MELBOURNE -- Kayla Hale and Chris Hamilton may not have clocked their desired times, but both gave determined efforts on Saturday morning in winning the girls' and boys' races, respectively, in the Wickham Park preseason jamboree.
Hale, an eighth-grader at Holy Trinity Episcopal in Melbourne, clocked a 5-kilometer (3.1 miles) time of 19 minutes, 21 seconds in easily outdistancing more than 140 runners from throughout South Brevard. Hamilton, a senior at Satellite High School, nipped senior teammate Ivan Lopez by less than a second (16:46). The duo dominated the boys' field, which didn't include Holy Trinity star runner Austin Joiner, who sustained a stress fracture earlier in the week and is not expected to return until October.
\"I was trying to shoot for my splits and get a good time,\" said Hale, who last fall led Holy Trinity's girls' team to its second consecutive Class 1A state championship. \"I didn't quite get them. I wanted to get a good time.\"
Hale, who finished the 2003-04 school year by winning the Class 1A state title in the 3,200-meter run, looked crisp from the start in winning the jamboree, which served as a final tune-up for many Space Coast schools. Since the jamboree wasn't an officially-sanctioned FHSAA event, runners did not compete in their respective school uniforms and raced with older age-group competitors, as well. The jamboree, however, enabled coaches to form their varsity teams for regular-season openers on Sept. 4. The top seven finishers from each school will comprise varsity teams.
\"I didn't feel the pressure because I knew we had put in the miles this summer,\" said Holy Trinity sophomore Chelsea Joiner, who finished second (20:05) in the girls' race.
Chelsea Joiner, who placed fifth in last year's state cross country meet, put in about 400 miles of running over a 10-week period this summer. Hale ran about 350 miles. It was enough to catapult the duo past the rest of the field in the jamboree.
\"I was really trying to get out there and get open and clock a time that I was okay with,\" Chelsea Joiner said. \"I went out there to try to get us pumped up.\"
Joiner and Hale, along with junior Rebecca Zuhlke, lead a Holy Trinity team that is ranked No. 1 in all classes in Florida, as well as the Southeast Region. Zuhlke finished third (20:13) in the jamboree.
Meanwhile, Hamilton appears ready to replace graduated standout Leif Thomason as Satellite's No. 1 runner. He and Lopez ran 1-2 throughout the race, but Hamilton needed a strong kick over the last 100 meters to win the race.
\"The time was all right,\" Hamilton said. \"It was about 10 seconds slower than my personal best. I was trying to hit 16:25. I was on pace at the beginning. But, it was too hot and the (course) was wet.\" Hamilton said he and Lopez had a pre-race goal of finishing together, especially with Austin Joiner out of the mix. \"We wanted to stay together throughout the whole race,\" Hamilton said. \"I think (teammate) Jon Rohr is focusing on getting a personal record gradually, maybe by the middle of the season. He doesn't want to peak too early.\"
Rohr, also a senior, finished among the top runners. He finished as the Scorpions' No. 4 runner last year in leading Satellite to an 12th-place finish in the Class 3A state meet.
Meanwhile, Holy Trinity coach Doug Butler said Austin Joiner hurt his foot while running a 2 X 2-mile practice run repeat last Tuesday. \"He had run a 10-minute flat first mile and then a 10:25 on the second mile and when we were walking off, he suddenly felt his foot hurt. He will be in a hard cast for three weeks. He then will go to a boot and swim and bike. He should be ready by the first week of October.\" Butler said he is not worried about Austin Joiner losing running time prior to the postseason. Austin also missed the 2003 postseason with an injury.
\"He's got a real good high base,\" Butler said. \"He's so motivated. We're not real concerned.\"