Prestate Day 2: Ortiz, Arroyo Win Elite Races

Little Everglades Pre-State Invitational

Jason Byrne

Oct 15, 2011

Complete Results & Coverage...

Photo Album by Jeff Adams - Over 4000 photos from Saturday... Over 6000 total!

Video Interviews & Race Footage

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The conflicted course...

The course known as Little Everglades Ranch is a venue of contradictions.

It is known for being difficult with its long incline and yet it’s a fast course. It is spectator friendly, but on the back side there are vast areas of hidden solitude and quiet. Though created for horses, it now hosts more two-legged mammals annually than equine.

The course dictates—no, it necessitates—a certain set of rules that play out like a script time and time again. It is unpredictable because of its predictability.

The wide open-nature of almost the entire course means that a fairly evenly-skilled pack of elite runners will stay tightly lumped together for an inordinate amount of time compared to most courses. This huge right-hand passing lane allows for lots of latitude to challenge for the lead, experimentation and strategy. It means that you never know who might take the offensive and a surge could happen at any time.

Though anyone from a grab-bag of the top 25 contenders could be in the lead at the mile mark, you can pretty much write down that the pack will fan out and the legitimate will become evident as they rise the long hill for the second time—everyone feeling it much more now than the first time up.

Then invariably that tight, momentum-killing, pack-shaving hairpin-turn into the infield (and subsequent moves thereafter around the two mile bend) will separate the wheat from the chaff—the leaders from the chasers.

As they emerge from the infield the real race begins. The rest of the race melts from memory, almost like it was just a pregame show. The last three quarters of a mile is like the grand finale of Fourth of July fireworks. It tests guts, heart, stamina, and speed. The two or three who remain around the final swooping curve then eye the grandstands. The cheering gets louder now, perhaps the runners enter that Chariots of Fire moment where everything slows down and all you hear is your own breathing. Just 400 meters to go!

As they beg their legs for just a little more gas, the lactic acid starts to burn and time speeds back up as the final climb begins. Who will kick? Who saved enough in the tank to see it through? Glory awaits just on the other side of those timing pads. Who wants it more?

Girls Elite Race

The starting gun sounded and shot that rush of adrenaline through the veins of the throng of elite girls, making them forget the green monster’s grade. Not surprisingly, young seventh-grader Daesha Rogers of American Heritage bolted to the front.

Two weeks ago at flrunners, Coach Baker of Plantation’s American Heritage Academy told me he was having Rogers pull back on the reigns. On this Saturday morning though, he told me all bets were off and he was letting her loose. Though she would fade in the pack midway through, by race-end she had bettered her PR by over a minute and had top ten medal to wear around her neck. The track & field age group national record holder maintained that lead position for about 800 meters.

At that point it was rather surprisingly Bryce Seymour of Circle Christian who took over. Perhaps it should be less surprising since Seymour has been coming on strong all season long, improving week after week. But the aggressor is not a role that we’ve seen her take among an elite field… until today.

Maybe inspired by her former teammate’s lead Amy Ankli of Hagerty locked eyes on Seymour’s shoulder blades, carrying her into second around the curve and approaching the back stretch for the first time. Seymour transferred from Hagerty to Circle Christian this year.

The two held in those spots down the entirety of the back stretch and past the mile mark. Behind them was a massive group of the typical suspects: Kacy Smith, Brittney Olinger, Mary Kate Ponder, Olivia Ortiz, Sarah Candiano, Kari Grippo, Rachel Petrik, and Katy G. Solis. A sliver behind that pack was an even larger group of future all-state athletes like the trio from Chiles (Lily Williams, Carly Thomas, Rachel Givens), Katelyn Greenleaf, Daesha Rogers, Bethany Jenkins, and plenty of others.

Past the mile mark, the pack of wanna-be leaders swung out wide around the turn. Seymour looked vulnerable, re-established her lead, and then finally relented as a full-on barrage of attacks from about half a dozen girls came from behind.

Quite visible in her team’s pink breast cancer awareness garb, Brittney Olinger of Oak Hall surged and looked quite fluid starting up the hill. Kacy Smith of Estero started to push her second mile here as well. Olivia Ortiz and Sarah Candiano better positioned themselves and finally swallowed up Ankli and Seymour into the belly of the lead pack.

Laying in wait for the first 1.25 miles, the Chiles girls took their chance here as well. Lily Williams came around wide as the crowd was at its thickest, crossing by the future finish line and by the grandstands into a tie for first. The obviously well-planned strategy went on like a light switch as she surged straight from the teens to the front. Smith and Ortiz were working the same angle and from that point on it really started to look more and more like a three-person race.

Rounding the curve to the final back stretch, they went three-by-three shoulder-to-shoulder. Williams-Smith-Ortiz, Seymour-Candiano-Grippo, Thomas-Olinger-Greenleaf. The narrow turn into the infield forced some decisions and it was Lily Williams of Chiles who chose to be decisive.

Moving with a well-timed surge at the two mile mark, Williams broke most of the field. Olivia Ortiz hung with her, but all of the others decided they’d have to be content to race for third. Kacy Smith for her part had second thoughts about that initial decision, telling me later she said “I shoulda gone, I shoulda gone,” but by that point it was too late. Williams and Ortiz were off to the races and no one was going to catch them!

Williams took about a five meter lead out of the infield with the would-be top six about 15 meters behind. Ortiz muscled on to the inside along the rail to William’s left forcing Lily slightly on the outside, changing Williams from the offensive to defensive role. But they remained shoulder-to shoulder, matching each other just about stride for stride until they came about parallel with the fountain on the midpoint of the home stretch. Smith tried to correct her temporary lapse of judgement with a great move around the same point and made up substantial ground.

As they started to crest the hill, Olive’s long legs and huge kick propelled her upwards and onwardsl. As the arms started pumping and long brown pony-tail started flowing it was evident nothing would stop her. Ortiz rode to a five second victory of 17:41 with Smith fighting to within just a second of William’s second place 17:46.

Great battle! Ortiz and Williams gave us an epic to remember. Smith proved that she had rounded that corner and is back to the tenacious athlete we saw all of last year, finishing out very strong.

On the team front, Smith’s Estero girls fought hard to counter the 2-4-10 (Williams, Thomas, Givens) front three of Chiles with three in the top fifteen (3-8-14). They sealed the deal with big days from their four and five runners (Maria Frank and Katie Slater… #6 Aja Curth right there as well to add some push points). That was enough to earn the upset 95-136 over Chiles. The team averages were even closer: 18:42 to 18:44. What a race!

Olivia Ortiz Interview | Lily Williams Interview | Kacy Smith Interview | More Videos

Boys Elite

Though I was busy doing interviews from the girls race and didn’t make it on to the cart to see the early stages of the boys elite race, it looks to have played out much the same way as the girls. The massive pack battled for position throughout the first mile.

Around the first back stretch there was a bit of thinning going on and Mac Reynolds of Nease decided to take the initiative as they approached the first mile mark. Elliot Clemente of Belen Jesuit and Andres Arroyo weren’t taking any chances of getting gapped or boxed in and held on tightly to second and third, followed by about 30 more in a long, narrow chase pack.

Not long after, Clemente had enough of the hound role and took on the position of the fox. He made a strong move up the hill to surge to the lead. As they crossed by the finish line at roughly the half-way point, Clemente forced Reynolds behind him with Arroyo riding the wake into the second position. Carlos Miranda of Palmetto Ridge soon followed suit and moved into third position.

The race really took shape at this point and gave us a solid look at relatively close to the finish order. Aaron Rojas, Max del Monte, Manny Garcia, and Avery Lopez kept the leaders in sight with a solid second pack. That gap would slowly grow as they rounded the corner toward the back stretch before the infield and completely fractured contact as the two mile mark came and went.

Clemente continued to hammer it, but could not crack Andres Arroyo. Carlos Miranda was determined not to let them go and it was three out front as they exited the infield. Max del Monte and Mac Reynolds locked shoulders in fourth and fifth with a pretty sizable gap between the two seniors and junior Avery Lopez (Belen Jesuit #2), Aaron Rojas, and Chris Godwin.

Around the final curve, it looked like it would be a replay of the early season match-ups we saw been Clemente and Arroyo. The more experienced Clemente looking fantastic up front with a smooth, powerful stride and the firey youngster Arroyo looking stoned-faced and determined tucked in behind. In each of the other times they faced, Clemente had finally broken loose from his shadow and reeled in the finish line in first. It looked at that time to be a repeat as those two headed into the home stretch with Miranda finally falling off their quick clip.

But this time was different. Punk-haired, spicy Andres Arroyo found the something left that he’d been missing at the end of the other races. Maybe it was new-found confidence from a great performance at Great American? No idea, but he found it. He hit the clutch and successfully shifted into that finishing gear that had been missing at Mountain Dew and Déjà Vu.

Arroyo climbed the hill and gained separation all the way, blasting only the second sub-15 performance ever at Little Everglades with a 14:59.18. The time was just off of the course record pace of Jimmy Clark from the year before and three and a half seconds superior to Clemente, who ran it out to a 15:02.73.

Miranda was suffering from the incredible pace, but held on long enough to secure third place 15 seconds behind Clemente and two seconds better than Max del Monte’s 15:19. Reynolds and Godwin finished in a three-decimals-required 15:22.32 for fifth and sixth. Anguish (15:30), Lopez (15:33), Rojas (15:37), and a mighty PR from Andrew Iglesias of Pembroke Pines Charter (15:39) all found the under-side of 15:40.

Team-wise there was never any doubt. This year’s state favorite and nationally-ranked Miami Belen Jesuit continued their rampage. They scored just 50 points (2-6-10-12-20) and a whopping 15:37 team average (fifth runner in 15:55!) to dominate the field by 135 points. Cross-town rival Miami Christopher Columbus earned second in 175 (16:07) with 4A rival Colonial, who is hoping for the school’s first-ever state championship this year (in any sport), next with 227 (16:20). Estero, who were a preseason top pick broke out of their funk a bit with a fourth place 258 (16:20) for their best finish of the year.

Andres Arroyo Interview | Elliot Clemente Interview | Carlos Miranda Interview | More Videos

More Coverage and Results

Little Everglades Pre-State Invitational

On-Site Coverage

Prestate Day 2: Ortiz, Arroyo Win Elite Races

The course known as Little Everglades Ranch is a venue of contradictions. It is known for being difficult with its long incline and yet it’s a fast course. It is spectator friendly, but on the back side there are vast areas of hidden solitude and quiet. It necessitates a certain set of rules that play out like a script time and time again. It is unpredictable because of its predictability.

Videos (45)

Vanessa Valentine - Girls Varsity Open Winner	Ryan Gousse/Daniel Salas -Boys Varsity Open 1st/2nd	Brandon Marquez - Middle School Champ	Daley Cline - Middle School Girls Winner
Ryan Schnulle is back	Peter Rivera - Boys Junior Varsity Winner	Coach Ken Vinal, Trinity Prep	Caroline Wilder/Rachel Valentine - Girls JV 1st/2nd
Rick Moody - Warrior Running Camps	Coach Kelly Britton - Ft. Myers Girls	Coach Yancey Palmer - Ft. Myers Boys	Girls Varsity Friday Race
Boys Friday Varsity Race	Travis Nichols - Land O Lakes	Caroline Barlow - Gulf Coast	Bryce Seymour - Circle Christian
Free Hugs	Mary Kate Ponder - Mandarin	Carly Thomas - Chiles	Andres Arroyo - Boys Elite Winner
Bethany Jenkins - Estero	Mac Reynolds - Boys Elite 5th Place	Taylor Tubbs - Sebring HS	Max del Monte - Boys Elite 4th Place
Kurt Convey - Coral Reef	Olivia Ortiz - Girls Elite Winner	Bill Convey - FLYRA President	Lily Williams - Chiles, 2nd in Girls Elite
Daesha Rogers - American Heritage	Sarah Candiano - Evangelical Christian	Thomas Christenberry - Plant	Billy Anguish - Winter Park
Hannah Loder - Girls Invitational Winner	Jacob Endrulat - Boys Open Winner	Cade Zimmerman - Saturday Boys JV Winner	Brittney Olinger - Oak Hall
Claire Snyder - Girls Open Winner	Scarlett Fox - Girls Saturday JV Winner	Carlos Miranda - Palmetto Ridge	Elliot Clemente - Belen Jesuit
Boys Elite Race Highlights	Kari Grippo - Gulf HS	Kacy Smith - Estero	Girls Elite (Long Version)
Girls Elite (Abbreviated)