Guy Thomas Memorial Classic - What to Expect

The girls' and boys' miles will be center stage at the Guy Thomas Memorial Classic at Dunbar this Saturday, but the meet also features some of the state's and the nation's best sprint talent. MileSplit FL is live-streaming the meet, starting at 8:35 with the boys' and girls' 3200m races.

WATCH LIVE ON MILESPLIT

LIVE RESULTS 

(Check out the scheduled entries and heats)

The Girl's Elite Mile has nine girls scheduled to run that have run sub-5:10. Four have gone sub-5:00. Leading the girls' mile are the current number 1, 3, and 4 ranked 1600m girls in the state. Auburn commits, the Roy twins from Spruce Creek, are the number one and three-ranked girls in the state. Mackenzie Roy leads the state with a 4:53.07. Arianna has the number three ranking and has run 4:57.30.  Eliana Black of Cambridge (Christian) School is number 4 ranked and has run 4:57.89 this season. She has a 1600m PR of 4:48.83 and last weekend ran an indoor mile PR of 4:57.37 (4:55.65 converted 1600). Joining the Roy's and Black with sub-5:00 times is senior Mackenzie De Lisle of Bishop Verot. DeLisle is the defending 2A state champion with a 4:59.82 and will be looking to go under 5:00 for the first time this season.

Some of the other girls to watch are Junior Jazlyn Forbes of Oasis HS,  Junior Layla Sahaydak of Boone HS, Masha Dorofeev of Fort Myers HS, Gulf Coast HS senior Ava Heskett, and junior Atarah Robinson of Venice HS. Forbes has shown that she is ready to go sub-5:00 with her recent number nine ranked 5:01.92 win at the South Fourt Myers Wolfpack Invitational. Sahaydak is the number 11 ranked girl in the state with a 5:02.92 7. Dorofeev, the State 3A Cross Country Champion, has run 5:04.54 8. Ava Heskett, has run 5:07.64 and had a strong outing a week ago with PR's of 58.55 in the 400 and 2:15.26 in the 800. Rounding out the sub-5:10 group is junior Atarah Robinson of Venice, who has run a 5:08.37.

 It's a large field for the Mile, and in addition to the girls above, it includes three sub-5:15, three sub-5:20 and 10 sub-5:26 young ladies.  You can see all the entries that are scheduled to run here: 

Girls 1 Mile Run Open Elite.

Boys Elite Mile

Photo by Derrick Dingle

This is scheduled to be one of the best miles of the season in Florida. Scheduled to run are Florida's top ten ranked 1600m numbers 2, 3, 4, and 7, including last weekend's Nike Indoor National Champions senior, Joseph Socarras of Belen Jesuit and sophomore  Marcelo Mantecon of Belen Jesuit. Socarras was the NIN 1 Mile Champion in 4:07.32 (4:06.55c 1600m). Mantecon was the 5,000m champion in 14:14.38. Socarras is ranked second and Mantecon is ranked fourth. Sandwiched in between is senior Alejandro de Bastos of Pembroke Pines Charter HS. They are the top three-seeded runners in the Boys 1 Mile Run Open Elite race. The number 7 ranked runner is Marco Prieguez of Belen Jesuit  who has run a 4:17.29.

Will we see a sub-4:00 minute mile?  It's challenging to go sub-4:00, but the race sets up well and with some cooperative weather, it just might happen. The temperature is supposed to be in the 70's, but it may be breezy. To run sub-4:00, one has to have good speed, and a sub-1:50 800m is almost a prerequisite. Socarras has run 4:04.53 and leads the state this year with a 1:48.92. De Bastos ran a 4:10.28 on March 1st and ran a 1:50.77 to finish second in last year's 3A state championship. Mantecon has run 4:10.88 and ran a 1:54.95, finishing second to Socarras when Socarras ran his 1:48.92. The first 1/2 mile will set the tone, and they will need to come through in 1:57-1:58.  The third leg is the crucial leg, and if they can maintain the pace and run between 2:57-3:01 through the 3/4, both Socarras and de Bastos have the leg speed to run a sub-60 last 1/4. 

16 boys are in Section #2 of the top-seeded races, and we may see some surprises and will definitely see some PR's from the field.  

In Section #1 of the Boys 1 Mile Run Open Elite there are 20 boys. The top seed is junior Reece Lolly of Naples HS with  4:24.29. It should prove to be a very competitive race with all 20 boys under 4:33. You can see all the entries that are scheduled to run here: 

Boys 1 Mile Run Open Elite.

FEATURED INDIVIDUAL RACES & RELAYS

Aside from the Elite Championship Miles, the meet also features some of the state's top sprinters. The relays are expected to be incredibly competitive and fast. Whenever you put together on the same track some of Florida's historically best girls and boys teams in the 4x100 and the 4x'400 anything can happen. It depends on how the teams are loaded.  

Here are just a few of the Featured Individual Races.  You can see all of the scheduled entries and heats here:

Boys 100m

The 100 features two top-10 state-ranked runners;  junior Braylen Bennett of American Heritage HS  and senior J'Vari Flowers of Miami Northwestern HS. Bennett is currently the number three-ranked boy in the state with a 10.41. Flowers is the number six-ranked boy with a 10:45. Joining Bennett and Flowers is #12 ranked senior Xavier Williams of Spruce Creek HS. Williams has run 10.56.

Boys 200m

Teammates Tywan Cox and J'Vari Flowers of Miami Northwestern HS are scheduled to battle each other in the boys 200m. The seniors are currently ranked number three and number six in the state rankings with 21:11 and 21:16 times. Not far behind them is American Heritage HS senior Cayden Smith, who has run 21.53. Smith is currently ranked #16. It's just .42 seconds back of Cox and shows the depth of the 200m sprinters in Florida at this time.

Boys 400m

The #5 ranked 400m runner in the US, Tywan Cox of Miami Northwestern HS is scheduled to lead  a section of eight. Cox has run 46.52 this year. The slowest seed time in the section is 49.77.

Boys 3200m

Belen Jesuit senior Justin Ruiz leads a very competitive 3200m field that includes seven under 9:48.37. Ruiz has a 9:16.38 this season and a PR of 9:05.40.