Berkeley Prep senior Carsyn Martz after winning the girls 800 at the Set Goals Not Limits Distance Showcase in a new school record and 7 second PR at 2:16.
Recap of the races from the 2022 Set Goals Not Limits Distance Showcase held at Satellite High School on Friday, March 18th.
Girls 800
In fourth place with 250 meters to go, there had been no mention of Berkeley Prep senior Carsyn Martz in the race in the fast section of the girls 800 at the Set Goals Not Limits Distance Showcase. Well after her final 250 meters, there is plenty to mention about her now.
Martz, who primarily was a sprinter and pole vaulter prior this weekend, might want to change the 800 to her new primary event after setting a school record and winning the 800 at Satellite on Friday night with a huge new personal best time of 2:16.00.
Martz zoomed past Miami Sunset senior Sabrina Gomez (2nd, 2:18.18) for the win on the final straightaway to drop a 7 second personal best. Martz had rolled thru 400 meters in 68 seconds with a lead pack of four to execute a virtually even split race. Comfortable pace for her as she has been a state qualifier and has a personal best of 57.22 in the 400-meter dash.
It was all seniors among the top four finishers behind Martz, Gomez, Bishop Moore's Taylor Moler (3rd, 2:21.16), and Sarah Feilinger (4th, 2:24.10).
Between Martz's breakthrough time and versatile multi-event athlete and hurdler Ellis Weakley also running a great 800 time at the end of a heptathlon this weekend at IMG Academy, Berkeley Prep track Erik Lipham might be able to form a pretty formidable 4x800 meter relay pairing them with two of their traditional best distances runners including Emma Flowers and Anna McDermott.
Boys 800
The fast section of the boys 800 forgot the memo to go fast at the start of the race as they only went out in 60 seconds for the first 400 meters of the race with Spanish River's Japrince Gaines leading the field thru the first lap. The slow initial lap made it a tall order for anyone in the field to drop a time of sub 2 minutes.
However, Indian Rocks Christian senior Mateo Luna rose to that challenge as he took over from Prince with 300 meters to go and pressed with an all-out kick from there. The move nearly left him vulnerable to get caught by a hard-charging Buchholz sophomore Riley Smith FL at the line, but Luna held on for the win in a time of 1:59.36. Smith also joined him under two minutes in a time of 1:59.68. Neither a time was a season or personal best for Luna (1:58.90) or Smith (1:57.49), but thrilling finish between the two in the very end.
Both would double back for strong second races with Luna running a 9:36 PR for fourth place in the 3200, while Smith was a member of the victorious distance medley relay for the Buchholz boys in an overall time of 10:54.16. Luna also ran the 800-meter leg for Indian Rocks Christian in the DMR.
Girls 1600
Brooke Reif of Wharton was the top seed and only sub-5-minute entrant in the girls 1600 meter run with her 4:57 personal best from last spring. She had every reason to be on upset alert with a field of rising star girls ready to take her down and grab the win at Satellite on Friday. She was having none of that though.
The University of Richmond senior took the lead from last year's 2A state champion in 1600 in Lily Henne of Lake Minneola with 600 meters to go from the race after being paced thru the first 400 meters in 75 seconds and 2:34 split at 800 meters.
Henne with the second-fastest PR in the field at 5:01 from last year's state meet, tried to stay in contact with Reif to cover the move as did Rockledge sophomore Malinda Underwood, who bested Reif's 3200-meter time at the Kowboy Invitational last weekend but not head-to-head in a slower section entered with no time.
At 1200 meters, Reif led with them running on her heels as their pace had slowed down with an 81-second third lap and a total time of 3:55. One of the top runners in the Tampa Bay area, Reif really opened up a gap on the backstretch with 300 meters to go on Henne and Underwood and seemed to have the victory in the bag coming off the final turn.
It was not until the final 50 meters when South Fork sophomore Addison Boyer linked up with Underwood, that a real push was made to try and reel in Reif but was never seriously challenged for the win to cross the line first in a season-best time of 5:10.17.
After dropping 23 seconds to run an 11:14 3200 PR at the Kowboy Invitational, Underwood dropped 8 seconds off her 1600 meter best as well on Friday night with a runner-up effort of 5:10.99. In what would not be her last race of the night, Boyer finished in between Underwood and Henne (4th, 5:14.61) for a third-place medal and a time of 5:13.18.
Boys 1600
In arguably the best and deepest race of the night, the boys 1600 had two of the top entrants coming into the meet between 4:11 miler Brayden Seymour of Hagerty and current outdoor 1600 meter state leader Kolton Pickard of Estero not show up for the race leaving the window open for someone else to take over the race.
Two local talents in Devin Makousky of Rockledge and Dayton Law of Satellite led the field early on taking the field thru 400 meters in 64 seconds and 2:12 split at 800 meters. Both were coming off stellar 3200/two mile performances a week ago with Makousy running a 9:36 PR in the 3200 solo in a slow heat at the Kowboy Invitational, while Law earned All-American honors at Nike Indoor Nationals with a stellar 9:13 effort for third place at Ocean Breeze Athletic Facility in New York.
A big negative split would be required after the leaders were only on pace to run a time of 4:24 thru the first two laps and the race was bunched up as a result with Law's teammate Justin Wilson FL joining him and Makousky upfront after 800 meters.
Runners were clipping each other in the lead pack as they hit 1200 meters in 3:18 as hauling 60 second last lap would be required for anyone to dip under 4:20 in the race then. Both Anthony Matthew of Martin County, John Carbone of Brooksville and Ethan Lipham of Berkeley Prep had moved themselves in a great position near the front and outside to attack at the bell lap.
With 300 meters to go, Mathew pushed ahead of Law who had done virtually all of the pacing up until that point. Meanwhile, John Carbone who ran sub 4:20 at the end of the 2021 outdoor season and has strung together two consecutive 1:55 800 meter races to start his season also went with Matthew at the same time.
The Florida Southern College commit Matthew, who has showcased his kick on several occasions finishing fast off a slower-paced 1600 meter race to run in the mid 4:20's prior for his fastest times took it to another gear at Satellite to get under 4:20 for the first time splitting 60 seconds.
But running an even faster last lap with a 59-second split was Berkeley Prep's Ethan Lipham who nearly timed his kick perfectly as he held back on the backstretch while Matthew, Carbone, and Law were pressing hard before trying to reel in Matthew while going past the others off the final turn.
Matthew just held off Lipham by less than two-tenths of a second with his 4:18.83 personal best victory as Lipham clocked in at 4:18.98 finishing right off his right shoulder at the line. For Matthew, it was a 7-second time drop from his 4:25 win in the cross country season post-season this past November on the track at the West Orange Distance Carnival. Also, it is notable that Matthew has not lost a 1600 meter race all season including prior notable wins at Louie Bing Invitational and the Cardinal Gibbons Preseason Distance Carnival.
Lipham appears to be very sharp to start his outdoor season as he followed up his 4:20 1600 and 9:27 3200 season-opening meet at the Calvary Christian Warrior Invitational in running a 9:17 3200 PR last week on his home track at the Berkeley Prep Invitational.
It was a swarm of finishers behind Matthew and Lipham as between all the sections, there were a total of 21 runners posting times in the 4:20s at the Set Goals Not Limits Distance Showcase. Zack Poekert of Cypress Creek, after running a 4:00 for 1500 meters last month in a college race, expected to be more of a contender upfront in the race, but quietly sat back with the rest of the field until moving up late to grab third place ahead of Law (4th, 4:21.46) in a new personal best time of 4:20.90 as the top non-senior finisher.
Speaking of Law and his Satellite teammates, they put on an impressive display of their team's depth on their home track with four runners in the meet running 4:30 between himself (4:21), Andrew Mahorner (6th, 4:22), Justin Wilson (10th, 4:23), and Aidan Mason (16th, 4:28) for a potentially great 4xmile squad at season's end.
Girls 3200
The girls or women's 3200 had a mix of young and old running incredible times for their respective ages, while the race for first would come down to a battle between two familiar South Florida sophomore rivals in Addison Boyer of South Fork and Annabella Cardona of G. Holmes Braddock.
Boyer was coming off a hard 1600 meter effort only an hour before at the meet in a 5:13 personal best time for third place. Very few runners in the meet entered in multiple events actually competed in more than one race due to the tight turnaround and limited rest, but that did not deter Boyer from toeing the line.
Meanwhile, Cardona would be racing fresh and have a clear advantage. Nonetheless, Cardona was content to let Boyer pace her for much of the race as they hit 800 meters in 2:41 and the halfway point at 1600 meters in 5:37. Cardona took the lead briefly on occasions from Boyer in the final 1600 meters but Boyer would always quickly take back first.
Boyer would take the lead for good with 300 meters to go and create enough sepration to win by four seconds with her second personal best time of the day in 11:21.61 officially. Cardona would clock a season-best time of 11:25 following up another runner-up finish at 11:29 from The Elite 16 Invitational two weekends ago in Miramar.
Cardona is looking to work her way down to sub 11 minute form by season's end after finishing with a 10:51 best for All-Star honors in the 4A state finals last May. Boyer has been splitting time with tennis and running so far thru high school, but appears to be shifting her focus and commitment more to running after a stellar cross country season in the final.
Berkeley Prep junior Emma Flowers ran much of the race alone off the top two from South Florida and the rest of the field to finish 3rd place with a time of 11:41. Pedro Menendez senior Olivia Kemp impressively ran the sixth fastest time overall at 11:51 but from the slower section of two by herself pushing the pace for the entire race.
There were also some intriguing races within the race beyond the top two finishers. Two of the state's best seventh-grade distance runners were found competing in the fast section together between Cheyenne Thomas of Red Sea Running Club and Alex Palekar of Boca Warriors Track Club.
Both middle school age group stars would break 12 minutes in the 3200-meter run and finish in the top 6 among a field of much older high school talent with Thomas posting a time of 11:45 for fourth place and Palekar coming in five seconds later for fifth place at 11:50. While they do not race each other that often coming from different areas of the state, expect to see both competing against one another again at the FLYRA Middle School State Championships in mid-May.
There was also a race between mother and daughter in the field, which is a rarity in itself. Viera junior distance runner Brooke Gerrits had to not only focus on trying to beat the other high school runners in the field and match up against another Cape Coast Conference rival in Braelyn Wahy of Satellite, but also had to make sure to fend off and stay ahead of her mom in Viera head cross country and assistant track coach Samantha Gerrits, a mother not only to Brooke but four other siblings and a dominant performer in the local road running scene at her age of 41.
The daughter Brooke saw her mom move ahead of her on the first lap, but quickly rectified that situation to stay ahead for the remainder of the race to finish 9th and just behind Satellite's Wahy (8th, 11:59) in a season-best time of 12 minutes flat. Meanwhile, Coach Gerrits held her own racing in her very first competitive track race ever matching her road race two-mile PR with a 12:21 performance on the track finishing 12th overall in the field of high school and middle school runners beyond her.
Boys 3200
The boys 3200 meter run produced a grand total of 15 sub 10 minute performances led by West Boca Raton senior Ryan Douihech (2nd, 9:23.95) and Chiles senior Ben Kirbo (2nd, 9:25.79) battling to the very end for first place.
Early on in the race, it was actually recent West Orange grad Colton Berquist leading out the field fast as a pacer and one that eerily looked like the ghost of Steve Prefontaine with his mustache that no one seemed to be willing to go with after he blazed thru the first 800 meters in 2:14.
It would be a runner from Georgia in Augusta Prep junior Hayes Trapp taking over the lead and pacing from Berquist on lap 3 as Trapp was a private school state cross country champ in the fall in his home state and ran 9:34 for two miles this past indoor season.
Douihech also went with Trapp as he made his move to the front. Last spring as a junior, the 1600 meter run was certainly Douihech's primary event as he dropped his time down to 4:19 at the state meet in 4A while sparingly competing in the 3200. Friday was his third 3200-meter race of the season as he had opened with a 9:32 PR in the pre-season at the Cardinal Gibbons Distance Carnival.
Kirbo, who was well known this past cross country season for high finishes and great races in elite fields this past cross country season, but without any signature wins, appeared to have a shot at breaking that narrative on Friday when he found himself leading into the final lap of the 3200 at Satellite.
However, Douihech having already shown his speed this year lowering his open 800-meter time down to 1:55 simply had one more gear than Kirbo to grab the victory in a 9-second improvement of his PR at 9:23 and followed in by Kirbo who knocked 3 seconds off his prior best as the runner-up at 9:25. Kirbo had run 9:28 in the post-season of cross country this past November on the track at the Dash for Doobie meet in North Carolina.
The 800-meter winner from earlier in Mateo Luna of Indian Rocks Christian had a gutsy run and effort to double back to place fourth at a 9:36 PR behind the Georgian in Trapp (3rd, 9:31).
Cameron Rainey was the top runner for the 4A state cross country champion Viera squad on the night as his teammates Michael Toppi and Robbie Naberhaus had the weekend off after racing indoors last weekend at New Balance Nationals. Rainey finished 5th in a time of 9:36 and a handful of seconds off his Bolles Bulldog Classic performance.
Gabriel Garcia of G. Holmes Braddock had one of the biggest improvements in the race going from a 9:52 season-best at Louie Bing to finishing inside the top 6 at Satellite with a personal best of 9:39 for sixth place.