Log onto flrunners.com and click on an athlete’s page and you’ll see it: “Claim this athlete.” What if I were to do just that? Do I now own him? Can I take credit for his times? Is it legal to write him off on my taxes? Or, with one quick click did I assume financial responsibility for his collegiate education?
Up ‘til now, I have successfully restrained myself from taking that bold step, since there’s no telling what I would be getting myself into. It’s kind of like those internet updates that look so compelling. Update now, or your computer will never work again!
Whether you want to download the latest, greatest virus protection program in history, or give your hard drive a cup of computer coffee (“like 3 billion other people”), you first have to check the box that verifies [x] I agree to all terms and conditions. What terms? What conditions? Did I just agree to open my hard drive to a few dozen years of those annoying pop-ups, like the guy with elephant ears, or tempting offers to find out which classmate is looking for me?
The reason I bring this up is Andres Arroyo. This kid is phenomenal. The more I see him run, the closer my cursor is getting to that little box. Like anyone else, I’d like to ride on the coattails of his success. 50 years from now, I’d like to brag: “I was there when, while still in high school Andres ran a 14:29 5K…a 4:01 mile…swam the Florida Straits and half the Caribbean to Puerto Rico, then finished a 1500 in 3:37.1. (Sorry Sammy.)
But for now, the Java is for me. Besides the fact that not even my stories will be around in 50 years, he deserves the credit for all of his times, his coach(es) for leading him down the path towards his full potential, and Mr. and Mrs. Arroyo for raising a super-polite kid. I can only claim to know and admire him.
Andres Arroyo starts 2012 off where he left off in 2011
No surprise there. Despite the fact that it was a small meet (only eight teams), with soggy ground, twists, moguls, turns, mud, fire ants, and sand in the rodeo arena finish (so the bull riders don’t get hurt), he won by a couple of hundred yards (15:44.10). His nearest competition was neither near, nor a competitor; they were teammates Ramses Profitt (16:20.60) and Caleb Licht (16:22.10).
Ramses: “Each course is different, so it’s up to us to make sure we do well, both individually, and as a team.”
Caleb: “We ran together.”
Ramses: “We work together.”
Caleb: “Having someone else to push.”
Ramses: “We took over”—behind Andres—“at the two mile.”
Caleb: “Yeah.”
Ramses: “If Caleb hadn’t taken off, we wouldn’t have done as well as we had planned.”
Caleb: “Now that Cody (Decker, 14th in the 11/19/11 FHSAA State XC Final) is gone”—the State Champion team’s #2 runner graduated last spring—“we have to step into his role, both as the #2 runner, and as team leaders.”
Ramses: “At practice, we no longer have the person who carried us. He was our motivation. The reason why he was #2 is that he was always pushing himself, and making sure that we pushed ourselves.”
Caleb: “Now the seniors are in that role.”
Ramses: “All of us. We’re like a big family.”
Caleb: “That includes the juniors, sophomores, and freshmen too.”
Ramses: “Our main goal, at practices, meets, and in doing well in school, is to get to the state meet, and have that trophy in our hands.”
But, of course, the athlete carrying the heaviest load is Arroyo.
“It is my last year,” Andres explained, “and I am going to give it my all. I’m aiming for another state title, or more.”
To get there, he too sees the role that Ramses and Caleb have to play.
“Last year Cody was really far ahead of the rest of the team.” (Decker got down to 16:03.15 in the 4A District 4 XC Meet on November 15, 2011.) “There was also a big gap between me and Cody.”(Andres ran a career best of 14:59.18 at the October 14, 2011 Pre-State Meet.) “This year there is only one gap: between me and the team.”
While Arroyo’s time was nearly a minute off his best, the course might have had a lot to do with that.
“This course was similar to the Déjà vu Meet, in Tampa last year,” Arroyo explained.
AA ran an almost identical time—15:45.70--on almost the same date--September 9th—to finish second to Belen Joseph’s Elliott Clemente on the Ed Radice Park course.
“It was muddy, the ground was soft, and you were on wet ground, where it was so soft that you’d sink.”
Also, Coach Rene Plasencia’s plans didn’t call for an all-out race so early in the season.
“Before we came here, Coach P told me that I should run comfortably, because after the race I was going to do a workout. He gave me five minutes, and then I did an all-out mile in 4:50.”
Coach Plasencia’s workout schedule might be tough, but with it Arroyo has gone as high and far as anyone can during the high school season, a fact that Arroyo never forgets to acknowledge.
“I want to thank my coaches, Plasencia and Calhoun, for picking me up and motivating me, not only in the last mile, but the whole race. I also want to wish Raul Ramirez”—a teammate who graduated last June—“good luck in his race. His grandmother is getting married in Puerto Rico, and he’ll be running there.”
Some Unconventional Plans
In this meet, there were just two races; a Girls’ and a Boys’. (Varsity and JV competed together.)
“Our school is from Orange Park,” explained Paul Grybb, the coach of Ridgeview High School. We have always run at Bishop Kenney (Katie Caples). That was our first meet. Don’t get me wrong. Katie Caples is a great race, but it’s on a Saturday night,”—also September 8th—“and it’s really big. They have 50 teams this year. We wanted to try something different.
“I love that Coach Halliday let the Boys (Varsity and JV), then Girls (Varsity and JV) run together. However, they hadn’t decided that until a couple of days ago, when the registration was lower than expected. He asked if it was okay with us, and I was fine with it.”
More than fine, according to the coaches that I polled. It’s a perfect scenario for a first meet, when schools are trying to determine their varsity seven. With everyone running in one race, and at the same time, it is easy to see who would “step up” under race conditions and assume a role as a tough enough competitor to run varsity.
What Halliday might not have mentioned to the other coaches is that, instead of starting the races with a referee’s pistol, he enlisted a “Saturday morning cowboy” to crack his whip. (Pictured in our “Along Ro-da-o Drive” folder is one Alex Garrett using a whip to motivate the herd into motion.)
“Next year,” promises Halliday, “he’s going to do it from a horse.”
The Girl’s Race
Hannah Loder, a senior at Matanzas High School, is poised on the threshold of great things to come. Taking her PR at last year’s October 1st Bale-n-Trail—18:47.3—for starters, it comes as no surprise that she would win so easily at Spurs-n-Spikes…I mean Spikes and Spurs, from the start…I mean she led from the beginning. (Sometimes there’s a fine line between humor and an incoherent sentence.)
“From where I am right now, it’s definitely motivating. I have high expectations for this season. I want to get into the 17s; that’s the main thing. I also hope to win the conference meet. I definitely want to win the Districts, place in the Regionals, and maybe get top 10 in the state meet.”
With that list of goals, it was important to get off to a fast start.
“They went out really slow, so I decided to take the lead,” she reasoned.
Photos show that she didn’t give anyone else much time to do otherwise. She led for about 16,400.2 feet of the 16,404.2 foot course.
“I tried to keep the same pace, but I slowed down in the second mile. It was very muddy. I ran the first mile in 5:50, and the second in 6:27.”
In summary, despite a slow, sinuous course, she led the whole way, and won easily in 19:26.70. There was also the importance of finishing the second loop before AG uncoiled his 20’ whip to warm up for that second (Boys’) race.
The race for second (or third) place was between Jessica Fletcher and Rafaella Gibbons. Although both are relatively new to running—Jessica has been competing for about a year, and Rafaella half that long—they are polar opposites. Jessica ran for Ridgeview in Orange Park, and Rafaella ran unattached out of Glen Ridge in Orange County. Jessica is in high school, and Rafaella is in middle school. Jessica was running because she quit volleyball and is running cross country to stay in shape for soccer; Rafaella quit soccer and is running cross country to stay in shape for track. Jessica was competing in her first 5K of the season; Rafaella was competing in her first 5K ever. About the only thing in common between them was who they were trying to catch: the person immediately in front of them. (As it was anybody’s guess as to whether my list would go on, it was anybody’s guess who would beat whom.)
“I tried to stay with her”—Hannah Loder—“as long as I could,” said Jessica. “I didn’t want the gap to get any bigger.”
Which was pretty much Rafaella’s game plan, as she stuck to Jessica like glue.
“I tried not to look back,” Jessica continued. “I tried my hardest to maintain my pace and then speed up at the end.”
Which is pretty much what Rafella did. The finish was decided in a sprint through the sandy bottom boys’ rodeo arena. It appeared that Jessica’s maturity might have given her the edge in the last 100 meters.
“That’s”—second overall—“the highest place I’ve ever finished,” Jessica continued. “It was hard work, but it paid off. I guess I didn’t really expect to do so well, but it feels awesome.”
“This one is probably my favorite so far,” added Rafaella. “I like to run longer distances, and did my best here.”
Midpack Meanderings
It’s a fact of life that neither Arroyo, nor Loder, could have been called winners without having outrun a whole host of determined competitors. I would like to acknowledge two, each of whom finished in middle. In other words, they represent the (approximate) median of the competition.
David Clymer is a high school junior, competing for Matanzas. He was 61st of 123 finishers, finishing in 20:22.2.
“My baseball coach, Robert Rowe, suggested that I run cross country. He said that it would help me in baseball,” Clymer told me. “So far it’s been fun. This was my first race. It’s hard, but it’s worth it. My teammates are easy to get along with, we joke around about things, but we care about each other. That’s because we want to get better.”
When asked about the course, he responded, “I was surprised by all the water. There was more than I thought there would be. But it was cooler; a lot of shade.”
And David’s goal for the season?
“I’d like to get (my time) into the teens.”
Christine Garga, also a junior, runs for Bartram Trail. She has been competing for two years and has a personal best of 22:42.23 (at the 10/1/11 Bale-n-Trail). In this race, she was 41st out of 83 finishers. She seemed to be distracted by the course.
“I’m a track girl, so I’m used to flat ground. In cross country, we practice on a flat course, and it’s been dry so far. Here, it was very muddy, and the conditions were unfamiliar. In some places I had to take precautions and slow down, so I didn’t twist my ankle. In other places I sped up. So it was inconsistent, and I didn’t really enjoy it.
“I was disappointed with my time”—24:39.3—“but I’m going to bounce back and train hard for Ridgeview (Bob Hans Invitational) next week.”
Team Scoring
Led by a 1-2-3 finish, the Colonial Boys (1-2-3-9-13-17-18; 28 points) won easily. Host team Flagler-Palm Coast High School (4-8-11-14-15-26-28; 52) finished next, and Ridgeview (6-7-12-21-31-32-33; 77) third.
Bartram Trail (3-5-7-15-17-18-30; 47) led the Girls, followed by Ridgeview (2-8-13-19-20-29-32; 62) and Flagler (9-12-14-25-26-37-38; 86). After the meet, FPC’s captain, Paige Way commented, “By the end of next week, we should all PR by 18 or 20 seconds. Considering all the hard work we do—we run 30 to 40 miles a week—our top five should all be under 22 by the end of next month.”
More Coverage
- Complete Results & Coverage
- Photo Album By Ralph Epifanio (551 Photos)