The Disney World Classic is what you might call the biggest low-key meet in the state. The races are relatively small and the atmosphere is relaxed. You'd almost think the teams were on vacation... probably because most of them are!But the largely out-of-state field at this "tourist meet" was greeted by what was by all accounts an especially well-run and efficient meet this year. It featured solid competition (despite SAT testing), quick results and awards, top-notch meet management, and disposable D-Tag timing.
And the size of the field was a bit larger this year, perhaps because it seems slightly more in-state teams decided to add it to their calendar. Though the invaders managed to win most of the team titles, our native teams held their ground with several wins including the Charlotte boys' victory in the Saturday Elite race that was made up of only four in-state teams.
"We didn't really know what to expect coming in," said Coach Chris George of Charlotte adding that it has been five years since they last attended the Disney Classic. "Last year we went to FSU, but this year we wanted a change in scenery and it turned out to be a good race for us."
He wanted his boys, who have been exceptional thus far in 2010, to have a low-key but competitive meet to sandwich between the two key in-season meets for them: flrunners.com Invitational and Prestate. Going in though they didn't expect to win, hoping just to be in the top three.
"We trained through it really... but we still managed to pull it off, which was great, even without our number five who was SAT Testing and only one guy PRed."
Without normal number five, Phil Mendez and his 16:44, the team need help from their bench. And it couldn't have been any closer! Charlotte managed a one-point victory over Colonial (77-78) with out-of-towners Ocean City, NJ and Northern Collegiate within spitting distance at 80 and 88 points, respectively.
Andrew Stoquert stepped into the fifth man role, with teammate Dominic Cardenas just in his shadow. Stoquert ran close to his personal best with a 17:41 on the not-so-speedy Wide World of Sports course. Tyler Cardillo (16:01), Ryan Schnulle (16:11), Anthony Borrego (16:24), and Bryan Hilgar (16:38) served in their typical 1-2-3-4 role.
"It wast great, even though the guys weren't pleased with their times," said George, "we just wanted to be top three going in because we knew Ocean City, Trinity Prep, and Colonial would be in there." Trinity Prep ended up fielding a team without most of their top runners.
Charlotte, ranked number one headed into the season, has pulled togehter nicely; however, they know they have a tough road ahead of them at state. Belen Jesuit has shaped up to be just on the heels of Trinity Prep and Miami Columbus--nationally ranked teams--and will almost certainly be favored to win the 3A crown over Charlotte.
"Last year we finished third (at state)," George said thinking back to that day last November, "and from then on we knew that this had to be our year. This is going to be our chance at the state title and that's what we are focused on." And so far his troops are progressing right on schedule!
"It's kind of scary!" he said with a laugh, "week by week we have been exactly where I wanted them to be... at flrunners we wanted to close the gap to Belen." Charlotte finished behind Belen Jesuit and three other teams at their first meet of the year at the FACA Classic. That FACA meet has served as their measuring stick for how far they had to go and how far they have come this year. While Belen Jesuit has improved substantially since then, Charlotte has improved more, and the gap is closing. They were just 17 points behind with their second place finish at flrunners--5 seconds back by team average.
"Everyone knew about Tyler (Cardillo) and he had high expectations--which he's been living up to--but Ryan Schnulle has been an integral part of the team for us. He's made huge improvements... he is the spitting image of Tyler, only one year younger... and he has gained a lot of confidence in his racing hit year." Schnulle has been consistently within ten seconds of Cardillo, their team leader. Coach George also beamed about Anthony Borrego who he called a "consistent hard worker."
Colonial, for its part, came in and had a solid--but not great--outing at Disney, following their rather impressive 16th place finish at Great American in the ROC last week. Andres Arroyo lead the way for them with a 16:05 fourth place finish. The sophomore looks to have a lot of upside and ran to a 15:38 at Great American.
The young Colonial team has a bright future with four out of their top five being underclassmen. It was the third meet in eight days for those young guys, after they wrapped up an easy victory at the Metro Freshman-Sophomore Championships on Tuesday. So they've been busy!
Ryan Gousse of Trinity Prep was the top Florida finisher in the race with a time of 15:54 and a second place finish behind Miles Schoedler of Ocean City and his 15:34. Schoedler is a New Jersey native and is currently ranked 23rd in the nation by MileSplit. Trinity Prep, running with only Gousse and Sam Goldberg of their normal top seven, finished a distant ninth with 219 points as the next Florida team in the elite division.