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When far from his normal beat, a photojournalist would be wise to lay the foundations of a productive, professional, working relationship with race officials by first establishing the element of rapport. In keeping with Samuel Johnson’s observations for just such a scenario--“It’s commonly observed, that when two…meet, their first talk is of the weather,”--I located the man with the mike, and introduced myself.
Ralph -“That was quite a storm we had last night.”
Bobby -“Indeed it was; really cooled things off.”
Ralph - “Did it leave much in the way of puddles?”
Bobby - “Yes, but the wind has pretty much dried them off already. Too bad, though.”
Ralph - “Yes, puddle pictures can be quite entertaining.”
Bobby - “We do have sand, however--which you might enjoy nonetheless—and a nice hill, over there,” he added, pointing to a grass-covered mound of questionable pedigree.
Depending upon the time remaining until the start of the Girls Race, the Race Official’s list of responsibilities, and your conversational savoir faire, at this point the photojournalist might wish to delve deeper into the weather theme by quoting a well-read source, such as The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which I personally find “Useful, with a pleasant degree of humor,”:
“You know what they say, ‘Cream and milk, when they turn sour in the night, often indicate that thunderstorms are about.’”
To which might come the reply, “Yes, but ‘Observe sheep, cats, and cows. Their bodies are affected by changes in air pressure.’”
If, on the other hand, your conversation is with a local running icon, like super-soph Kacy Smith, the wily running writer would be wise to follow the advice of Irwin P. Biddle’s Dime Book of Practical Etiquette (New York, 1859), page 26: “If you wish to make yourself agreeable to a lady, turn the conversation adroitly upon taste….”
“So, Kacy, what do you eat for breakfast?”“Monday to Friday, I usually have a Mt. Dew and a bag of Blazing Buffalo and Ranch
Doritos. Oh yeah.”
“Is that food, or the name of a Rodeo event?” I wondered. What I responded with, however, was “Just one Mt. Dew?”
“You’re supposed to have just one can of soda a day, but I might have like... five?”
“Or 17?” I wondered, judging by the way her body was still vibrating, an hour or so after her winning, course-record run.
“On weekends, if it’s before a meet, I don’t eat anything,” she said. “If I don’t have a practice, my Mom makes bacon, eggs, grits, omelets….ooooh.” (There was more—lots more--but I had a pad and pencil, not a tape recorder.) “If it’s fried, I’m in,” she added, finally putting aside her imaginary knife and fork.
“A high-calorie girl?” I asked.
“Oh yeah. I’m not on a diet. There’s no such thing as a diet. That’s ridiculous. I’m hungry right now. I’m going to head up to Mickey D’s on the way home,” she said, smacking her lips.
Having already witnessed how easily the golden-spiked girl climbed the lone hill standing between herself and victory, I decided not to remain in a similar position when it came to her aforementioned hunger and such gourmet faire. I thanked her, and excused myself.
Girls Varsity
On a day simply made for running, that human rocket, (otherwise known as) Kacy Smith, blasted off the Estero Community Park XC launching pad, and completed her double sub-orbital flight around the 3.1 mile course in a record 18:48.41, which compares quite favorably to her all-time 5K personal best, a 17:47.18 at FLRXI (a flatter, faster, and more competitive race).In so doing, she pulled her Estero teammates along for the ride of a lifetime. Smith, Katy Solis (19:55.09), Maria Frank (20:12.18), Bethany Jenkins (20:23.84), and Katherine Slater (20:28.23) shut out the rest of the District. Aja Curth (seventh in 20:34.86) and Alexa Cline (eleventh in 21:52.46) followed the fab five.
“We were trying to go for the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth spots, and win it hands down,” said Smith. “We run all these big meets all the time, and they don’t always come out in front, so we tried to get them to come in first here and see that they are getting better.”
For most of the race, it seemed as if they might take the first seven places, but a challenge by the top two runners (respectively) from both Cypress Lake and Immokalee, shuffled that order somewhat. The first fly to land in Estero’s soup, so to speak, was sophomore Chelsea Manning of Cypress Lake. Manning—sixth in 20:29.82—was sandwiched between Estero’s Slater and Curth.
Next came CL junior Emily Scott (8th in 21:15.75), and then what seemed like the entire Immokalee Girls team.
“(Nonetheless) This was a good confidence building race,” she explained. “When you get to Regional, State, and National events, you have to stay focused.”
I asked how the course compared to others she had competed on.
“It’s challenging. The ‘hill’ looks deceiving. (But) It’s not so hard. Once you get up to the top, you get to go down. But that sand pit! It eats your feet.”
Just as hungry for success as Kacy, although most are comparatively new to high school cross country, was the Immokalee team. (Their first five finished in ninth, tenth, thirteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth places.)
Both Immokalee coaches--Hugo Gijon (Boys) and Ismael Galicia (Girls)--graduated first from Immokalee, and subsequently from FGCU. They are young, first-year coaches, leading an exciting and enthusiastic team.
“I love cross country,” began Gijon, “and even when I went to college I communicated with (Immokalee) Coach Bernie Martinez. He laid the foundation; he had at least five District Championships and a Regional runner-up finish. They qualified for the State Meet every year he was there. I’d like to continue that tradition.”
He explained how he followed Martinez to the helm.
“This year he had to do something with his family. He recommended me to his athletic director. I thought about it for (all of) a few seconds, and decided that it was something that I wanted to do.
“We have a very promising and talented team,” he said. “But they’re young girls, and this is a rebuilding year. They got second today. It’s their first placing in the top two at Districts.”
With four freshmen, two sophomores, one senior, and a second place finish in the 2010 District Meet, the sun is indeed about to rise on Immokalee (Seminole for “My home.”).
“It’s a team effort,” continued Gijon. “I don’t have a #1 guy or girl. It’s been back and forth all year. Our strength is in our team unity.”
Caution, however, tempers his ambitions.
“Both the past coach and I have tried to get them ready for college. We start them on low mileage and build them up. There’s no reason to blow their mileage up and (have them) peak in high school. We’d like to get them ready for college, and have them blossom there.”
Blossoms—in the form of runners’ tags—unfortunately also rained down on the floor of the finish chute.
“We had a runner in the shoot run into our volunteer, who was collecting the tags from the runners,” wrote fellow weatherman, Bobby Tyler. “As they collided, the tags went everywhere. They scrambled to get them back in order. We contacted the coaches and made them aware of the situation. The coaches gave times, approximate times, and some places. We put them together—the top 15 and team scores--to the best of our ability.”
Rest rarely dwells in a troubled mind.
“This morning I woke up at 3:30 AM, and went on flrunners.com, opened the results page, and saw that the pictures of our meet had been posted. I opened the pictures and found they had every runner in place except the last three girls. I was able to compile the results, picture by picture, checking each bib number.”
Because the photographer had to leave the area of the finish line and reposition himself for the start of the Boys Varsity Race, Tyler had to decide the order of the last three on his own.
“I have now corrected that. This has changed the sixth and seventh places in the team standings.”
“Bobby is a parent volunteer,” explained Estero coach and meet director, Jeff Somner. “His kids ran with me ten years ago, and he still follows everywhere I go, and does anything I need. He really steps up to the plate.”
“Because this was an accident and we did not have a backup plan, I take full responsibility for our error,” Tyler humbly submitted. “I have asked the FHSAA for a ruling on letting both those teams in question run. They will get back to me on Monday.”
GIRLS VARSITY TEAM RESULTS – It was truly Estero’s day. Placing 1-2-3-4-5-7-11, their 15 points won a District Meet with a dual meet score. However, Immokalee (9-10-13-15-16-20-45; 63) and Cypress Lake (6-8-17-24-30-36-43; 85), both of which have only one senior and a slew of underclassmen, certainly have the right to view this race as their first race of 2011. 94 runners and 14 teams appeared in the results.
Boys Varsity
Estero Coach Jeff Somners wears a gold chain around his neck, and hanging from that chain are three letters: DDD.“Discipline, Desire, and Dedication,” he explained. “We practice every morning... when the sun comes up. It is difficult getting new kids buying into the program, because the parents have to get up (sometimes) at 4:00, but once they’re here, and they see the success of the program, they understand what they’re getting from the program. The inconvenience makes you
loyal.”
To his three Ds, I can suggest a fourth: Determination. As the top runners in this race shed the legion of hopefuls attempting to advance to the Regionals, it became apparent that the Estero boys would not find the road to perfection as smooth as their female counterparts. Three tough Cypress Lake kids, and two more from Labelle, spread and then separated the “foreigners.” (Estero is Italian for foreign, or overseas.)
“We were expecting to do well today,” explained Estero junior Aaron Rojas. “I told them (his teammates) to relax and just run their race, not to get their heads up too high. This is the time to show what you have.”
Cypress Lake’s Trent Craig did just that. His first great surge came shortly after “The Mound.” In the Boys’ Varsity photo album, you can see the purple-white-red shirt order of runners on the other side of the pond. That order repeats itself in the following photos, or rather remained intact, for the rest of the race. Estero, meanwhile, seemed to follow Aaron’s advice, as well as his white singlet, seeking safety in numbers.
“They were pushing themselves pretty hard,” Rojas said. “Basically, we wanted a District Championship.”
Again, CL’s Craig seemed to be eavesdropping.
“I stayed in front of him (Rojas) the whole time,” Craig explained after finishing. “He tried to surge on me, but I just kept going.”
Just before the finish line, Craig threw in a little “maneuver” that was witnessed, but probably not “digested,” until after he offered an embarrassed clarification in this interview.
“At the finish line, I went right in front of him. I shouldn’t have done it... but I did. He had a better race than me. His coach—I can’t remember his name--had a better strategy than mine (personal): sit and keep picking up the pace.”
“He’s (Somner) the best coach I’ve ever had,” offered Rojas. “He’s enthusiastic, and very nice. He’s like a second father to me. He’s always there to help us out with anything we need. He’s a good man.”
Trent Craig won the last race to the finish by .27 seconds, winning in 16:25.20. Aaron Rojas was second (16:25.47) and Labelle’s Gabriel Barron third (16:45.79). Next came two more Cypress Lake runners (closing out the sub 17s): Robert Ormsby in 16:50.63 and Jeremy Ploplis in 16:57.28. One more Labelle followed in sixth—Caleb Baker in 17:04.52—before the rest of Estero’s seniors in straight order: 7-8-9-10. They were Jesse Littlefield (17:09.77), Julian Chavez
(17:18.91), Steven Briner (17:22.85), and Jose Cartagena (17:27.49).
BOYS VARSITY TEAM RESULTS – With five in the top ten, and all seven in sixteenth or better, Estero won the team championship (12-7-8-9-10-12-16; 36). They were followed by Cypress Lake (1-4-5-32-35-47-71; 77) and Immokalee (11-15-17-18-21-25-36; 82). 110 runners and 16 teams scored.