It was a spectacular night under the lights at Holy Trinity at this year’s RunningZone All-Star Showdown. “The Jungle” attracted several distance runners from around Florida once again for this meet’s 2nd annual showing.
After a 200m win by Vero Beach’s Curtis Riggins, the girls 1600m was a two-person battle between Olivia Papa and Callie Cooper. Papa, a junior from Trinity Prep, edged out the Bartram Trail senior by 4 seconds with her new PR of 5:09.19. In the boys 1600m, a pack of seven runners stayed together for 800m; four of them hung on through 1200m. It wasn’t until 300m to go that Taylor Peliska distanced himself from the field with his sub-60 second last 400m. After Peliska’s 4:22.67, Andrew Gleaton and Jason McLeod finished in 4:25.71 and 4:28.34 respectively. Tyler Davidson (4:29.20), who led the majority of this race, faded to 4th place as the final sub-4:30 finisher.
More elite performances followed soon thereafter, in both the girls and boys 800m races. Only 6 girls participated in the 800m, but nonetheless, it was a speedy section. Shelby Hayes dominated the field with her new PR of 2:14.23, beating out Chelsi Woodruff’s 2:20.97. Sandon Holly also broke the 2:30 barrier with her 2:24.16 effort. After Hannah Keiler’s 2:35.31, two 8th graders from Holy Trinity both recorded PRs of 2:37.10 and 2:38.71 respectively.
In one of the most popular events of the night, the boys 800m required two full sections of runners. In the first heat, Robinson senior Terril Gibson ran to a PR of 2:03.63, beating 2nd place Lionel Jones (2:04.67) of Okeechobee. Then, the faster section definitely showed its “A” game tonight, with all 9 nine runners breaking 1:58. A pack of four runners went through the first lap in 54 seconds, followed by another group of five only a couple seconds behind. Then, Cameron Dickerson and Darrin Gibson pulled away after the 600m mark, with Dickerson using his college experience to beat out the Robinson senior. Barron Collier’s Austin Albury (3rd) and Tampa Jesuit’s Mike McEnany (4th) were the next two other finishers under 1:57. The five remaining runners in this heat – Dan Wehunt, Logan Trimble, Julian Gines, Jake Kehlenbeck, and Ryan Jones – all eclipsed the 1:58 mark and were separated by only ¾ of a second.
In the 5000m, Kayla Hale took the spotlight with her nation-leading PR of 16:53.27, an excellent way to finish her senior track season. On the guy’s side, pacing duties by David Kilgore and Cameron Dickerson helped Derek Wehunt hit the first mile in 4:35 and then the 2-mile in 9:38. Despite falling off pace and coming up short of a possible sub-15 performance, Wehunt’s 15:42 still ranks among his top-5 times for 5K. Holy Trinity senior Bret Butler broke 16-minutes, and was closely followed by Armwood junior Gilbert Vazquez (16:08.75, school record). Six other guys broke the 17:00 barrier, including: Eric Dansky, Jason McLeod, Ryan Davis, Mark Kathman, Daniel Moore, and Coach Doug Butler.
The final and perhaps most entertaining event of the evening was the Milk Mile. In his vibrant red Chinese Olympic uniform, Kyle Butler led the majority of this race, splitting even 75s (including milk chugging). It wasn’t until the last 200m that Taylor Peliska, threw down an outstanding kick to pass KB on the homestretch, winning in 4:59 to 5:02. Peliska, of St. John Neumann High School, and Butler, of Florida Atlantic University, both recorded outstanding milk-1600m performances – equivalent to at least sub-4:20 normal 1600m efforts. In addition, Marc Dejute, Cameron Dickerson, and Julian Gines ran solid sub-5:30 efforts. Also, William Woodruff, Alex Hoffman, Keith Potter, Philip Wise, Jan-M Albritton-Spain, and Joey Castagnaro all broke the 6:00 barrier.
It was a success once again in Melbourne, and hopefully this meet will continue to grow rapidly in subsequent years. The addition of several college runners and rare events helped make the All-Star Showdown a popular season-ending venue. Not to worry, the creativity of this already very unique meet will only continue in years to come.
You can re-live the 2009 meet here:
Full Video: https://fl.milesplit.com/meets/48840/videos?id=7226
Results: https://fl.milesplit.com/meets/48840/results/93012
Photos: https://fl.milesplit.com/photos/albums/3726 and
If you did not make it to HTA for this year’s Showdown, all are welcome back next year -- middle school, high school, college, or open runners – for the 3rd annual RunningZone All-Star Showdown in 2010.
It was a spectacular night under the lights at Holy Trinity at this year’s RunningZone All-Star Showdown. “The Jungle” attracted several distance runners from around Florida once again for this meet’s 2nd annual showing.
After a 200m win by Vero Beach’s Curtis Riggins, the girls 1600m was a two-person battle between Olivia Papa and Callie Cooper. Papa, a junior from Trinity Prep, edged out the Bartram Trail senior by 4 seconds with her new PR of 5:09.19. In the boys 1600m, a pack of seven runners stayed together for 800m; four of them hung on through 1200m. It wasn’t until 300m to go that Taylor Peliska distanced himself from the field with his sub-60 second last 400m. After Peliska’s 4:22.67, Andrew Gleaton and Jason McLeod finished in 4:25.71 and 4:28.34 respectively. Tyler Davidson (4:29.20), who led the majority of this race, faded to 4th place as the final sub-4:30 finisher.
More elite performances followed soon thereafter, in both the girls and boys 800m races. Only 6 girls participated in the 800m, but nonetheless, it was a speedy section. Shelby Hayes dominated the field with her new PR of 2:14.23, beating out Chelsi Woodruff’s 2:20.97. Sandon Holly also broke the 2:30 barrier with her 2:24.16 effort. After Hannah Keiler’s 2:35.31, two 8th graders from Holy Trinity both recorded PRs of 2:37.10 and 2:38.71 respectively.
