Armando Del Valle over took Jimmy Clark over the last mile of the Boys Elite race, while Kathryn Fluehr cruised to another Prestate victory. Team wise, the Estero girls and Columbus boys won the Elite division trophies.
Boys Elite Race
It's hard to tell which showdown was more anticipated... Trinity Prep vs. Miami Columbus, Belen Jesuit vs. Charlotte, or Jimmy Clark vs. Armando Del Valle. This race fulfilled its promise.
The pace went out conservatively with a first mile around 5:05. The second mile only slightly picked up in pace, with the leaders crossing that mark around 9:58. At that point there was a lead back of around 15 runners, with a huge chase back just a few meters back.
After exiting the infield for the last 1200 meters or so of the race, the real fireworks began on the backside... out of the view of the crowds. The pace rapidly picked up there with several runners including Del Valle, Clark, Nick Posada, and Tyler Cardillo all applying pressure. When they emerged around the turn at the bottom of the hill, it was Del Valle with the advantage.
Up the final hill they climbed and Del Valle, known for having good finishing speed, extended the gap and won by about 5 seconds over Jimmy Clark. Pulled along with those leaders were Cardillo of Charlotte and Elliot Clemente of Belen Jesuit. The top four all finished under the course record of 15:15 set two years by Brian Atkinson.
In all 34 runners ran in the 15-minute range, more than that of national meet Great American two weeks ago.... and almost triple the 12 who broke that same mark at this meet last season. While the cool weather may have given some help in so many great performances, Florida is no doubt on fire this year with one of the deepest years ever.
Del Valle's win helped lead the Miami Columbus boys to a 20-point victory over Trinity Prep. Two weeks ago the roles were reversed with Trinity Prep winning Great American over Columbus who finished third in that race.
Two weeks ago in Titusville Belen Jesuit won the team title, trailed by their 3A rival Charlotte. This week those roles, as well, were reversed with Charlotte just 8 points behind Trinity Prep and 28 points better than Belen Jesuit.
The top four teams in the race all finished with team averages under 16. Overall there were 22 teams in the Boys Elite race with team averages under 17 minutes.
Girls Elite
Kathryn Fluehr of Community School of Naples lead the race from the gun, with twin sister Erika tagging along about 20 meters back for most of the race. Around two and a half miles, Erika was passed by Lily Williams of Chiles. Kathryn won in 17:18, with Williams and Erika about 30 second back.
Carly Thomas of Chiles and Rebecca Chandler of Bolles were fourth and fifth--both completing their first 5K in the 17s with times of 17:55 and 17:57. Kacy Smith of Estero was sixth in 17:58.
26 girls in all broke 19 minutes, compared with just nine a year ago.
With seven out of the top eight girls teams in this race, it was also a much anticipated showdown. After Lakewood Ranch claimed the "top team in the state" title two weeks ago at the flrunners.com Invitational, this time Estero took it back with a narrow 10 point victory over the Ranch.
Don't feel too bad for Lakewood Ranch though, they were more concerned about in-classification rival Chiles who they finally got the chance to meet head-to-head. The would gain a little confidence because they pulled it out to become the top seeded team in the 3A, but with just six points separating the two they can hardly rest easy! .... Until November!
Those three teams all had sub-19 team averages.
Lourdes was fourth place with a team average of 19:11, which is astounding because their head coach reckons this is their best team since their legendary 2004 squad. Lourdes had 155 points and a resurgant Plant team was fifth with 166.
In all 13 teams had averages better than 20:00--compared with just seven last year.
FLORIDA IS ON FIRE THIS YEAR!
On-Site Coverage
Jeff Adams and Jason Byrne were on-site for flrunners.com. Complete results are posted. Over 3000 photos have been uploaded from Saturday, to go along with the 1700 from Friday. 20 videos have been uploaded from the two day meet. It was a great day at the Ranch! Photo Album, Videos, Results and coverage...