Followed by their footsteps, outlined in the pre-dawn dew, slow-moving, blanket-shrouded forms began the day by swishing, slow-motion, in sweats and blankets around Sperling’s zig-zaggy course. In time, energized by the warming rays of the autumn sun, they seemed to be transformed into bunches of charged atoms that vibrated in unpredictable paths, barely contained by boundaries of vegetation, fences, and (to some degree) miles of yellow plastic streamers. Finally, at precisely 8:00, they were lined up, motionless, ready to explode.
Ladies First
Mandy Perkins is in the process of building a substantial momentum at this particular venue. It began last year with twin victories at this same Deland Invitational (19:23) and the subsequent 5 Star Conference Championship (19:15). And even though her most recent appearance required a bit more effort (18:42.93), it continued her streak.
She took the lead, with an opening sprint, right from the new starting line, but it wasn’t by much. Shelby Hayes, of Winter Park, was right on her shoulder from the get-go, and remained there through a sub-six first mile.
“I know her (Hayes) from Bartram Trail races,” explained Perkins. “Basically I figured that I needed to stay up front because if I do so, I keep the mentality that I won’t allow myself to get passed. Every time she would throw in a surge, I would throw a surge to keep ahead.
“In the second mile I tried to keep my place up front and stay with my pace. By the third mile, I decided to ‘leave it on the course’ (not leave with any regrets). I didn’t do all that work for nothing. It’s all in the last 800. I didn’t want to have to say I lost the race because of a little pain.”
Mandy, as always, started with two goals. One, although unspoken, was doing her part of a team effort. The second was having a target time.
“I knew I was going to have some competition because Winter Park was going to be here. I just wanted to improve, and because Coach Gallon makes his workouts progressively harder, I should run better each race. I was running for a time in the 18:30 to 18:45 range. I guess 18:42 was right in there.”
Winter Park’s Shelby Hayes, with a previous best of 18:48 (at Bartram Trail, as a freshman), also tried to be right in there. However, she might have been a tad rusty. The junior only ran one race last year--the UF Mt. Dew Meet--and then was out the rest of the season with a stress fracture.
“It was from doing soccer too. It was overuse. I would go from cross country to soccer.”
But this admission only came after a little prodding on my part. Shelby knew beforehand that she would have a race on her hands.
“Right from the beginning it was her, Brooke (Nebel), and then me. I made sure that I stayed with them. She led the whole way, but just before the three mile she just took off. She had more left. She was awesome.”
TEAM RESULTS: It was Winter Park and, well, just Winter Park. In a dry run for the District Championships, which will also be held at Deland’s Sperling Sports Complex, WP scored a skimpy 27 points (2-3-6-7-9-18-25) against a good sized field of 17 other teams. While most teams would be happy with one 19 minute finisher, they averaged 19:52.
Rudloff in a Runoff
Like Perkins, when Mainland’s Chris Rudloff goes trophy shopping, his first stop is Sperling. In last year’s Deland Invitational, he got the jump on his surprised 5 Star opponents and won in 17:16. Three weeks later, the (then) sophomore had to run a lot faster (16:55.95), but still beat a full field of talented seniors to win the 5 Star title.
At this year’s Deland Invitational, twice as many teams showed up, but that didn’t seem to make much of a difference to Rudloff, at least as far as the order of finish turned out. Lowering his time to 16:33.24 in a (more or less) “honest” 5K, he beat all challengers.
Challenger #1 was Oviedo’s Daniel Schmidt, who said, “I just needed to get out fast because it (the start) was really tight in the beginning. I found myself in the lead and tried to keep going as fast as I could.
“I figured that I went too fast for the first mile (close to a five flat), so I adjusted my pace. Theirs (Rudloff and Spruce Creek’s Joey Elsakr) was faster. I tried to keep them within my sights, to keep up with them…”
Despite “fading,” Schmidt was running in the company of some pretty talented harriers, and set a PR (16:48), albeit by one second.
“I’m just really excited that I got an overall third (in a huge field of 144) and set a PR. I feel at least I’m moving up.”
He isn’t the only one. Last year, senior Alex Frazier was the undisputed leader of a very talented Spruce Creek Boys team. Frazier, who now runs for Embry Riddle, finished second in 2007 with a time of 17:22, and Elsakr was third in 17:44. A year later, Joey not only took over Frazier’s spot, but did so in 16:38.51. Do the math. The senior is going to leave his mark in the meets his team enters this season.
After Schmidt’s booster rockets burned out, Elsakr found himself alongside Rudloff, and with that, in contention for the win.
Elsakr explained the race from his viewpoint: “I didn’t think he (Schmidt) was going to keep that pace. There was a Lyman guy (Sean Rynning, fourth in 16:49.56) guy there too. So I made a surge, but they were too far ahead, maybe seven or eight seconds.
“At the mile I was in the lead. I didn’t want the pace to slow too much because I knew that a faster pace would serve me better. If I had a chance to win, it was at a faster pace. I watched him (Rudloff) last year and I knew that he out kicked Alex Frazier. I didn’t want him to do that to me.
“There was a point in the second mile where no one seemed to want to take the lead, so I threw in a surge, but he (Rudloff) caught right back up.”
When Rudloff’s kick came, there was little Elsakr could do to respond in kind. And with two more races this season against Rudloff, on this same course, Joey knows he has to make a change in his strategy.
“I definitely want to do something different. Obviously, I lost at the finish, so that’s what I need to work on.
“He’s also been working out,” offered team mate Jesse Leone. “He benches 250,” he said, trying to suppress a grin.
“Yeah, minus 100...150,” Elsakr whispered.
Maybe because of that 250, after the race Chris Rudloff showed nothing but respect for the new and improved Joey Elsakr.
“Before the race I said, ‘Joe, we’re going to have a good race.’
“Me and Joey went out together,” reported Rudloff. “A little before the mile we picked it up. He looked strong (and no doubt buff). He started pulling away for awhile. I just told myself I was going to stay with Joey Elsakr because he has improved so much.
“In the woods, when he came out, he had about ten yards. I try to keep positive thoughts in my mind, to motivate myself. I focused on pushing it in.”
And push he did. What was a slight deficit, became, in the last half mile or so, a five second advantage. In the final analysis, it might also be that he inadvertently found the antidote to 250s: “I ate a power bar before the race. My stomach….” Power bars; fuel for the race, but not necessarily good for the digestive system.
TEAM RESULTS: Winter Park (5-6-9-11-24-32-37) won the meet with 55 points. Lyman (4-14-15-16-21-62-68) with 70, and many of the same teams that were also here, have 42 days to regroup before the Districts (same course), and see if a slightly altered combination of teams can result in a different outcome. Likewise, the coaches of Spruce Creek (2-26-31-38-45-49-50 for 142 points), Deland (20-34-42-51-70-95-111 for 217 points), and Flagler (ran at Buchholz) have 32 days of motivational speeches and creative workouts before the 5 Star Conference Championships, also at Sperling.
Footnotes:
Congratulations to the JV winners, Winter Park’s Rachel Miller (21:37.60), Spruce Creek’s Jesse Leone (18:34.23), and all of the JV runners who ran outstanding times. They are the stars of tomorrow….In team results, the Spruce Creek girls (3-5-6-7-8-9-23) outscored Winter Park (1-2-11-14-17-19-26), 29 to 45.…That was reversed in the Boys race. Winter Park (2-3-8-13-15-20-23), with 41 points, edged Spruce Creek (1-10-11-14-16-19-22) with 52 points and Lyman (5-6-9-18-21-29-35) with 59.