways, and in this case enabled his messengers—vis-à-vis the Millson brothers--to deliver His message.
Jesse (a sophomore): “Chas is crazy, so you never know what he is going to do. I was just hanging, with the team, as a pack.”
That formula might be the best thing that could ever happen to a team. “Pack running” breeds familiarity, both with each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Sam (a senior): “I know my brother. I can read him very well during the race.”
Jesse: “Over by the softball fields, with about a half mile to go, I caught up to him (Chas). He stuck with me a little bit, but it slowly opened up.”
In the closing yards, Sam, too, overtook Cook.
Sam: “This season, just about everyone has won once. Only Chas has won twice. Our main goal is a team title. It doesn’t matter who steps up, as long as the team does well.”
The final results show Jesse Millson first in 16:28.86; Sam Millson second in 16:33.01; and Chas Cook third in 16:33.47.
Sam: “We obviously want to win States this year, and then we’re going to Nike. The Regional course is in Cary, North Carolina”—the November 30th Nike Cross National qualifier—“three weeks after States. If we’re healthy, we’d like to place in the top 10 as a team.”
Team Race – One step at a time; first came the district title. With 17 points (1-2-3-5-6-7-8), Trinity Prep jusssst missed a perfect score. (LHP’s Tyler Skidelsky, fourth in 16:35.32, played the spoiler.) Next came Lake Highland with 63 (4-11-13-17-18-19-22), and in third was Bishop Moore with 70 (9-10-15-16-20-21-23). Five teams and 38 runners counted.
Footnotes – Fantastic help meant a fun meet for me. My thanks to Coach Vinal, who reminds us of Trinity Prep’s goal: "Our mission is to develop individuals who will excel in college and in life, contribute to their communities, lead in a changing society, and grow spiritually." In correlating their athleticism to their fastidious housekeeping, we quote Phineas ben Yair in his Talmud: “The doctrines of religion are resolved into carefulness; carefulness into vigorousness; vigorousness into abstemiousness into cleanliness; cleanliness into godliness.”
More Coverage