This year's Mike Gibson Lake Mary Summertime Run was run in a very unique format. They started each division in two waves that were three minutes apart from each other: the tortise and the hare. The idea is that the second wave (tortise) tries to catch the first wave (hare) and of course the hares try not to be caught! "Fun and different" was the general review!
What was not different this year is that this meet always serves as a great preview for cross country in the Greater Orlando Metro area. The normal host of schools turned up including most of the schools in Orange and Seminole Counties.
The girls from Lake Highland Prep opened up their season every well. Nathalie Anaya took the role of team leader in the team's opening time trial. Anaya won the meet with a twenty second PR time of 19:01, after the race she excitedly told me: "This is my year!" Sure looks like it might just be, Nathalie!
Teammate Jessie Prendergast was close behind with a time of 19:12, over a minute faster than she ran at this same meet last year. Casey O'Neill (20:17), AnneElise Creamer (21:17), and Allie Duncan (21:21) rounded out the top five for Lake Highland, as they were looking dominant in this one. Shannon Compher of Hagerty finished in third place (19:58) and Erica Boccumini of Olympia (19:59) was fourth.
For the boys, Timber Creek apparently has a nice surprise this year. Josh Peters, who had exactly zero prior performances in his profile, logged a winning time of 16:48. He may be a transfer from out of state--we'll try to confirm. Just a step back was Will Bridges of Edgwater, he also clocked 16:48--a new PR for him.
Team-wise Dr. Phillips was the most impressive looking boys squad. Alex Mund lead the way for them with a third place 16:54 performance. Their top five was completed with Novian Middleton (17:04), Daniel Millay (17:13), Josh Boggs (17:37), and Kyle Cox (17:43). They were without normal number two Sean White, but Novian Middleton stepped up in his place. Middleton is a first year cross country runner, but the sophomore had a good freshman track season running 4:38 for 1600 and 2:03 for 800. With that addition, DP is going to be tough this year, especially if White is still on the team.