Miami Sunset is looking to make a splash in 4A this year after a 15th place finish in 2011. The team returns four of their top five from last year including sophomore team captain Nick Diaz. Diaz finished 46th at the 4A Cross Country Finals behind teammate Leonel Peon in a time of 16:44. Diaz has a personal best of 16:27.00 and also has put up impressive numbers on the track running 4:22.41 for 1600 meters at the outdoor state meet and 9:42.87 in the 3200 meters. Another bright spot for Sunset is the addition of two new transfers Kenny Castro from Columbus and Malik Gunter of South Dade. Both are entering the school's Medical Magnet program, but Coach Shaw says they have adjusted to the training program for cross country very quickly. Castro finished tenth for runner-up Columbus, the team's top placer. He has the highest season best coming into 2012 having run sub sixteen minutes at state, 15:59.67. Hunter didn't make it to state last season placing 27th at the 4A Region 4 meet in a personal best time of 18:00.67. Coach Shaw believes that Diaz, Casto, and Gunter will be the three big horses that will lead the Knight Pack for the next two years.
The Knights could have potentially three runners in the sixteen minute range, but they are going to have to do more to compete in the middle of their order. Seniors Alan Gomez and Andy Ortiz along with junior Roman Garcia look to round out the top six. All three have state meet experience. Coach Shaw says the team is looking deep and putting in quality mileage over the summer. The varsity guys logged over 500 miles while the junior varsity guys were around 350. Over 38 of the teams runners took part in the summer camp in Ocala and the recent time trials. Shaw knows that this might be one of the most well-rounded squads he has and the opportunity to make some noise is here. The FACA Preseason Rankings currently has the Knights as the fourth best team in 4A with Colonial as the clear favorite.
Coach Shaw Says...
"The team just finished one of the most difficult summer programs we have ever done in the schools 35 year history. We were able to put in a little over 500 miles for some of the top runners and kept the JV team over 350 miles. We finished the summer with no major injuries and they are looking very strong but we all know that we still have plenty to improve on before November comes around. The highlight of the summer has always been our trip to Ocala. This year we had 38 runners make the trip and that made our long run in San Felasco Trail as well as our time trial very competitive."
"Races we are looking forward to include Spanish River and FLRunners in September, FSU and GMAC in October, and every single one in November."
"The goals for this season will be totally different then most years since we have the opportunity to have three guys under the sixteen minute mark once we get into November. With those three boys and the leadership of our five seniors we have no choice but to aim for the stars. There will be a great amount of pressure on our 4th and 5th runners to keep the gap under one minute and it seems we will go as far as those guys take us."
Miami Sunset is looking to make a splash in 4A this year after a 15th place finish in 2011. The team returns four of their top five from last year including sophomore team captain Nick Diaz. Diaz finished 46th at the 4A Cross Country Finals behind teammate Leonel Peon in a time of 16:44. Diaz has a personal best of 16:27.00 and also has put up impressive numbers on the track running 4:22.41 for 1600 meters at the outdoor state meet and 9:42.87 in the 3200 meters. Another bright spot for Sunset is the addition of two new transfers Kenny Castro from Columbus and Malik Gunter of South Dade. Both are entering the school's Medical Magnet program, but Coach Shaw says they have adjusted to the training program for cross country very quickly. Castro finished tenth for runner-up Columbus, the team's top placer. He has the highest season best coming into 2012 having run sub sixteen minutes at state, 15:59.67. Hunter didn't make it to state last season placing 27th at the 4A Region 4 meet in a personal best time of 18:00.67. Coach Shaw believes that Diaz, Casto, and Gunter will be the three big horses that will lead the Knight Pack for the next two years.