Coach Beach senior Shelby Davidson wins girls race. Billy Anguish takes the boys.
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TITUSVILLE – Returning everyone from its talented 2010 girls cross country squad, Hagerty High came into this season with high expectations.
Those expectations turned to results at Saturday’s 39th Annual Astronaut Rotary Invitational, as the Huskies won the girls race with 35 points, 32 points better than second-place Cocoa Beach. Hagerty’s boys team – which graduated four of its top eight runners from a season ago -- impressed as well, finishing runner-up (82 points) to Winter Park, which won the event with 63 points.
“We really tried to focus today running as a group,” Hagerty coach Jay Getty said. “That’s going to be big-time important when we get to November is being able to keep people packed together, so that was a focus today. It was a good job for us on the course to do that pack running with some style, I guess you could say.”
Individually, Winter Park senior Billy Anguish was the winner in 16 minutes, 21.09 seconds. Three of this teammates joined him among the top 18 finishers. In the girls race, Cocoa Beach senior Shelby Davidson crossed the line first in 18:11.98.
The Hagerty girls put five runners in the top 13, including Amy Ankli, who finished second in 19:13.39. The Huskies boys had three in the top 15, led by Peter Licari, who was runner-up with a time of 16:30.20.
“It is a very good confidence boost for them,” Getty said. “Most of them do know that September is September – everything happens in November. So, we’ll see how it goes from here. As long as we’re healthy and competitive, I’m super happy.”
Anguish came into Saturday’s meet with a gameplan. He executed it to perfection.
“I just sat on Peter (Licari) – right behind him – until about the last 800 meters,” Anguish said. “Then I pushed it myself; I just felt good, so I took off. That strategy works for me.”
Anguish expects to see plenty more of Licari in upcoming meets.
“It’s the first race of the regular season and me and Peter battled it out again. We had some preseason races that we ran, too,” Anguish said. “I got the better of him this time, but we’ll see.”
Winter Park coach Dennis Kozub was proud of his senior’s effort.
“Billy ran a pretty smart race today. His legs were really sore all week long, but he said he felt pretty good today,” Kozub said. “Going into the second mile, we told him to go to sleep and get him at the end. We told him to try to get him on the surge, go hard -- and that’s what he did.”
DeLand’s Keneth Pineiro was third in 16:31.43, John Lindsey of Winter Park was fourth in 16:38.79 and Oviedo’s Justin Schanze placed fifth in 16:48.99.
A course that was soggy in parts from heavy rain on Friday didn’t seem to have a major effect on many of the runners. Davidson said she made a conscious effort to block out the conditions.
“Running is so mental. Before races, you have to think of the positive stuff,” Davidson said. “I know it poured rain yesterday, but I wasn’t going to let that bother me. The course was very muddy and wet, but I didn’t let that affect me.”
Davidson started getting separation at about 1,000 meters, then increased her lead each mile. She said she wasn’t shooting for a specific time or a PR, she simply wanted to win the race.
“I felt good the entire time,” Davidson said. “I wanted to go out harder the first mile. From then on, for the second and third mile, I just kind of relaxed the entire time and I felt real good.”
The Merritt Island girls finished third with 103 points. Oviedo was fourth with 120 points and Lyman placed fifth with 128. For the boys, Oviedo took third (107), Lyman was fourth (139) and host Astronaut rounded out the top five with 205 points.
