You may as well call it the Virginia connection. I know what you’re thinking: “Virginia is a long way from Daytona Beach!” Keep in mind, however, that the A in ERAU stands for aeronautical. These guys not only know how to fly, but they have their own fleet of planes, jets, and even rockets. (On the way back to my car I saw about two dozen students, each carrying their own as they filed past me!) Maybe that explains the ease with which they won their own meet….but I digress.
You have to hand it to Head Coach Mike Rosolino. His ambitious schedule of eight races in a little over four hours went off without a hitch, due in no small part to a virtual army (air force?) of competent assistance from coaches, athletes and students. The college men’s race kicked off the parade at 7:15 AM, just three minutes after sunrise.
The Embry men took places 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 20, 29, 31, 32 , 50, 69, 74, and 86. Lucky for the rest of the field, only the first 5 counted. When you take out 7th place finisher Sam Vazquez, who was unattached, that adds up to only 21 points. Their closest competition, Florida Tech, had 100. ERAU’s average time, 27:44.07, was over two minutes faster than FIT’s.
Now we get to the part about Virginian rockets. Leading the ERAU Eagles were Nick Gehlsen (27:21.93) and Henry Melius (27:22.04).That .11 second difference is easy to explain; both are graduates of Brentsville H.S., near Manassas, Virginia, and have a long history of running together. Gehlsen, however, is a sophomore, and has had an extra year to practice on the home course. And yet, they remain close.
“We took it out together,” explains Henry.
“We’re from Virginia. We know what real hills are,” added Nick. “Guys (here) sprinted up the hills and just died. Our plan was to avoid doing anything stupid. We took it easy at first, and after two miles, started moving up. The other guy (Warner Southern’s Wilbourn Kosgei, who finished fifth in 27:51.45) fell off in the last mile.”
“We ran the course all week. We got a little bored of it, but it was definitely an advantage.”
About thirty miles northwest of tiny Nokesville (where Henry hails from) is the booming metropolis of Stafford, Virginia, population 1600. It is also the home of Mountain View High School and state cross country powerhouse Wildcats. It is also the place of ERAU coach Mike Rosolino’s dreams.
In last year’s race, Mountain View scored 36 points to easily defeat powerful Boone (62). In their wake they left everyone asking “Who are those guys?” By now, we know. This year their boys’ varsity placed 1,2,3,5,6,7, and 9, and better than halved their 2006 points output with 17. They also walked away with the boys JV title (a perfect 15) and took second in the girls varsity which, no doubt, had more to do with Spruce Creek’s dynamic duo of Mandy Perkins and Brooke Nebel than their outstanding team performance: without Creek’s 1-2 finish, Mountain View would have easily won that race too.
Leading the Wildcats was junior Tom Porter, the 10th place finisher in the 2006 Footlocker South regionals in 15:13. Although he ran almost 30 seconds slower at ERAU than in 2006, he was a repeat winner.
“I sat back with the (eventual) leaders for the first mile and made my move in the second loop.” When he took off, he did so decisively, and no one was able to catch him before he finished in 17:16.33.
“This is probably the highlight of the year. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a good test, to come out and race against people we don’t usually see.”
This is becoming an annual event for his Mountain View team , explained junior Ryan Yingling, who finished ninth in 18:10.95.“Our coach (Dave Davis) brings us down because it’s a really good meet and for us to have fun. We flew to Orlando on Thursday. We went to Universal on Friday. We ran this meet today and fly back early Sunday.”
Last year’s winner in a different race configuration--there was an open and an invitational, instead of an large school/small school format--was second place finisher John Culver of Merrritt Island. He beat his ‘06 time by 17 seconds (17:29.33), but pre-arranged race tactics prevented him from challenging Porter.
“My mission was to pace Jonathan Brown (12th in 18:34.23) for the first mile. I stayed with him until the bottom of the hill (second loop). It was his first race. We were supposed to go through the mile in 5:35. We did it in 5:37. I normally go through in 5.”
“I saw them (Mountain View) in a tight little group. I thought ‘this will be good.’ I knew that they would be competitive, definitely, for the team title. After John dropped off and I was cleared to run my own race, I went from about 20th to third, then second.”
“I was happy because the goal was to help Jon and yet I was able to finish 2nd. If I had been able to race with him (Porter) the whole way, the race would have been different.”
As mentioned, the battle of the girls large schools was decided by Mandy Perkins and Brooke Nebel. First up the first hill, they were chased, but never seriously challenged. Brooke Baumann of Deland, in her best race of the season, never gave up and finished a strong third in 21:20.64. This time, along with the others, is indicative of one of the toughest courses in the state, made tougher by The Waterpit, as named by Nebel.
“It was tough. Your shoes get sucked in like bricks. I was trying to stay as close to Mandy as I could. She’s my rabbit. She’s such a good runner.”
That’s one opinion. Perkins liked the mud.
“I preferred this course to last year’s. They did a great job on it. I especially liked the puddles. It felt good on the legs and made it a real cross country course.”
Mandy, who from every angle is a picture of running personified, takes an analytical approach to her racing.
“ In all of my races I plan to get a head start. Once I’ve got that pace, it’s easy to keep it. In the first mile, I just stay comfortable. In the second mile, I maintain that comfortable pace and try to keep the other girls at least a few meters behind. In the third mile, I aim for a negative split. I remember to pump my arms and lift my knees. Then, in the last 800 I kick it in.”
Sounds easy, doesn’t it?
Ironically, the top times in the girls large school race are virtually interchangeable with those of the college/open women’s 5K. It was won by science education major Carolyn Horst, formerly Salori, of Florida Tech, in 20:32.37. (She married assistant FIT coach Joshua Horst on July 7th of this year.) The senior tried to be patient at the start.
“A lot of people were timid at the hill, so it gave me an advantage.”
All except the early leader, Christine Marcano. She was an exception to Carolyn’s observation, being the first up and over the hill.
“She had a pretty good lead for about half a mile. I caught up to her on the sand hill and worked off her.”
“I wanted to stay at my race pace and then kick it in at the end,” countered Christine, “but fell to fourth. Eventually I was able to work myself back to third (20:54.13).”
“I’ve never seen her before. She’s very small. I didn’t think she could even be in college,” remarked Carolyn (referring to Christine).
She isn’t. She’s a 13 year old 7th grader attending Indian Trails Middle School. When she makes it up to high school she’ll join her older sister, Akeda at Matanzas.
For two years, however, she’ll have to run as an open competitor. “That’s the only race that was open.”
The boys small school race was a two man battle between Jon Thiele of Menendez and Daniel Ludwig of Geneva. Ludwig tried to control the race.
“My original plan was to take it slow for the first half and then take it out. But the two kids in the lead looked weak. They weren’t that fast, so I decided to take it out. There was this kid behind me (Thiele) who I didn’t think would catch me, but he did the second time up the hill. After he passed me, I caught him later on. He got me again on the sand trails. Unfortunately, I wasn’t up to full strength and that was the final move he had to make. It may not have been a fast race, but it was a tactical one.”
Thiele ran 17:28.64 and Ludwig 17:43.39, the latter improving considerably over his time last year (18:32.46).
Finishers: Mens College/Open 8K-111; Womens College/Open 5K-94; Boys Large School-60; Girls Large School-59; Boys Small School-64; Girls Small School-74; Boys JV-96; Girls JV-?