Complete Results & Coverage...
Photo Album By Robert Brown (Over 300 Photos)
Robert's Recap
The hot humid morning in Estero, FL didn’t feel like foot racing weather for anyone outside of SW Florida, but to the local cross country teams (and some other local crazies) this is the hand that is dealt down here and they were itching to knock off the rust and do some racing. For most of these athletes the Summer has been full of preparation, soaking up the mile after mile that will pay off when the state series rolls around, but the chance to ‘test out’ the legs in a pre-season head to head match up, despite the weather, was too much to resist.
The course is a fast, flat, mixed surface trek that I estimated to be a tick over 5k (probably close to 3.2 miles) 40% grass, 55% hard surface and 5% rubber surfaced track that weaves in and around the Estero High School grounds. Last year Estero’s Aaron Rojas set the course record at 16:15 for the boys, and teammate Kacy Smith set it for the girls at 18:16 in very similar conditions.
The gun went off at exactly 7:30am sending 356 participates to race under partly cloudy skies with the temperature hovering in the mid to upper 80s and humidity off the charts.
Fort Myers HS Junior Tyler Bennett charged out front like and man possessed, followed by Palmetto Ridge Senior Carlos Miranda, Estero Senior Jose Cartagena and Fort Myers Senior Ace Brown. The first mile was felled in just under 5 minutes by the race leaders. Estero Senior Kacy Smith lead the way for the girls off the line but by the mile mark Evangelical Christian School Super Sophomore Sarah Candiano and Estero Senior Katy Solis were on her hip splitting around the 6 minute mark. As the race unfolded Bennett held his lead through the 2 mile with Miranda, Brown and Cartagena right behind. Carlos made his move as they crossed back on to school grounds but Tyler didn’t give any quarter until the last 300m when Miranda put it on ice shattering the old record with a 15:30!. On the girls side Candiano lead at the 2 mile with Solis right on her heels while Smith faded allowing resurgent Fort Myers Junior Emily Edwards to make up some ground. Sarah took the win for the girls in 18:44 with Solis 3 steps back, Emily nipped Kacy at the line for third.
An outstanding early season test for these young harriers with some interesting story lines developing that will be fun to watch how they play out over the fall. I for one cannot wait for the season to start and we are in total team on team mode barreling full steam towards Tallahassee in November.
Thanks to Coach Sommer, 3D racing, the Run Shoppe and all the other staff for a great, well run event. See you next year.