The Optimist Invite, which was started over 30 years ago by State Championship Coach Richard "Hoppie" Hoptar, is always an amazing event. With 27 teams showing up for this difficult course with a huge hill you must cover twice, the times were fast for early season. Coach Heinzman puts on a great meet and marks the course very well, and somehow he still manages to coach her girls team, which is ranked 4th in 3A this year.
The girls race was a rehash of last week, pitting the #1 (Estero), 2 (Lakewood ranch) ,and 4 (Ft. Myers) girls teams against one another. Olivia Ortiz of Lakewood Ranch and Kacy Smith were side-by-side through the mile in 5:45, with freshman Sarah Candiano in tow 5 seconds back. At the 2 Mile it was the same should-to-shoulder in 12 flat with Candiano closing to 3 secondsback. Estero had a lead of about 14 points over Lakewood Ranch at the 2 mile split, 34 to 48 In the end Ortiz would pull away from them both to win by almost 17 seconds, Candiano in second, and Smith falling to 3rd, but Estero's girls kept their 34 points to take the team title over Lakewood ranch who did close the gap 3 points from the 2 mile mark. Estero was able to put their top 5 girls in the top 11 and their 6 and 7 in the top 30, while Lakewood Ranch would get their top 7 in the top 25. This is gonna be a fight for the title all year in 3A.
The boys race would pit many of the top individuals in the state Aaron Rojas (Estero), Bobby Ormsby (Cypress Lake), Ryan Schnelle (Charlotte), Josh Pellitier and Carlos Miranda (both Palmetto Ridge). At the 1 mile mark the men were 10 deep at 5:14 with a pack of 25 just 5 to 10 seconds back. As I made my way to the 2 Mile mark it was a clear 2 man race coming around the hill, Carlos Miranda and Aaron Rojas had put a 40m lead on the rest side by side in10:33 (mile 1 has the hill in the start and mile 2 you have to tackle it just prior to the 2 mile mark). At the 3 mile marker Miranda put about 15-20 meters on Rojas who came charging back, but just fell short at the line to Miranda 16:07.43 to 16:07.71. The Course record which was set in late season last year is 15:57 so look for great times out of these two, and oh yeah both are in the stacked 3A race at State. Estero capped off the meet with the boys team title putting their top 5 in the top 16 over Ft. Myers boys team by 43 points.
Estero 48
Ft. Myers 91
Palmetto Ridge 119
Ida Baker 139
Charlotte 151
Lakewood Ranch 184
North Ft. Myers 236
St. John Neumann 238
Mariner 259
Cypress Lake 301
