Several of Polk County's top returners made their fall 2008 debut at 5000 meters. The top two returners from Kathleen, McKeel Academy, and Lakeland Santa Fe Catholic were among the 146 participants at the Faster with Fitniche 5K at Lakeland's Lakeside Village.
The top high schooler was Roland Caldwell, the junior number two returner for Kathleen, his time of 17:12 is just two seconds off of his 17:10 PR from the state meet last year. Not a bad place to start. He was second place overall to Florida Southern and Ridgeview alum Tyrone Bell (15:29). The biggest improvement shown was McKeel's Chris Meadows whose time of 17:13 is a full minute improvement of his top performance from last season! His brother Josh, also a senior at McKeel, came in at 17:40. Katleen's #1 returner Adam Kinloch (picutred left) was next in 17:47 Santa Fe seniors Micahel "Skip" Allsopp and Neil Coffman followed at 17:51 and 18:10, respectively.
The top female high schooler was Ariel Muiselaar, who Lakeland will be counting on to step it up as their number five after the transfer of Sydney Devore. Ariel put up a time of 23:19--already improved over her 2007 top time of 23:39. Great job, all!