In a field top-heavy with some of the area’s best young male runners, and including a large turnout of elementary-aged female runners (aka, Girls on the Run), Embry Riddle’s Stuart Patterson emerged first.
Patterson, who lately has been turning up in more places than an old penny, had some ulterior motives for being at the race.
“We have the half next week (26th Jacksonville Marathon and Half-Marathon), so we just came out to get the legs working. We ran as a group, and during the race decided, ‘Hey, who wants to win it?’”
Reason #2 was teammate Alex Frazier, 18, who is finishing up his first semester as a freshman at ERAU.
“We were trying to get Alex to break 16, and he did it (third overall in 15:49), so it was a step up for him.”
Patterson and his Eagle teammates Nick Gehlsen (second in 15:45) and Henry Melius (fourth in 16:05), were at the race to fine tune their training for a qualifying time at Jacksonville on Sunday, Decemer 21st.
“At the NAIA National Track and Field Championships in May they have a marathon that accompanies it. Last year I placed seventh overall (2:30:49).
“I went out pretty smart in the beginning. I was 15th at the half and made a move. I was catching second (place), and passing him, but then the marathon caught up to me. It was right about then that THE BEAR--and his family--jumped on my back. I still ended up seventh and had a huge PR (by 12 minutes), so it was a good race.”
While Patterson was leading the men‘s field, 32 year old Alex Gemma was doing likewise for the women.
“(When I went out) I tried to keep right at a six minute pace. I hit the first one in 5:50, and had the lead the whole way.”
Gemma’s time of 19:20 is five seconds under her more recent (2008) PR of 19:25. When she attended LaSalle Academy in Rhode Island, however, she ran well enough for a 16:39 personal best.
There was an unusually large number of high school runners entered in this road race.
5 Star Conference Champion Chris Rudloff of Mainland averaged 5:26 per mile and finished eighth overall in 16:51.
Spruce Creek was represented by five runners: junior Greg Frye was seventh (16:48), junior Nicholas Kutyn was 13th (18:08), sophomore Brian La Starza was 15th (18:30), freshman Michael Fabian was 25th (19:49) and his sister, junior Stephanie was 47th (22:07). In addition, 13 year old Catherine La Starza won her age group.
Frye, who snuck past Rudloff in the results, managed to do something that his teammate, Joey Elsakr, had failed to accomplish in this past XC season of almost weekly torrid, head to head competition.
“I decided to do a race for speed,” he said afterwards. “It went really well. It’s a fast course, and the weather was also good; a little cold, but good (for running).
“I’ve been doing a lot of base training, and not much speed work. I started out at 40 (miles per week). I’ve averaged that in the past, but I think I can go faster in the mile if I run longer. I’m also getting ready for the 800. I want to break two, so I’m going to work up to 60.”
From Deland High School were runners Andrew Epifanio (ninth in a near-PR 17:09) and Kyle Macomber, who ran a PR by nearly a minute, finishing 21st in 19:18.
Although Seabreeze was represented by seven members of their girls track team, they did so as “running buddies” for those third through fifth grade students from Pine Trail Elementary, and so did not appear in the results. Running were freshmen Kelly Brownrig, Natalie Scott and Hailey Swanson, sophomore Kristen Hansen, and seniors Lea Bakertcy, Jacqueline Gion, and Sarah Rodriguez.
Pine Trail, whose girls are coached by Jennifer Breter and Terri McIntyre, was one of seven local primary schools that sent as many as 12 “Girls on the Run” members to test the results of their twice a week, three month training program.
As Alice Fogle, a teacher at Blue Lake Elementary explained, “We trained Tuesday and Thursday for 12 weeks, and this is the end of the semester. The girls are third, fourth, and fifth graders. Some have run before, and are back because they like it so much. This is the third time for Rachel Gercak.”
“It’s fun, and I like running and meetin’ new friends,” said Rachel, 10, a fifth grader at the Deland school.
“She goes for distance,” added Fogle about Rachel. “When we finish running, she keeps going, like the Energizer Bunny.”
If you were to pick her male counterpart, it would have to be 10 year old Chris Sullivan, who finished the 5K in 19:01. Not only was his time just one tick away from the 18s, but it easily won--by 48 seconds--the 7-14 age category. A high school time by a ten year old.
His brother Ryan (8)was almost exactly half a mile back in 22:39, his sister Lindsey (12) finished in 24:10, and his mother Sheila (42) was second woman overall in 19:52.
Note: It would appear that, like their running partners, none of the “Girls on the Run appeared in the “race” results, which can be viewed by going on line: Triamerica.com; chiptimes; race results; Stonewood Grill.
Footnotes: Leading the whole race, from start to finish, was Rudloff. That would be Daaron Rudloff, Chris Rudloff’s (Mainland) Dad. It turns out that he is a motorcycle cop and led the race on his chopper…ERAU’s coach, 34 year old Mike Rosolino, finished 16th overall in 18:53...My personal thanks to Fred Sommer of Sommer Sports for his attentive and patient assistance at the race, and Joe Bates of the Stonewood Grill and Tavern, the amiable host of this event.
TOP 10
Males Time Females Time
1)Stuart Patterson 15:41 22)Alexa Gemma 19:20
2)Nick Gehlsen 15:45 28)Sheila Sullivan 19:52
3)Alex Frazier 15:49 39)Sharon Lax 21:20
4)Henry Melius 16:05 41)Carrie Meng 21:34
5)Kyle van Doorn 16:14 44)Brenna Ginther 21:41
6)John Bess 16:21 46)Maryann Rau 21:52
7)Greg Frye 16:48 47)Stephanie Fabian 22:07
8)Chris Rudloff 16:51 49)Catherine LaStarza 22:20
9)G. Andrew Epifanio 17:07 51)Kathleen Doughaey 22:23
10)Kayle Fisher 17:19 54)Jackie Raible 22:37