Complete Results & Coverage...
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Perfect weather greeted the athletes as they arrived at Andrew Jackson Middle School for the running of the Terrier Invitational this morning, but for Claire Castillo of Titusville, and Justin Schanze of Oviedo the perfect storm was brewing. As the morning sun did the job of burning off the soft morning dew, the runners went through their morning rituals of touring the course while hundreds of parents tried to figure out where the local 7-11 store was to acquire that much needed morning java to help make things a bit clearer. Coach Terry Hayden of Titusville did a great job of having the course in race condition, and the athletes coming back from the tour of the facility seemed eager to run on a course that was both firm, and fast. At the start line the ritualistic dances begin, first the stride outs to get those legs pumping, then meet with your coach for the ever popular team chants. At times it’s more entertaining to listen to the pre-race festivities then it is to actually watch the races. Teams all looking to the left and right to size up the competition, time to get together with the coach for final instructions and then off to prove who the best will be for the day.
Girls Varsity
For Titusville sophomore Claire Castillo it must have felt like a Halloween parade, because other than Laura Scott of Southfork HS the top ten runners were all dressed in various combinations of orange, black and white. The gun went off and immediately Castillo, who’s previous PR (19:25.61 @ Flrunners 12) got out fast along with Scott, Jocelyn Adona , Kaitlyn Kelly of Spruce Creek along with Caroline Jackson of Oviedo. Castillo was comfortable with her lead as they finished the first circuit followed closely by Adona, Kelly, Scott and Jackson. The lead between the top three would stay close until mid race when Castillo and Adona (PR- 19:29.10), would begin to pull away from the field to settle matters by themselves while Scott and Kelly faded back. The lead remained at 20 meters until the ladies hit the 800 when Castillo pulled away and began to surge into the final straight to the finish where she set another PR for herself in 19:18.40, followed by Adona in 19:35.10. The top 5 was finalized with Laura Scott of South Fork 20:00.42, Kaitlyn Kelly of Spruce Creek 20:06.51 and Caroline Jackson of Oviedo 20:11.43. The girls team results had Spruce Creek battling a tough Oviedo team with the Creek winning in the end scoring 41-49, third place went to South Fork 142, followed by Titusville 153 and Wharton rounding out the top 5 at 202.
Boys Varsity
Talking to Spruce Creek head coach Stephon Gallon prior to the meet he had one thing in mind as the boys went to the start line, “getting 4-5 guys under that 17 minute barrier”. Justin Schanze of Oviedo had his own agenda for the race,” I wanted to get out to a quick first mile (sub 5:00), then see how I could hang on to finish. In the end both would achieve their goals, and leave with a greater feeling of confidence. The boys lined up determined to put it all on the line, and when the gun sounded it was Schanze (16:33.57 Flrunners 12) who blasted from the line in the lead along with a group of ten others as they followed the lead cart. First mile just under 5:00, and the pack began to thin out with Schanze, the Spruce Creek pack of Carpenter, Kathman and Fabian along with James Blasco of Seabreeze, and Taylor Hickey of Rockledge. Beginning slightly after the first mile and a half the group of five became the pack of three with Schanze still in the lead and Carpenter(16:07.52) off his shoulder and Kathman(16:31.04) all tightly bunched. As the runners passed the two mile mark the intensity picked up with the three still pushing the pace, but Schanze was beginning to get the best of Carpenter who admitted afterwards that his back that has been giving him a lot of discomfort just started to tighten up. Schanze took command with 800 meters to go as he set his sights on a new PR, finishing in 16:16.68, followed by the top 5 of Carpenter 16:25.69, Kathman 16:28.43, James Blasco of Seabreeze 16:42.06 and Taylor Hickey of Rockledge in 16:47.22 who narrowly beat Michael Fabian of Creek 16:47.89 for 5th. In the end 10 athletes would break the 17 minute barrier, but none happier than Tyler Kameh of Spruce Creek who by the narrowest of margins 16:59.94 joined his teammates in Spruce Creek’s “Club Elite”. Talking with Justin Schanze after he had a chance to cool down his thoughts had now moved on to bigger targets “I want to run sub 16”, and based on the way he finished and the fact there are still four weeks left in the season I think he’s going to do it! On the team side of things, Coach Gallon was very happy as his boys matched the effort of the girls finishing first with 35 points and an average of 16:47.56. Oviedo finished 2nd with 64 points and a 17:01.37 average, followed by Jensen Beach 136 narrowly beating West Shore 137, and New Smyrna Beach rounding out the top 5 with 173.
Junior Varsity
Spruce Creek Sophomore Meghan Zimmer proved that it was possible to match some of her varsity teammates marks, while being relatively untouchable in the JV event. Zimmer, who’s more often associated with the Hawks tennis team got out fast and never looked back. After completing the first lap Zimmer’s lead grew as she led her team to an impressive 17-45 point victory over Oviedo with a time of 20:44.21, and the JV girl’s average of 21:51.33. Second place went to Monett Bartell of Creek 21:49.44, followed by Alex Bramlage Spruce Creek 22:00.44, Nikki Huynh of Oviedo 22:16.29 and Rainey Tyner of Creek rounded out the top 5 in 22:16.88. On a side note, Spruce Creek and Oviedo locked down the top 10, and placed 15 between them in the top 20. The JV Boys for Creek provided the final ingredient to the Sweep, led by sophomore Garek Church 18:08.22, James Armor 18:13.80, and Kevin Keyes 18:20.95. Rounding out the top 5 were David Brickeen of Oviedo 18:31.56, followed by Skyler Reese of Creek 18:34.61. In the end Spruce Creek’s 18:28.71 average time led to 19 points over second place Oviedo with 60. Ask what he thought about his team’s performance Coach Gallon said “We are a blue collar team, we need to keep working”. Special thanks to Coach Hayden, and his volunteers on making today special for all who attended, along with Jeff and Marcia Wentworth of Steeple Timing who did an excellent job of getting the race processed and results completed.