(Photo by Cedric Gillette)
With a PR of 16:33.30, Mount Dora Bible freshman Gabriel Curtis is already turning heads in the running community. Currently, he's the fourth fastest freshman out of all divisions in the state, and out of all grades in his 1A classification, but it wasn't always that way.
Curtis originally came out to track in the off season for school golf. His older brother had decided to run, and after a few practices, Curtis decided to stick with it as well. After all, track would help him stay in shape for golf come fall.
"When I started I could barely finish a mile but with a ton of support from my teammates at circle I kept building stamina," Curtis said. "After a couple of meets I fell in love with the concept that how hard I pushed myself in practices paid off in races.To have the best runners on the team, the kids I looked up to, cheer me on gave me a drive to work even harder."
Mount Dora doesn't have the deepest of cross country teams; in their most recent meet, the Embry Riddle Classic, they fielded a boy's varsity of 4, with the no. 2 runner almost 5 minutes behind Curtis. Despite that, Curtis sees potential in the team, which consists of mostly underclassmen and middle schoolers.
"I believe with the right push they can be great. Last year we had a 6th grader run in the 19s," he said about the group.
While Curtis is speed-wise ahead of the rest of his team, with the next-quickest runner in the mid-18s, he still trains with his teammates, although he does run different workouts. Although he's only a freshman, he's taken a position of leadership on the team as one of their fastest and more experienced runners.
"The program, I believe, has made me a better runner mentally. I am now a team leader and I try to encourage the kids on the team the same way I was," he said. "I've learnt to lead by example by training hard and staying positive."
After his first track season in seventh grade, Curtis decided to run cross country alongside golf. As his commitment increased, his times decreased; his 9:33.33 3000 in 2015, as compared to 10:43.29 in 2014, put him 3rd at the FLYRA Middle School State Championship in track and his 17:19.00 got him 5th in his age group at Foot Locker Regionals.
This year, he's already dipped under 17 three times and placed ninth in the FSU select race. In addition, he recently qualified for the regional golf meet.
And, as the post-season for cross country approaches, Curtis has set his eyes on a top ten finish at states, as compared to last year's 40th place finish in 17:35.10. Once again, he'll head to McAlpine Greenway for Foot Locker South Region, where he hopes to place in the top three of the freshman division and, if possible, run sub-16.
"It's amazing to think just last year I was watching great freshman runners like Trevor Foley, Bryce Bell, and Joey Fitzpatrick run amazing times and now I'm running around what they were," he said. "It's been a great season so far and I am hoping to continue to get better."
