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.
