As host to the October 27th, 2012 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship, and with that its ten member teams, Florida Gulf Coast University proudly presented a season-opening preview of their new 8K course at the (satellite campus) Buckingham facility. This recently acquired, 500 acre former mental health facility offers a park-like atmosphere, scenic, and easily viewed course, and, of course immediately expanded training options for the up and coming Eagles.
What was initially seen as a dry run for the A-Sun’s conference meet turned out to be a hot one to boot. That, as it turned out, might have been to FGCU’s advantage. Training every day in the heat and humidity of southwestern Florida—with an average late-summer daily high of 92—allowed its team members to become acclimated to race conditions that even the more-northern Florida runners found stressful.
Missing from the meet were seven conference teams. Of the ten-member A-Sun, only host FGCU, Stetson, and Lipscomb figured in the six-team scoring. Coming into the meet—a season opener--Lipscomb’s Men (ranked third in the A-Sun), and Women (ranked first) were the teams to beat.
“With FGCU holding the conference meet, this invitational was our chance to see the course,” explained Coach Luke Sylverson, of Lipscomb. “None of our guys have seen the course.”
Still, with such a strong team this year, Lipscomb might have been playing their cards a little too close to the chest.
“It’s a split squad. We have 27 guys altogether. We have nine here and 16 at the Belmont Invitational.” (At the Belmont Cross Country Opener, the Lipscomb men finished ninth of nine in their 5K, and in the women seventh of eight in their shorter 4K.)
With the FGCU men ranked 8th in the pre-season, and women ranked 5th, the Eagles might have entered the season with something to prove, or disprove as the case may be. The fact that the A-Sun’s “official” forecast placed visiting team Lipscomb five notches higher was certainly not lost on the men’s team captain, junior Argeo Cruz. In his third year at FGCU, Argeo has firmly established himself as their top accipiter, and chief protector of the Eagle eyrie.
“My main plan today was to go with the team,” he told me after the meet. “We wanted to stay together as long as possible. We knew that Lipscomb had a strong team, and we thought they would be more of a threat.”
In the furnace-like air of the late afternoon race, Argeo Cruz and Gilbert Chemoi soon established a one-two lead for the Eagles.
“Gilbert and I stayed together for 2 ½ miles, pushing ourselves,” Cruz commented. “We were trying to stay together, and help each other. He was doing okay at first, but I think he might have pulled something, and stopped running at my pace.”
In his place, there was the late afternoon sun. Although slowly descending in the sky, it seemed unrelenting in its intensity.
“I think this”—the heat—“helped me a lot. Lipscomb was from up north”—the Bison’s campus is in Nashville, Tennessee—“and the weather is different up there. But I’m used to this, and train in it all the time.”
While in high school, Cruz —a good name for a distance runner--ran for Immokalee, which is even closer to the equator than Fort Myers. (Is that possible?) In this meet, members of the current Immokalee cross country team were on hand to cheer Cruz on.
“That was pretty cool;” (No pun intended.) “my old team cheering for me. Jean Deceus is on our team too, so the Immokalee kids were there for him, too. They were cheering for our entire team, but we were a big reason for their being there.”
Joining his fan base were several other FGCU sports teams, including the college’s huge swim team. Moving in one solid mass of green shirts from one spot to another, they seemed to swell into a wave whenever they flowed along the course, following in Argeo’s wake. He definitely noticed.
“It was very special, to have a lot of sports out there to support us.”
With teammate Chemoi backing off, Cruz found himself up front, alone but undaunted. In the final straightaway, “the wave” broke past the spectator line to cheer him on, also partially obscuring his view of the finish line, and its clock.
“On the home stretch, I didn’t see the clock. If I had, I would have pushed myself a little more to get a 25.”
Argeo’s finish time was 26:00.2. (Oh, so close!)
In “hot” pursuit—sorry, but they keep coming—was Nova Southeastern’s Kevin Meagher. Kevin ran his prep career for Mansfield High School, in Mansfield, Massachusetts.
“I started running my freshman year in high school,” he explained, “and ran through all four years—all three seasons—and earned 12 varsity letters. When I entered college, I wanted to continue.”
In those subsequent four years at NSE, he seems to have adjusted quite well to sub-tropical climes, thank you very much. The Sharks’ average run is at 26°7’8” north latitude, as opposed to an Eagle’s 26°38’25”, but with a difference in longitude—81°52’21”W for FM and 81°8’37” for FL—Cruz had an exact advantage of 11.7 seconds. (It’s all very scientific, actually, kind of like Superman’s powers being the result of being born on Krypton and the residual effect of a giant Red sun.)
Still, Meagher is beginning to catch up. It might be all that training in high-speed pursuit.
“I majored in criminal justice, and will graduate in December,” he explains. “I’ve already been hired by the Maine State Police.”
Do those Maniacs stand a chance? (So much for jumping out of your car and trying to make your escape on foot!)
“About half the class went toward psychology, and half went toward police work. I did an internship my sophomore year with the Broward County Sheriff, and another at the end of my junior year—in the spring—in the probation office.”
And after his final college season?
“I hope to be able to continue running.”
But with his last season still young, Kevin is looking forward to a few more milestones, and perhaps a big climax.
“We’re going to Oklahoma State this year, for the Cowboy Jamboree. I’m definitely looking forward to it. Hopefully I’ll get a big PR.”
Despite un-PR conditions, in this meet he came close to one. His best, so far, came at the end of last season, when he ran a 25:59.90 at the October 22, 2011 Sunshine State Conference Championship. There, he finished fourth overall. His training could make a difference at this year’s finale.
“This summer I trained a little bit different. I picked up my mileage—to about 90 a week—and started earlier. I also threw in a couple more workouts. When I’m home, I get on the trails a lot more, something I don’t have the opportunity to do here in Florida.”
Nova’s presence at FGCU was its coach’s strategy to run against some teams of a different color.
“(Coach) Bryan Hagopian was looking at the competition, and knew it would be better. Most of our conference would be in Tampa (5th Annual UT Early Bird Invitational, at the same time and date, but the men ran 3.8 miles), and we’re already racing against them a few times this year.”
But east or west, it still be steamin’.
“It was tough. I was going for my PR. And I’ve never gotten an overall win, not yet. I’m pretty dedicated to cross country, and feel that a win would have been more important than my time. Every course is a little different, so I compare my times from the same courses—from past results in past years—rather than times from course to course.”
“I think it showed that a lot of hard work from this summer paid off. I was hoping to run that well, and a time close to my PR, so this meet kind of surprised me. To run that well in the heat gives me the confidence to accomplish my goals this season: winning the conference—it would be our first one—and move on to the Nationals.
“(Teamwise) I think there was a chance to catch Lipscomb. There was one guy who ran unattached, and two freshmen guys who didn’t show what they had in practice. They’re still adjusting to the 8K, from the high school 5K distance.
“I think a lot of guys looked at the heat as a big factor, but I told the guys that everyone has to contend with it. We ran as well as we could with the heat.”
One runner who made a quantum leap, as far as finish place and time, was Chris Rudloff of FGCU. This past week, Chris had more than an 8K to think about.
“Honestly, this whole week I’ve been sick with the flu,” he confided in me, “and two days before the meet I had a fever. I haven’t spent so much time on the couch, watching HBO and taking fluids. (When I finally got to the race) I didn’t know what to expect. But it was the first meet, and I was running with my teammates.
“The heat was brutal, and everyone had to go out and deal with it. But for FGCU, I think the difference was that no one wanted to be beaten in our backyard.
“When the race started, I stuck with the Lipscomb team. There was a whole pack; a big mob of them. Then I latched onto Alex Schilling,”--a senior, who ran 7th the whole race, and finished in 26:54.4—“then caught up with Gilbert,”—Chemoi, who was still in 2nd at 2 ½ miles—“and we ran together. Gilbert had something going on with his leg. He ran with me for awhile, then dropped back.
“At some point Alex dropped back a little. With a mile left, there were four people ahead of me; Argeo, the guy from Nova (Meagher), and two Lipscomb guys (probably Daniel Gardner, who finished fourth in 26:28.6, and Tim Muller, who finished fifth in 26:35.7). With about 800 to go, I put on a move and caught the two Lipscomb guys, but the Nova guy was too far ahead.
“I was in ‘no man’s land’ for awhile. Alex was fighting off the Lipscomb guys,”—at this point, Lipscomb’s Matt Hall entered the mix, eventually finishing sixth in 26:48.2—“and they all finished behind me.”
With a back drop of uncertainty—the last vestiges of the flu, the heat, and everyone around him dropping off their own pace--Rudloff gradually moved up from ninth place, to finish third overall in 26:22.0. That time was a whopping 18 second PR.
“It was actually kind of weird. The whole race I ran with someone. I never looked at the mile markers. The only time I was alone was when I was at the four mile mark, but I thought ‘I only have a mile to go; I can do it.’ The main thing that I wanted was for the team to defend their home meet. Each school wants to win a home meet. Of course, there are a lot of things we can improve upon, but it is a good start. ”
With their first six finishers in the top ten—1-3-7-8-9-10—and a score of 28, FGCU won easily over Lipscomb (4-5-6-11-19-20-23; 45), and Nova (2-12-13-16-16-24-29; 60).
The women’s race was a whole different story. A delay in the start and the incoming cloud cover really cooled things off. And then there was the Lipscomb juggernaut, which lost no time in taking their first step toward a second-straight conference championship.
“We have 13 girls with high expectations,” explained Lipscomb’s Luke Sylverson. “After finishing first in the A-Sun last year”—5-6-9-16-17-20-21; 53 points--“without Dani Walker, we’re picked to repeat. We have a lot of girls returning, and only three freshmen. Plus, now we have Emily Longden. I think she went to Providence High School in Jacksonville, and came to Lipscomb on a soccer scholarship. She quit and said she wanted to run instead. They transferred her scholarship. Then there’s Dani Walker, who was the A-Sun ‘XC Freshman of the Year in 2010.’ Kendall Lobley was the conference champion in the 5K (17:16.69) and 3000 steeple (10:32.97)”—and with those wins was voted the 2012 Outdoor Track Freshman of the Year award—“but didn’t run cross country last year…”
As Sylverson’s buildup alluded, Walker and Lobley hit the ground running, leading a virtual herd of Bisons. They eventually took eight of the first nine places, and scored a near-perfect 19 points. The only blemish on this extraordinary team effort was an FGCU interloper in second.
“The Lipscomb girls ran as a huge pack right behind me, and as soon as they hit the mile, they took off; seven of them,” explained Kelly Prezanowski. “They had a plan. And two other girls passed me at the mile.
“Barrie (Cohen, second for FGCU in 19:08.5) and I went with them. They stayed together the whole second mile. Right after the two mile mark, I kind of made my move. They were in a really tight pack, and I pretty much passed them all. I felt I had to go early, and try to hang on.
“I got passed within the last 200 meters. A Lipscomb girl pretty much had more left than me, and passed me.”
That “Lipscomb girl” was junior Dani Walker, who finished first in 18:16.5. Perzanowski was second in 18:24.8, and Lipscomb’s Kendra Lobley was third in 18:25.7. Two seconds separated second through fifth places, and 11 seconds second through seventh. Considering the space between Walker’s and Lobley’s 5K PRs, Kelly pretty much threaded the eye of a needle: Walker has run a 16:38.53 (the May 12, 2012 Occidental Invitational), and Lobley 16:41.84 (April 6, 2012 in the Stanford Invitational).
“That,” continued Perzanowski, “was close to my PR.”
Kelly ran an 18:16.72 at the October 30, 2010 Atlantic Sun Conference Championships.
“I was happy with it for the first race of the year. We were all pretty happy about our season opener. Going in, the whole team has a much better mind set, and decided to train harder, work together, and do well. Mainly, we want to place as high as we can in the conference meet. We’re also pretty excited about hosting the conference meet.”
And perhaps overturn those annoying pre-season rankings?
More Coverage
- 2012 FGCU Invite Meet Page/Results
- Photo Album By Robert Brown A.K.A. Twangster (585 Photos)
- Photo Album Ralph Epifanio A.K.A IslandwideRunner (152 Photos)