This year's version of the 2008 Florida Athletic Coaches Association Senior All-Star Meet did not disappoint as both kids and coaches had a fun time in Tallahassee this weekend...
Above: The Region 4 team celebrates the event with a mud fight from the course's holding pond after finishing their races.
Being a young coach and still overly enthusiatic, this was the third year in a row I helped out with the FACA Senior Meet. This year I had the great pleasure of coaching both the Region 4 Girls AND the Boys team (due to an unforseen circumstance on the boys side). Anywho, here's a summary of the weekend events as I recall them...
Open race: This first race of the day started at 10:30am and although the weather was beautiful, unfortunately there were only a handful of runners at the starting line. This was the second year in a row where the Open Race participation was limited compared to years past I'm told, and I believe the majority of the runners were Maclay School runners on their home course. Overall, junior Jana Stolting won the race and she even helped some of the younger runners behind her finish the race after she was already done. Great teamwork Jana!
Girls race: The girls race started at 11:00am and the weather was still amazing. Not to cold, not too much wind, and a good feeling was surrounding the athletes. After the horn went off, the girls got to a quick start where Juliana Stern of Region 4, the overall winner from Satellite HS, took a strong lead that she never relinquished. She set a course record in a time of 18 minutes and 19 seconds. Followed right behind her was a fierce team battle between Region 1 and Region 2 that both had strong packs behind the leaders through the first mile.
In the end, Region 1 took home the victory over Region 2's strong pack. Region 4 finished in third place and Region 3 finished in fourth. (For both the Region 4 girls and the Region 3 boys, modified scoring was used due to a lack of a 5th runner. Both team's final points were calculated by adding 1 point after the final runner and then adding together the entire team score.)
Here's a picture of Coach Henry Spillers of Niceville and his winning Region 1 girls from the Awards Luncheon...
Boys race: On the guys side, there was much more of a competitive feel as there was a very fast start through the first half mile of the 11:30am race. Both the Region 1 and Region 4 squads had a commanding lead through the half mile and the mile but after going through the holding pond, it was evident that neither squad could hold that quick pace. The Region 2 boys ran a much more strategicly well paced race which lead to their eventual victory.
Coach Armen Merjanian said "I told the guys not to go out faster than a 4:55 first mile and my first guys hit 4:55 on the nose." The Region 2 boys were led by overall winner Bret Butler of Holy Trinity Academy who finished in a time of 16 minutes and 4 seconds. The Region 1 boys held on for second place, followed by the Region 4 boys and then the Region 3 team.
Here's a picture of Coach Merjanian of Nature Coast Tech and his winning Region 2 boys...
After all of the racing, and the mud fight, everyone gathered in the Maclay Cafeteria for the Awards Luncheon was there were trophies given out to the top ten finishers in each of the two senior races, as well as trophies for the winning coaches, and discretionary award t-shirt given to the muddiest overall finisher. Jonathan Lanning was the winner on the boys side and I can't recall for the girls (someone help me out!).
In the end, everyone seemed to have a great time and I want to thank Coach Gary Droze of Maclay School once again for putting together this event. I hope this meet continues to flourish in years to come and more of the younger athletes that are currently running will try to earn a spot in this All-Star event. It's a shame that many athletes do not partake in this event and that many coaches shy away from helping put it all together.
If I can put together two vans for a group of eager South Florida kids who love running and go on a 500 mile, 8 hour journey where I must drive that on back to back days, then there really must be something to it. Otherwise I wouldn't make the effort and neither would any of the other coaches. I look forward to next year's Cross Country season and Senior All-Star Meet and to you juniors out there: Run hard and I'll see you in Tallahassee in 2009!
Click here to see the Meet Homepage for results and photos.