When I first moved to DeLand, I soon discovered that everyone else in town had an identity crisis.
“Where are you from?” I was asked.
“Ormond Beach,” I replied.
(I didn’t mention that I had only lived there for eight months.)
“And before that?”
“New York State,” I bravely admitted.
“I thought so.”
At this point, I might have added: I went to college about a half hour from Fairport, home of that purveyor of baking soda for whom this town was renamed. (Before that, it had the fruity title of “Persimmon Hollow.”) Further, DeLand’s first wave of settlers also “took sail”--on prairie schooners--from that fair port on the Erie Canal.
It is a matter of record that, after heading south, Henry D. ran through his savings in, well, a New York minute. So the town had to be bailed out by a second well-traveled salesman, this one from Philadelphia. Cowboy John Batterson Stetson was born somewhere in New Jersey, and after the Civil War followed the advice of New York Tribune publisher, Horace Greeley (Go west, young man!”) As a result of an inspiring trip to Pike’s Peak—where he found fleas in his coonskin cap--he made “hatfuls of money” in his “Boss of the Plains” felt headpiece. Stetson eventually moved to DeLand, and took over a college—The DeLand Academy— and thus feeling justified to change its name to Stetson University, he subsequently dedicated several structures to various family members.
In truth, few people who have ever lived in Florida even came from Florida. And many, as DeLand did, soon left. (Henry’s secret identity might have been the compelling factor for his return to Fairport. As an intergalactic ringholder, he often played host to fellow Guardians of the Universe in his Fairport mansion, known here on earth as “The Green Lantern Inn.” I kid you not…well, maybe just a little.)
A “native cracker” might smugly reply, “How ‘bout them Seminoles? They been here a long time.”
Well, nope; they were actually a melting pot of Creeks--chased into Florida by more aggressive neighbors who had invaded Alabama and Georgia—tribes indigenous to Florida, and escaped slaves. And, in fact, most of what’s left of their lineage currently resides in Oklahoma. (So much for our in-state football rivalry.) To find the original inhabitants of Florida, you’d have to go much further back in history. (Go Florida State Timucuans!)
Much of this non-habitual inhabitation continues today. Take the name Deltona, which might better be spelled DeLtona. Nowhere near either DeLand or Daytona, the town’s name is, nonetheless, spelled like a combination of the two. Go figure. And along with Orange City’s—which has little citrus to speak of--University High School, causes about as much confusion as possible. Deland (yes, sometimes it is spelled that way too) has three colleges in town (Angley has closed)--Daytona State, Florida Technical College, and Stetson-- however, its high school is simply called DeLand High. But students in Orange City, with no colleges, attend University High. Perhaps it is affiliated with some on-line college…and its mascot, “The Titans” could be named for a box of really, really big oranges…which also never existed.
Since its opening in 2010, many of Orange City High School’s students were recruited from elsewhere, including DeLand (maybe that’s the reason it’s called University High School), and Deltona. But then again, since DeLand is the only school in the area with an IB program—which is “just like college”—and takes in students from Orange City, Deltona, and Pine Ridge--which is not a really a ridge--but does, in fact, have pine trees!
The lesson in all this is that Florida, not unlike an invitational track meet, is a place where you can come “uninvited,” but you must, in time, pay your dues. And so, as hope springs eternal from my keyboard—and I follow in the well-placed footsteps of my fellow transplants, John, Henry, et. al.--I wait, in eager anticipation, for the locals to name something after me. Perhaps Ralph’s high jump apron?
Track Imitates Life
Keneth Pineiro--there is one “n” in Keneth, as sure as there is one “n” in western Volusia’s four major towns, DeLand, Deltona, Orange City, and Pine Ridge--lives in Deltona.
“Right over there,” he told me, pointing past the long jump pit.
But because of his enrollment in IB, he runs for DeLand…and runs and runs and runs…except for when his spikes hit the track, at which point it looks more like he’s sprinting. He was a double winner, first in the 1600, which he won, by nine seconds, in 4:27.4.
“I wanted to drop my PR,”--4:25.37, his freshman year, at the April 8, 2011 5 Star Conference Meet—“big time.”
After that race, he collapsed in what could best be described as an emotional letdown. Later on in the meet, he found redemption in the 3200, which he won by six seconds, in 9:46.09.
“Based on what I did today, it was a good meet. I have a new 3200 PR,”—his previous best was 9:54.11, accomplished in last year’sDeltona Invitational—“and when I do really good, and achieve something close to what I want, it gives me confidence and helps me achieve more.”
“How much more,” I asked?
He smiled, then said, “Only time will tell.”
To get to the heart of the matter, I asked his coach, Dale Papineau, “What was up with all that sprinting?”
“He asked me what the splits would have to be to run a 4:14. He”—Keneth—“said, ‘I might not get it the first time, but I’ve got to have a goal in order to set it.’” Papineau smiled. “He didn’t do too badly. I think if he had Andres Arroyo, from Colonial, here, both would have done better.”
But there’s more to the story.
“At the end of January, he could hardly walk, due to an injury,” Pineiro’s coach explained. “So he took off for two weeks, and didn’t run at all. In February, when he got the okay, we started in slow. He did the 800, and then the mile, and in his first real 3000,”—at last Tuesday’s Deltona meet—“he ran a 9:13, which was pretty good.” (According to Milesplit’s conversion calculator, that converts to a 9:53.65 3200, and a 9:57.0 for two miles.)
Goals are what track is all about, and there were similar, spirited plans by the meet’s two top female runners, Hagerty’s Amy Ankli and Leesburg’s Allison Wilson. Like Pineiro in the Boys’ 1600, Ankli attempted to control the pace in the Girls’ 1600.
“I wanted to go out and get a good time,” Ankli explained. “I didn’t know who would go out with me, but I was hoping for a PR, which was 5:12.21 at the State Meet.” (May 7, 2011)
During the middle two laps, it was difficult to tell if it was Allison Wilson’s plan to hang back, or if she was already going all-out.
“She took off on me,” Wilson said. “I just wanted her not to get too far from me. I could tell from the way she went out that she’s a pace runner, and not a kicker. If I didn’t let her get too far away, I thought I could get her in the last 400.”
But there came a point when Ankli’s lead might have seemed big enough to Wilson, that it left room for doubt in her mind.
“Definitely. I was hoping she’d break the wind for me, but she got too far ahead. On the back stretch of the third lap, I thought, ‘Great. She’s got so much of a lead that I’m going to lose for the first time this year.’”
Much to her credit, Allison never gave up though. In the last 70 meters she caught, then passed her to win in 5:14.79. Ankli held on to second in 5:18.90.
An almost identical situation developed in the Girls’ next-to-last-event, the 3200. Again, Ankli went out hard.
“With the 3200 being longer, I felt that I had more time to ‘hold my energy,’” Amy said after their second duel. “My splits were pretty even…”
Again, Allison Wilson came up on her in the final straightaway, but it was too little, too late. Ankli prevailed, 11:16.57 to Wilson’s 11:17.71.
“We’ve”—Hagerty—“had a lot of speed work, and distance,” Amy said. “My coach, Getty, has it all planned out. Next we have FSU. I’m doing the two (races). I know tonight the mile didn’t go as planned, so we’ll change that, I guess.”
Good Fences
Up north they have an old expression that “good fences make good neighbors.” But up there the preferred building material is granitic field stone. Fortunately for the evolution of the hurdles, this event did not begin in New England, but rather someplace where white picket fences were common. Hagerty’s Alyssa Younker is happy they did.
Although she doubles in gate jumping—she finished fourth in the meet’s 100 hurdle event in 17.05—Alyssa knows her strengths.
“The 300 hurdles,” she readily admitted. “I’m kind of a longer sprinter. (For me) it’s really hard being up front and running for time. I’m a chaser; I run better when I am ‘behind.’ Also, I like taking more than three steps between hurdles, so I can pick up a lot of speed.
Younker, whose best is 44.75 (at the March 25, 2011 FSU Relays), picked up enough speed on the Deltona track to win the 300 hurdles in 45.64. She won another first in the 200; 26.09, which was a new PR.
“I also like doing the 400. It’s one of my better events.”
The senior’s personal best, 57.14, was run at the 4A Region 1 Meet on April 27, 2011.
“I did both last year, but they’re back to back, and it’s tough. I won both at Lake Brantley last year,” 58.21 in the 400, and 47.30 in the 300s, “but I swore I’d never do that again. At Districts and Regionals, I think I could make it through, but I really want to medal at this year’s State Meet.”
As far as hurdling goes, two of Spruce Creek’s top athletes—Megan Tse and Terry McMillon—the shorter the better. Although frequently successful in several events, Tse and McMillon each earned ten points for their respective Hawks’ teams in the higher hurdles; Megan in 15.95 and Terry in 15.26. Terry’s win came as a relief.
“This is actually a recovery race for me,” he said afterwards. “I got hurt at the East Coast Classic”—this past February 24th, where he won the 110s in 15.26—“and this is on my ‘road to recovery.’ I’m trying to get back to the 14s”—his best is 14.92 at Spruce Creek’s time trials earlier in the season—“and maybe lower. The competition here pushed me.
“As far my injury goes, I think I got it all out, but I always think I can do better.”
Happy 400!
Like birthdays, happiness in the 400 is all about being as far under a zero as possible.
In the Boys’ race, it was an all-out sprint between Desmond Robb (who is no stranger to being a “49er”), and Stefan Guire (who is steadily heading in the same direction). Coincidentally, they are competitive “friends” from, respectively, Orange City and DeLand.
“If it weren’t for Orange City High School opening up, I’d be going to DeLand. I went there my freshman year,” explained Robb. “What started out as a friendship,”—between Stefan and Desmond—“has become a rivalry.”
“I knew, coming in, that Desmond was the one to beat,” added Guire, “because he ran a 49 (.74) here Tuesday. We both knew we’d have to go out really fast.”
“I was with my friend, Stefan, for the first 250 meters, and then tried to muscle my way past.”
“I was pretty disappointed,” opined Guire, “because I wanted to win and break 50…but my time”—50.2—“is still a PR.”
In fact, in the past three weeks, the two have set six personal bests between them: Desmond set two in the 800 (2:02.40 on April 7th, and 2:02 on April 10th), and one in the 400 (49.74 on March 13th). His winning time, 49.85, is his second sub-50 in three days.
Stefan set one in the 800 (2:15.80 on March 7th), and two in the 400 (50.69 on February 24, and 50.22 for second place in this meet).
“Any time we see each other….” Desmond left his final comment unfinished.
Spruce Creek’s Kristina Harris finished hers by winning the Girls’ 400 in 59.34. If you “search” her name on FLR, you’ll notice that all 16 of her times are posted as having been run in 2012, and that’s because she’s a freshman. Thus many of her times, all on local tracks, are PRs that have been set and reset weekly.
Ralph’s Big Adventure
Anyone who is familiar with my modus operandi will vouch for the fact that I rarely wander far from the track and its infield. There are lots of reasons for this, the prime one being that it’s where the action is. If I was reporting baseball, would I work the parking lot? Well, maybe if it was to chase down someone’s 800th home run. Anyway, all this changed after Westport’s Chris Jackson won the 800. One minute he was right there in front of me, and the next he was waaaay across the infield, moving briskly away.
I assumed that he was heading somewhere downtrack for his sweats. So I limped along in his wake. But he made like the Energizer Bunny and the next thing I knew, I was well off the track, and in total darkness, darker even than just before DeLand threw the switch to become the first city in Florida to electrify itself (zzzzzzzzzzzzzzttt!). No doubt his school chose this secluded spot well before sundown, since the track’s lights didn’t reach this far into the night, and I stumbled along in the shadows, searching for my prey…I mean interview.
“Chris? Chris, you there? Oh, there you are. Why did you disappear so fast?”
“I didn’t want to show any weakness,” he whispered. “If I’d stayed on the track, I’d have fallen down. I don’t want people to think I’m weak.”
In place of weakness, Chris Jackson has plans, big plans.
“My freshman year, I was ranked first in the state, and (at one point) fifth in the country. (As a junior) my goal is to be state champion this year. Then, next year, to run in the nationals.”
If it seems that he sprung up as fast as he tends to disappear, he did.
“I’ve been running by myself; on the road. I work hard, ‘behind closed doors,’ where people don’t see me. I run easy at school, but push it at home.”
And as far as his home, he has, as of late, switched locales.
“I came from Dunnellon; I just transferred in. This is my first meet, my first 800 of the year. I pretty much just ran it to see how I would do. I’m getting ready for the Florida Relays, for Ryan Snelling and Otneil Texeira.”
A 1:58.4 win is a good start, but how does one bridge an existing gap, and compete against the likes of Teixeira, who, with a 1:53.47 PR came within .01 of winning the 4A FHSAA finals (May 7, 2011)?
“In practice, I’ll run an 800 in 2:15 to 2:20, then continue on to a 1000. Then I break down and catch my wind. I do that four times. It’s a confidence builder. I also stretch a lot.”
Never underestimate the importance of stretching.
“I’m going to work as hard as I can this year.”
In the Girls’ 800, for Oviedo’s Danielle Turk, work had a name: Tori Ehrhardt.
“That girl from Creek,” Danielle began. “I knew she was close. She stayed with me. I had to dig down deep and really push it.”
Right up to the last few steps, the race could have gone to either competitor.
“It was a really good race. In the last 200, the backstretch, I knew she was close.”
Their times were: Turk in 2:22.28, and Ehrhardt in 2:22.82.
Danielle, however, had a full plate, and couldn’t rest on one victory.
“Besides the 800, I also run the 4 X 8 and the 4 X 4.”
Spruce Creek’s girls won those two longer relays.
“I like the ‘8’ better, just because it’s an individual event. I don’t have to depend on a team. Whether or not I run well, it’s entirely up to me. I push myself to do better for each race.”
Working hard, vertically
There was something odd about the jumps at this meet. For starters, at one end of the track, there were three events (long jump, triple jump, and pole vault), contested by two sexes (the usual two), on two runways (sand at one end, and foam at the other). Let’s see now, 3 X 2 = 6. (With me so far?) So, six events divided by two runways = three. Wait, something doesn’t add up. What, are we going to have to share runways?
Precisely. So, if you’ll look at the pole vault photos, you’ll see exhibit A: one girl with a pole, and one without, each standing (more or less) back to back…like a classic duel. (Walk ten paces, turn and….) Hey, you do what you must. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
For Lake Mary’s Erica Sergeant, it was no problem.
“I just set my PR at 12’7”!” she told me, with enthusiasm. “That’s also a school record.”
Her previous best, 12’6”, was set at the Lake Brantley Developmental Meet, this past March7th.
“Every meet, I try to focus on technique.”
For example?
“I need to get my plant up on time, and my hands up. Also, stay as close to the pole as I can. The wind did affect me a little, but I waited until it died down.”
And in practice?
“I go to practice every day, but don’t jump every day. If you do, you might just repeat the same mistakes, in between I practice my technique.”
And most importantly…
“My coach,” Bill Cashman, “pushes me to do my best, and motivates me. He tells not to get down on myself, and how to improve.”
Improvement, of course is mostly a product of experience, and while Erica has been at it for three years—with or without shared runways—Leesburg’s Marcus Blessing is relatively new to the practice of pole vaulting off the backs of triple jumpers. He finished at 12-0.
“A foot and a half off my PR isn’t what I’d call satisfying,” he said as he was storing his equipment. “I ate lunch at 1:00, but didn’t take my first jump until 8:30—I came in at 11 feet—plus sharing the runway with the girls doing the triple jump--going in the other direction--was a bit of a distraction.”
While the pole vaulters were jumping with two sets of generator lights at one end of the track—one aimed at the pit, the other in no particular direction--the high jumpers were doing their jumps, pretty much in total darkness, at the other. When all was said and done, 6’4” high jumper Robert Joiner of Evans High School, won on a final clearance equal to his own height.
“Prior to tonight my best height was 6’2”,” he told me. “That 6’4” was a PR. I had struggled with 5’10” for awhile,”—he topped out at that 5’10” height four times from February 25th to March 7th—“but I wanted more. I got aggressive and didn’t miss any more after that.”
Robert also got some advice from his coach.
“I was jumping into the middle of the bar, hitting it on the way down. Coach told me to jump in front of the bar. If I keep on practicing, I think I can (eventually) get 6-6 or 6-8.”
A lofty goal.
Two and two
In addition to the aforementioned, there were two more “sets” of double winners: Rodney Mack (Spruce Creek) and Rebecca Evans (Winter Springs) won both their (respective) weight events. Rodney threw 47’ 5 ½” in the shot, and 137’10” in the discus. Rebecca put the ball 35’ 8 ¾”, and her discus landed 125’ 11” beyond the circle.
Spruce Creek’s Xavier Atkins won both short sprints: 10.98 in the 100 and 21.4 in the 200.
Rachel Wofford, also from Spruce Creek, won both jumps: 16’ 11” in the long and 34’9” in the triple jump.
Team Scoring
With a 55 point difference between the first and second place teams in the Girls results, and a nearly 65 point difference for the Boys, it was hardly a contest among the schools assembled. Certainly Spruce Creek—with 176.5 and 144.78 (?) points, respectively—was at full strength and few others seemed to be, but it was a strong showing nonetheless for the 5 Star Conference’s powerhouse.
Footnotes:I regret that I wasn’t able to get to the weight events for photos. Because of Deltona’s physical layout--where the shot and discus were pretty distant from the main track—plus the fact that the running events—which were run concurrently--were scored solely on the basis of time, the schedule didn’t afford an opportunity to wander far afield. Deltona’s coaches did, however, do their best to keep the meet moving. (It lasted well over seven hours as it was.)…My truck’s trunk is now a “Lost and Found.” I lost a 72 mm lens filter somewhere on the Deltona track Friday night, and found a red poncho in a dark parking lot after the meet. Anyone want to trade?