The campus of Seminole State College was as dark as death. Because of the torrid temperatures of the unseasonable, un-autumn-like weather, and the start of Daylight Standard Time still several weeks away, the participants of the Hagerty Invitational were caught between the clock and a hot place. So the runners were forced to wait, camped out on tarps; trapped in the tenebrous moment, while dawn seemed to take its own celestial time to arrive. When the first streams of slanting sunlight finally streaked through the trees, a movement of the multitude signaled that the meet was about to commence.
GIRLS VARSITY RACE
Trinity Prep’s Chelsi Woodruff shot off the starting line like a coiled spring that was suddenly released.
“My coach (Jose Fernandez) told me that I was seeded #1 going in to the race. He suggested that I go out front and take the lead,” she explained. “I ran the first mile harder than I usually do; I did a sub-six.”
With a huge lead right from the start, Woodruff was pretty much running alone. When she approached from the darkened, winding, tree-lined trails, you could hear her before you could see her: first her breathing, then her footsteps, and finally, she emerged from the shadows, was past, and around the next turn and out of sight. It was a long wait for the next runner.
“I just tried to focus on pushing it as hard as I could, so that I could stay sub-19, as I did last week (18:55.21 at the FLX Race of Champions).”
At FL-Runners, where she finished 21st, Chelsi had a lot of company. This time, however, she finished more than 50 seconds ahead of the next girl, ninth grader Jacoy Hutto, who runs for Wekiva (19:48.04).
“I was pretty pleased, because I had a difficult week of workouts and it (the race) was harder than last week’s. We ran some bigger meets this year, so I am used to having someone push me.”
Yet her Hagerty Invitational time, 18:57.54, points at a consistency that comes with hard work and a positive mental attitude. Those results were shared by her team mates.
“We didn’t have our top team here because of the SATs. Also, our second runner, Kelly Fahey, is injured. We ran two JV girls (Rebecca Perky and Iliana Taylor). But we had a lot of girls run a PR: Rebecca ran 26:01.30; Iliana a 27:12.90; Kelly a 21:51.11; Noelle Vandendreissche a 24:07.18; “Coco” Cox a 26:59.52; Celia Curtis a 29:52.56.”
VARSITY GIRLS TEAM RACE
Perhaps the Bishop Moore Girls team wasn’t convinced of Hagerty‘s “home course advantage.” The former’s 87 points (9-16-19-21-22-25-45) were 14 (combined) places ahead of Hagerty (5-11-12-34-39-42-50; 101). 129 girls, from 17 teams, crowded the starting line.
BOYS VARSITY
While Dan Schmidt’s breakout race at FLX (third in the Varsity Boys Invitational; 16:10.81) provided his first glimpse of the door to a sub-sixteen 5K, this week’s finish may have supplied an all-important key: a very decisive win. Despite running stride for stride with Trinity Prep juniors Griffin Jaworski (16:27.56) and Franklin Chase (16:27.78) for most of the fast, flat, three-loop campus course, at the end Schmidt still had enough gas left for a devastating finishing kick that resulted in a ten second margin of victory (16:17.46). Schmidt described the race afterwards.
“The first mile (5:08), I stayed right behind them, and let them pace me. Once we got to the two (10:25), I started to push it. They stayed with me for a half mile, but then dropped back. I was definitely tempted to look back,
but I tried to maintain my focus and run the best that I could.”
The Trinity boys added their perspective.
Jaworski: “I led for the first half mile.”
Chase: “I was fourth, with Schmidt and Hagerty (Sean Mendes, fourth in 16:41.87) just ahead.”
Jaworski: “I tried to control the pace, but I had gone out too fast.”
Chase: “I tried to stick behind the lead guys for the first mile, mile and half. At that point, it was me and Dan Schmidt. It just seemed like he was feeling strong, and
he pulled ahead. I surged, pulled ahead, but I couldn’t hold it.”
Jaworski: “I got way too hot, and faded back.”
The worse news was that a usually strong Trinity team wasn’t at full force.
Jaworski: “We didn’t run…”
Chase: “…Our third and fifth (runners). They had shin splints. Number five pulled out right before the race. Ryan Gousse (16:25.20 at FLX) had the more severe shin splints. We hope he’ll be back by pre-states (a meet at Everglades Ranch). We’ll definitely be ready for Districts.”
VARSITY BOYS TEAM RACE
Although Lake Brantley’s first finisher was fifth overall (senior Jalen Matney in 16:44.05), they had three more in the top ten (7-9-10), plus 19th, 24th and 40th for 50 points and the win. Trinity Prep had 75 (2-3-6-29-35-57-60), and Schmidt’s Oviedo--all clad in standard issue white headbands--106 (1-22-23-28-32-61-64). 112 finished for 14 teams.
GIRLS JV
Junior Ana Cuello is in a groove.
“I actually won this exact race last year (22:57.83). Two weeks ago, I won the (JV) Winter Springs Invitational (23:11.31).”
With that kind of run, she must have a good race strategy.
“I just tried to get past my nerves, which usually bother me before a race, and focus on the race as soon as I step on the starting line.”
During this race, she and three of her Bishop Moore teammates worked together to “gang up” on the competition.
“The four girls from Bishop Moore--Cuello (first in 22:41.49), Haley Slocum (third in 23:31.87), Alex Hill
(sixth in 24:13.13), and Liz Baker (eighth in 24:21.23)—
packed up and were behind Hagerty (Claire Parsons; fifth in 24:05.64). Haley and I just pulled up on her, right about the middle of the second mile. Haley and I ran together in the first and second mile. In the third I pulled ahead.”
JV GIRLS TEAM RACE
Bishop Moore (1-3-6-8-14-15-20;32), with all of their 13 runners in the top 49, better than halved the score of their nearest challenger, Timber Creek (7-9-11-22-25-35-38; 74). Their girls won both races. 129 girls ran on the 17 teams entered.
JV BOYS RACE
When Rockledge junior Jalen Brown went out in what seemed like an all-out sprint, there were those among us who thought, “He’s going to die.” Slow down he did, but die he did not.
“I was trying to get my spot back on varsity, so I wanted to prove to my coach (Ed Sebetka) that I could push myself,” he explained after his one minute and 18 second victory over the next nearest competitor (Derek Cannone in19:21.19). “Normally, I like running with someone beside me, so I can push myself. So, in this race I had to imagine someone ahead of me.”
His splits were (roughly) 5:16 for the mile and 11:08 for two. That would have been about right for his PR of 17:10 (second of 120 runners, behind Tyler Davidson’s 15:42, at the August 29th Space Coast Jamboree),
but he slowed down quite a bit in the third mile.
He finished in 18:03.76.
JV BOYS TEAM RACE
Placing five in the top ten (2-3-6-7-9;27), Lake Brantley made it two for two in the Boys races. Brown’s win was instrumental in Rockledge’s second place finish. (1-8-13-19-27-30-31; 68). 112 boys ran for the ten teams entered.