Gibbons Sets Course Record, Pine Crest & Trinity Prep Prove They Are State's Best

FSU Invitational (Pre-State)
Todd Grasley


Winter Park sophomore Rafaella Gibbons and Merritt Island's Steven Cross were victorious at the 2015 FSU Invitational/Pre-State while the Pine Crest girls and Trinity Prep boys proved they are the best teams in the state. Check out all the results, photo & video coverage, as well as a recap of all the action!

Boys Elite Race


(Photo by Cedric Gillette)

The gun went off at 7:40 a.m. for the start of the boys elite race as they attacked Florida's "cross country playground." Sarasota's Adam Bradtmueller shot to the front of the pack right off the start and was joined by Merritt Island's Steven Cross, Seffner Christian's Noah Perkins, Joshua Collins of Belen Jesuit, and defending 4A state champion Joshua Jacques of Lyman as the guys came through the one mile mark around 4:45. Ironically, it was a similar pace to the last two weekend's at the UF Mt. Dew Invitational and flrunners.com Invitational 16.

After cresting the wall and the back half of the course, the runners made their way down the hill over the Seminole head logo and in front of the fans lining the fence. Cross, Perkins, Jacques were in the lead with Bradtmueller, Jacques' teammate Jordan Armstrong, Trinity Prep's Chas Cook and Sam Costa of Mill Creek all in the top five with less than half the race to go.

Perkins who upset Cross last week at FLR16 tried to make a move with 800 to go, and Jacques and Bradtmueller tried to hang in as well, but the 3A runner-up in Cross was having none of it. He called this race revenge and wanted to finally get a win on this course after being so close in prior races. His winning time of 15:21.10 was nearly identical to his time last week, but he said he wasn't concerned with that just excited to finish on top. Bradtmueller, admitted it was one of the best races of his career crossing in a runner-up personal best time of 15:23.70 and holding off a late charge from Jacques (15:24.10) and Perkins (15:25.90). Seniors Sam Costa of Mill Creek and Frank Pittman of Marist were the top two finishers from Georgia finishing in 5th (15:30.00) and 6th (15:36.00) respectively. Cross said after last week with the loss he really knew he needed a win at Pre-State.

"I knew it was going to come down to the end and when I got down the hill I just put on the after burners. Going down that hill knowing i was in the lead, I wanted to hold it and keep pushing it, and come away with the win. This is my first win on this course and it was a good feeling."

Trinity Prep continued their meet win streak with an 88 point win, over 100 points better than runner-up Brookwood (194). Marist (GA), Satellite, and Mill Creek (GA) rounded out the top five teams. The Saints were lead by senior Chas Cook's 9th place showing (15:44.80), a 1-5 split of TWENTY-THREE seconds and a 16:00 team average. Coach Vinal's squad could be the best that he's ever had including the state championship team from 2010. Look for them to cruise to their third straight 2A title on this same course the first week of November! Senior leader Chas Cook said it was a collective effort and a huge win for the team.

"Obviously it was a pretty big race a lot of great competition with teams coming down from Great American. It was a great opportunity for us to do our best and we really prevailed. We pulled through and our training really showed."

Girls Elite Race


(Photo by Cedric Gillette)

Much like the boys elite field, the girls elite field was LOADED. Winter Park sophomore Rafaella Gibbons came into the race with a win at last year's Pre-State event as well as her first state championship on the Apalachee Regional Park course. She had the third fastest time ever at the ARP and along with Fletcher junior Kayley DeLay were the only two to have run under 18 minutes there.

The girls came through the mile mark at 5:35 with Gibbons and DeLay stride for stride and Calvary Christian's Hannah Brookover, Mt. Dora Bible freshman Rebecca Clark, Lake Mary's Daniela Urzua, St. Thomas Aquinas and recent University of Alabama commit Alexa Cruz, and the Pine Crest duo of Tsion Yared and Alyssa Pujals just steps behind.

At the small dip where the "wall" begins, Cruz rolled her ankle really bad and was forced to drop out of the competition. With the STA standout not around, it became a six person race to the front with Gibbons slowly expanding her lead from the group and showing why she is the most dominant runner in the state and a 2014 NXN finalist. Caitlyn Collier who was 9th as they came across the Seminole head logo and pass a little less than two miles into the race, showed why she has 2:10 800 and sub 5:00 1,600 minute speed in the closing mile. The Bolles sophomore raced her way up to third where she finished in a 37 second personal best and sub 18 minute time of 17:58.20. The story of the meet though was Gibbons who crushed the meet record of 17:48.78 set by Rachel Givens at the 2012 Cross Country Finals. Gibbon's time of 17:44.60 was a new season best and the second fastest in her career only behind her 17:39.43 at NXNSE. It was her third win on this course in three attempts. Fletcher senior and fellow 4A counterpart Kayley Delay who broke 18 minutes in this meet last year, ran a 2 second personal best with her time of 17:56.70 to finish runner-up. Urzua and Pujals rounded out the top five in very impressive times of 18:02.60 and 18:05.90.

Gibbons said she was nervous prior to the race knowing that her main competition had also been training hard to prepare for Pre-State.

"I knew they were training hard, but I also knew I was training hard too. I knew I was ready to come here and run fast so I was prepared, but I was still paying attention to others girls knowing they had the potential to be up there too."

The news for the Winter Park girls wasn't as good as they finished a disappointing fourth behind Pine Crest, Bolles, and Mill Creek out of Georgia. Pine Crest looked brilliant again remaining undefeated on the year, beating Bolles for the first time ever, and scoring 89 points despite not having 7th grader Mahdere Yared, the team's number four runner. Coach Baur had this to say after the race.

"I'm really proud of the way the girls performed today. We had this one circled on our calendar all year. It was our first meeting with Bolles, Winter Park was here today, and some teams from Georgia. Our girls really stepped up today."

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