Set your alarm clocks and get ready for the 7th Annual Steinbrenner Invitational. Formerly the USF-Steinbrenner Invitational, the meet has since been pared down from some years over 70 teams to the 32 slated to compete on Saturday morning. The meet schedule kicks off early with some field events starting as early as 8am and can be seen LIVE on MileSplit.
The USF-Steinbrenner Invitational, as it was formerly called used to draw teams as far away as Miami, is much more of a local affair. The high school simply can't accommodate the 70+ schools sometimes registered at previous meets. Steinbrenner administrators felt like 32 teams would be just the right amount. However, the partnership with USF for the first six years helped build the foundation for the meet this year. Funds raised through the years at the USF meet, helped Steinbrenner High get the ball rolling, monetarily, on the construction of a rubber track at the school.
"Once we had the rubber track, we wanted to move the meet here," Steinbrenner girls coach Ladd Baldwin said. "The great experience we had at USF really enabled us to have this meet (on campus)."
There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon to commemorate the track that was finished last November.
It's no secret the rivalry in Tampa between Wharton and Steinbrenner, most notably on the girls side. The host Warriors edged Wharton 105-93 for the Hillsborough County title and it will be those girls teams vying for the title on Saturday. Wharton and Steinbrenner certainly will have more chapters in their rivalry this season beyond Saturday's meet as they share a district and region.
"There's certainly motivation to go out there and compete on Saturday (with Steinbrenner there)," Wharton girls coach Anthony Triana said. "But we can't focus on one team, we've gotta beat everyone, if Steinbrenner's in the way, we're going to give the best we've got. It does make it intriguing with both of us there."
The Warriors topped Wharton at a tri-meet on Tuesday, albeit with a non-traditional Wildcat lineup. The Wildcats are still waiting to plug in multi-event athlete Aria Tate. Tate ran on the 4x400m relay at county and ran a 57-second split at UF on the 4x400m relay that broke the school record in 3:48.23, the third-best time in Florida this year. Tate will not be on hand Saturday as Triana wants to hold her out another week to make sure she doesn't re-aggravate the hamstring injury. That could make it an even heat between the two teams for the title.
Individually, there will be some great storylines. Teams that never see each other will be mixing it up as a healthy dose of Hillsborough and Pinellas County private schools shuffle in with the public schools.
On the boys side, watch out for AFA's Alex Gray and Sickles' Andrew Vendrone. Gray should coast to a win in the 100m, as his 10.54 from UF is eighth-best in the state this year but it will be a battle in the 200m as Gray has a season best of 21.78 and Vendrone a 21.94.
The Plant boys, notably Quasan Markowski and Rob Leverone should suit up for individual distance races as they held out of the Hillsborough County meet, only running the 4x800m. Markowski is now the Plant 800m school record holder (1:55.40). Markowski and Leverone are the top two seeds in the 1600m but are not scheduled to run the open 800m.
Steinbrenner's Jacob Goncalves is usually the favorite in high jump but Ocala brings down both Shavaun Shaw and Moses Menchan, who have similar marks this season. Chamberlain's Naija Chandler has a 6-3 seed mark.
Riverview long jumpers Israel Johnson and Reed Service should battle it out for the long jump title. Service's 23-1.75 is eighth-best in Florida this season
Pole vault should be interesting as River Ridge's Garrett Jerothe has a 14-3 that is the top seed but Gaither's Carter Palasti has a 14-0 and Land O' Lakes' Tucker Brace has a 13-7.
On the girls side, there are going to be some sizzling matchups. The 400m is loaded with sub-minute seed times. Wharton's Searra Woods, Avonti Holt and Bryanna Rivers are all seeded under a minute with AFA's Faith Nelms coming in with a 59.11. Holt and Woods are also the top seeds in the 200m as the Wildcats are finally hitting their stride as a team.
"This is the time where you want to peak," Triana said. "We're the healthiest we've been all year and by districts, we should be able to put all our pieces on the table."
The Wildcat and Warrior 4x8 relays should go one-two, Wharton posting a 9:29.13 for the third-best time in Florida this year at UF. Steinbrenner holds a 9:45.70 from the same meet.
The Steinbrenner girls are heavy favorites in the hurdles and should score a load of points in both the 100s and 300s. Taylor Hotchkiss and Emma Stevens are the top two seeds in the 100s and their male counterparts, Gonclaves and Zack Reinhardt are the top seeds in the 300m hurdles. It's a strength of the Warrior teams this season.
"60 to 70 percent of our kids have tried the hurdles," Baldwin said. "We identify who some of our top athletes are and try to pull them into hurdles because schools don't focus on those events. Maybe you'll have some teams with a good individual hurdler - we have a bunch of hurdlers."
Riverview's Bailey Hertenstein, always a threat to sweep the distance events, won't on Saturday as she's not entered in the 800m. It's still going to be a great race as there it Wharton's Bryanna Rivers with a seed time of 2:13.41 from 2015, which would put her in the top eight in the state. Space Coast's Skye Zeller has a 2:11.55 from 2015 and has a 2:14.99 from this season.
Hertenstein, however, is entered in the 1600m and 3200m. She's the only female runner under five minutes in the 1600m and should win the event handily. Hertenstein also has the only sub 11-minute mark in the 3200m. That race could get interesting, though, because it's stacked with some great area talent in Chamberlain's Maggie Parrish, Lecanto's Claire Farnsworth, Sunlike school record holder Jamila Cardwell and Pasco County cross country champ Natalie Abernathy.
Girls high jump is going to be great and it starts early, so don't miss it. Mitchell's Emily Gauvey has a 5-9 that leads the state but Land O' Lakes Tori Cannata cleared 5-6 at Hernando Kiwanis in her first competition in the event.
Girls disc is another event to catch as Tampa Catholic's Alise Davis, Land O' Lakes school record holder Alexis Harris and AFA's Ashanti Brown all have discus marks in the 120's. Davis also has a 41-11 in shot that is the ninth-best in the state this season and she's the favorite in the event, although Brown's seed mark is just a foot behind.
AFA's Katie Barnett has a 18-6.5 in long jump and a 39-6.75 triple jump coming in. It's hard to imagine Barnett not carrying away both titles but again, Land O' Lakes' Cannata is an interesting wildcard.
