Spanish River Invitational: Pickering Blazes Past Del Valle

A shocker at the Spanish River Invitational today... Ryan Pickering of John I. Leonard upset Armando del Valle of Miami Columbus, who is nationally-ranked and widely considered to be Florida's top runner.  

Pickering ran an astounding 14:58 on the Spanish River course that is not known for especially being a speedway, but it was today!  Del Valle was in second place about 12 seconds back.  

The John I. Leonard senior ran a very smart race, positioning himself well and running a smooth and even tempo.  With about 1,000 meters to go Del Valle gave the leader a test with a nice charge, but Pickering fought him of and cruised in for victory while Del Valle cool his advances over the final 400 and settled in for second in 15:10. 

Del Valle's Columbus once again looked very impressive with their top three under 16 minutes and 4-5 around 16:30.  Their 6 and 7 were also under 17:00.  And if that weren't enough to impress you, in the Boys JV race they were perfect... going 1-2-3-4-5-(6)-(11) with about a 17:25 team average, lead by a 16:51 from sophomore Daniel Linares.

I looks like the Leonard boys were second, though there were some issues with the spindle that are still being worked out.

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