Boys 5000 Meters - Heat 2
Although you can never actually say this in running (because anything can happen), the Boys 5K was as closed to a done deal as you will likely find in high school running. The national record holder in the indoor 5K (as a freshman) and Gatorade National Runner of the Year Lukas Verzbicas was a virtual lock. So the real battle came down to second place. And Holy Trinity's David Kilgore not only held his own, but excelled.
Kilgore ran an extremely intelligent race, letting the leaders take it out fast and hung back... but not too far back. Placing himself, in the middle of the chase pack early, and over the course of the first mile maintained a disciplined (yet quick) pace. During the next mile, as others started to fall away, he maintained and took the two miles through a new personal best en route 9:27.
As the inhuman Lukas Verzbicas came around and lapped Kilgore and Eddie Owens of New York, who were at that point battling for the second place spot, the Holy Trinity senior peaked up at the clock and saw his plan was working. In the end, Owens nipped him by eight tenths for the finish but Kilgore dipped under the exclusive 15-minute mark to finish in a third place, personal best 14:50.59. That makes Kilgore All-American!
Boys 5000 Meters - Heat 1
Joey Castagnaro of Holy Trinity finished in 27th place overall with a time of 16:19.51.
Girls 5000 Meters - Heat 2
From the second lap, there she was Kathryn Fluehr of Community School zipped to the front of the pack. We all know by now that she likes to lead, but not only was she asserting herself as the leader and executive pace-setter... she was leading the pack at an agressive national record pace. The crowd was stunned. Frankly, while everyone expected to see a national record go down in the boys race, no one expected to see anything close in the girls race. Yet here we were witnessing the breakneck pace lead by Kathryn.
Hanging back a bit early and the pushing up were both Erika Fluehr, Kathryn's sister, and Waverly Neer of Indiana. By about four laps in it was those three who had pretty solidly asserted themselves as the leaders. Kathryn and Neer clicked off laps one after another--there are 25 in all in the 5000 indoor race--and maintaining the national record pace.
Through one mile.... 2K... 3K... 2 mile... it was Kathryn Fluehr in pink with Waverly Neer in orange hanging on for dear life. What a night for Kathryn, coming through the two mile split in under what she ran for the same distance at Brooks PR a couple of weeks ago! She was actually starting to get some separation and it looked like she may be able to hold on.
But around lap 18 (3800 meters), you could see Kathryn's form start to break down slightly. Neer smelled blood in the water and went in for the kill, getting by the future Princeton Tiger with around 1K to go. Though feeling the effects of her early pace, Kathryn maintained and held on for a fantastic finish. Neer, benefitting from the drafting and pace set by Fluehr, kicked it in over the last 400 meters to secure the new national record of 16:35.15.
Erika, who started a little more conservatively, was able to make up some ground toward the end to gain on her sister. Kathryn crossed in 16:43.70 (just .68 off the old national record) and Erika less than two second back in 16:45.58. Those All-American times were about 10 seconds better than their outdoor times last week at flrunners.com Primetime... with twice the curves.
Girls 5000 Meters - Heat 1
Five Florida girls represented in the first heat of the Girls 5000: Julie Wollrath, Teresa Ristow, and Mackenzie Dummer of Holy Trinity; Shelby Davidson of Cocoa Beach; and Bryce Seymour of Hagerty. Davidson, traveling up to New York City with the girls from Holy Trinity, showed her thanks and Melbourne pride by sporting the same green jersey as the girls from Holy Trinity.
From basically the gun it was obvious that Davidson and Wollrath weren't going to be timid in the race. They pushed through the front quickly and though one hung on for a short while, before too long it was the Davidson-Wollrath show. And reminisent of some Steve Prefontaine-Frank Shorter move they made it obvious they had a clear strategy. With each 200 meter lap they traided off for the lead, targetting an elite time, they had to race against the clock to medal.
After about two miles, Davidson said she looked over her shoulder for Wollrath to take the lead. She could tell that the eigth-grader was not prepared to push it again, so Davidson maintained and rolled on solo for the last mile for the big win. Davidson crossed in 17:27, which earned her 11th place overall (after the second heat), with Wollrath hanging on for a third in the heat 17:48. The other girls from Florida... Ristow 18:14, Dummer 19:31, and Seymour DNF.
Fantastic race and new personal best for Davidson. The only question left for the Cocoa Beach junior about her first indoor experience is what might have happened if she had been seeded in the fast heat?
Boys 800 Meters - Emerging Elite
Olympia's Daniel Dey took the race out hard, leading the race through three laps. Going by the 600 meter point around 1:25, he was looking strong. The last lap took its toll though and he found himself slipping back a big. With about 30 meters to go, he got tripped up in the pack, but recovered and still managed to finish in an impressive time of 1:58.83--only 2 seconds behind the leader's 1:56.20.
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