flrunners.com Invitational 13 - Meet Coverage HQ

flrunners.com Invitational 13
Jason Byrne

Twitter Hashtag: #flr13

Pre-Meet Coverage

On-Site Coverage

Our coverage team: Jason Byrne, Todd Grasley, Jeff Adams, Robert Brown, Olivia Ortiz, Ralph Epifanio, John Calderon.

Saturday Morning Highlights

Girls Race of Champions

Julia Montgomery of Pine Crest set the pace early, followed by Sarah Day of West Shore with Day looking for revenge over the loss Montgomery handed her last week at South Fork. By the mile mark, it was a jumble and anyone's game with a huge pack crowding over the cross beams that held the clock.

As the crowd eeked out their last glimpses in the distance before the runners headed over the far bridge at the Minnihan Cutoff and into the woods, some moves started to be made. At long last they emerged from the obsconded view and on to Alligator Alley. Nikita Shah had taken over the lead with a decent margin over Emily Edwards and others. Across the Main Street bridge and back around the other side of the lake they went, Shah holding on. As they came around Do or Die bend and finally on to the u-turn to the homestretch, Nikita had company. Inching ever closer with each passing foot step was Emily Edwards. As they passed the three mile mark and headed for home, Edwards overtook her and ended up with eternal ROC glory: 17:43 to 17:48.

Montgomery held on for third with a huge personal best, dipping under the 18 minute mark with a 17:52. Bryce Seymour ran a very solid 18:00 with Kacy Smith's 18:04 on her heels. Sarah Day came through with a great new PR of 18:14 and Kelly Fahey of Trinity Prep made a statement that she is now one of the state's elite with an 18:18.

Estero, as expected, came back with a back-to-back ROC championship with 75 points and an 18:59 team average. Ft. Walton Beach, John A. Ferguson, and Oak Hall made it close with FWB in 137 (19:42), Ferguson at 147 (19:43) and Oak Hall tied through five with Ferguson 147 and a superior 19:34 team average. Lakewood Ranch also had a sub-20 team average with a fifth place 19:57 and 178 points.

Videos: Race and Interiews from Girls ROC...

Photos:  Jeff Adams (553) | Ralph Epifanio (188)

Boys Race of Champions

Recap By Ralph Epifanio

Arguably no other race in FLR XIII was more anticipated than the Boys Race of Champions, a possible preview of several 2012 FHSAA championships this coming November.
 
Palmetto Ridge’s Carlos Miranda sums it up in his own words: “They were all very aggressive, right from the start, in sub-4:40 for the first mile. I was sixth—in
4:50.
 
“About halfway through the race I just took the lead to see who would come after me. Avery”--(Lopez, Belen Jesuit)—“came with me, but I didn’t look back, so I couldn’t see who else was there.”
 
Miranda’s pace seemed to freeze Lopez in second place, and they entered the final straightaway with Miranda holding a slight edge. He crossed in 15:07.90, the 2012 Boys ROC winner. Second was Avery Lopez (15:13.20), and third Dan Salas in 15:17.60. In all, 17 runners joined the “Club 15”
 
In the team results, Belen’s 2-9-19-23-24 spread underscored a mid-season edge over Ft. Myers (5-6-14-48-53), 87-126.

Videos: Race and Interviews from Boys ROC...

Photos: Jeff Adams (578)  | Ralph Epifanio (164)

Publix Girls Invitational

The girls in this race were out to prove that they could give the ladies in the ROC a run for their money!

By the mile mark there was an established group of four leaders including Chlsea Manning of Cypress Lake, Brainna Jackson of Newsome and Courtney Zboyan of Jupiter... but the chase pack kept them close in tow. By the two mile mark Jackson and Zboyan had broken loose and had a good lead over the chasers. Manning, Lauren Archer of Ransom, Stephanie Cajas of Newsome, Mallory White of Lakeland Christian, and Maleia Storum of Cocoa Beach followed in behind.

Jackson gained separation over the last mile and eased in for a big 18:57 victory. Zboyan might have had an easy time for second if it were not for Holly Wooley of Brevard HEAT coming on strong over the last mile to nearly close the gap. Zboyan held on for 19:18 with Wooley in third with 19:21. Cajas gave Newsome a nice 1-2 punch with fourth place 19:28, but Cypress Lake answered back with two of their own in the top ten with Manning and Breeana Salcedo at 19:44 and 19:45. The HEAT  answered that call with Emily Chapman in eighth place with 19:47. This was looking to be a close team battle!

With a 20:23 team average and superior depth, Newsome pulled out the big victory with 190 points and a 20:23 team average in the huge race with 277 finishers. Cypress Lake ws second with 256 points and a 20:51 average. Spruce Creek snuck in for third with 264 points, despite having only one in side the top 50... good depth in the middle with a 36 second 2-5 split.

Videos: Races and Interviews

Photos: Jeff Adams (644) | Ralph Epifanio (106)

CaptainU Boys Invitational

Salvador Medrano and Charlges Bengston of John I. Leonard pushed the pace early, sandwiching Xavier Walton from home team Titusville at the mile. But by two miles it was JC Cornett that had taken over and only Walton remained on the quick pace he set.

The two opened up a sizeable lead, but when Cornett laid down some more surges and kicked it in harder over the last mile, Walton started to feel it and dropped off the pace a bit. Medrano was like a shark smelling blood in the water and sought hard to close the gap with 800 meters to go. He made up quite a bit of ground, but Walton was able to hold him off by just a second. Cornett rolled to victory in 15:59. Walton maintained for a 30-second personal best time of 16:18, with Medrano (16:19), Fabian Delgado of Killian (16:23), Sam Chandler of St. Petersburg (16:25), Nic Jacobsen of St. Andrews) (16:26), and Joseph Janson of PK Yonge (16:29) close behind.

Noah Kemp's 16:36 anchored St. Augustine to an impressive win that kind of marks their debut into near-powerhouse status this year. They took a 17:18 team average to victory 186-201 over Ransom Everglades. Kemp up front certainly helped, but it was the 29 second 2-5 split that propelled them over Ransom's strong 1-2 punch of Gabriel Correa (16:40) and Jan Bergengruen (16:43). Park Vista (216) was third with a 17:25 team average, followed by John I. Leonard (220, 17:16) and Lake Mary (232, 17:22).

Videos: Races and Interviews

Photos: Jeff Adams (646) | Ralph Epifanio (201)

Girls Unseeded A

After a false start, they were off on the second try! Autumn Bartlett of University led from 400 meters in and never looked back. Maggie Parrish and Emily Schonder of Chamberlain gave Barlett chase over the second miles, but never could get within 20 meters. Claire Castillo of Titusville kept a careful eye on the Chamberlain duo to wait for an opportunity with Ciara Hopkins of Monteverde and Sarah Northup of Tavares close behind.

Parrish continued to push the pace to attempt to close to Barlett, making a valiant effort that eventually dropped her teammate Schonder. Barlett accelerated over the last 800 to fend off any hope of a challege, winning in 19:34 with Parrish looking strong at 19:50 for second. A tight four pack of Castillo, Northup, Hopkins, and Schonder came down to the final straightaway... they rounded the final u-curve all together. Castillo took third in 20:11, followed by Northup (20:13), Hopkins (20:17), and Schonder (20:22).

Despite Chamberlain's impressive 1-2 punch, it was Dwyer pulling out the win with superior 1-5 depth despite having no one in the top ten. Reilly Dawson's 20:55 led the way to their 138 points and 21:37 team average over Chamberlain's 162 points (21:31 average, aided by the 1-2).

Videos: Race and Interviews

Photos:  Jeff Adams (509) | Ralph Epifanio (201)

Boys Unseeded A

Wekiva's Odaine Porter won over Leonel Pozo of Coral Park (17:12) and Koehler Machlus of Mitchell (17:15). But it was Tampa Freedom, led by Adam Urbaniak's seventh place 17:28, narrowly edging Coral Park 144-148 (18:24-18:25 averages) and Cardinal Gibbons was within a stone's throw at 158 points and an 18:33 average.

Videos: Race and Interviews

Photos:  Jeff Adams (660) | Ralph Epifanio (52)

Girls Unseeded B

Boca Raton led off the scoring with Olivia Nicholson's big 20:04 victory; however, St. Petersburg put three in the top ten behind Erin Waterman's second place 20:34 to edge out Boca Raton 67-74. 

Videos: Race and Interviews

Photos:  Jeff Adams (158) | Ralph Epifanio (109)

Boys Unseeded B

Jonathan Klumpp of North Broward left no doubt with a stellar 17:10 win, 41 seconds in front of second place Wyatt Ebert of Boca Raton. But Ebert was all smiles none the less, collecting his medal on the stage with five other teammates who finished in the top 15 required to go home with hardware. Boca won big with just 41 points and an 18:23 team average. Wellington was a distant second with 110 points and a 19:20 average. Perhaps Boca Raton was trying to show me that I seeded them incorrectly. :-)

Videos: Race and Interviews

Photos:  Jeff Adams (356) | Ralph Epifanio (95)

Middle School

BOYS -- Mason Jones (Unattached) outkicked Alexander Boucher (Central Florida Gliders) for the individual win 11:15 to 11:22. Both should be strong contenders for the Middle School State Championship in November. No surprise on the team battle front, just like they did in literally every other they entered on Saturday (ROC, JV, Open), Belen Jesuit won big with a mere 22 points... going 1-2-5-6-8-(11)-(12) in team scoring. They had a 12:31 team average! Second place went to local Park Avenue Christian with 73 points and a 13:36 average, just in front of Circle Christian's 77 points.

GIRLS -- Individually it was Sabrina Quijano of Miami Elite Track Club up front in 12:19 of a tight chase pack of Mary Grace Sonksen (Central Florida Gliders), Tision Yared (Unattached), and Bridget Morse (Eye of the Tiger)... all with times of 12:33-point!!! It doesn't get much closer than that! With you take out the unattached and non team scorers, though, it was all Eye of the Tiger Track Club. The team was made up of students from Lake City Middle School, competing unofficially as a track club, and they scored a perfect 15 points with a stellar 13:25 average. They will be looking for that middle school state team title for sure! Park Avenue was again the second place team with 59 points, followed by Geneva School's 62.

Videos:  Races and Interviews

Photos:  Jeff Adams (214) | Ralph Epifanio (110)

Girls JV White

The team battle was really down to the wire with just 11 points separating the top four teams. Winter Park took it with 91 points over Lake Mary (94), Lourdes (96) and Spruce Creek (102). The Wildcats were led by the 1-2 punch of Breanna Cole and Emory Parkins at 24th (23:56) and 15th (23:59), respectively.

Eva Blais from Woodstock, Georgia was the overall winner witha  22:31 win over Lauren O'Quinn of Niceville's 22:48.

Photos:  Jeff Adams (314) | Ralph Epifanio (192)

Boys JV White

Belen Jesuit went 1-2-3-6-7-(8-9-11) in a sign of pure domination and depth as Osiel Gonzalez tried valiantly to claim a varsity spot with a 17:17 victory--one second behind their ninth runner's time in the ROC (in a hotter race). Bruno Zays and Alex Issac were next for the Wolverines in 17:26 and 17:41. Niceville's Caden Ewing (17:45) and Frank Clements of Ft. Walton Beach (17:47) interupted the Belen Jesuit perfect score.

Belen finished with 19 points and a 17:41 average. FWB was next with 55 (18:22) and Niceville took third with 80 points (18:52).

Photos:  Jeff Adams (580) | Ralph Epifanio (224)

Community Open

The depth of the Belen Jesuit men never seems to stop. Not only did their #21 runner (Antonio Montadas) won this race in a dominant 18:42, but they also went 1-2-3-4-5-(6) in a perfect 15 in team scoring. Their 21-26 runners averaged 19:51 in the hot hot victory of the noon race over Niceville's 62 points and 21:57 average.

For the ladies it was Angie El Said and Alondra Lopez of Cypress Creek with a nice 1-2 way way in front of the other girls at 21:31 and 21:32. Winter Park and Lake Mary battled it out close with 31 points to 35 in the Park's favor.

Photos: Ralph Epifanio (154)

Friday Night Highlights

Girls Small School

Christina McKinney and Megan Elliot of Mount Dora Bible took the early lead during the first 400 meters of the race, with Christina Hamilton of Satellite and Olivia Rovin of Shorecrest closing in behind. They held that lead through the mile mark, having already created a gap to the chase pack with a very spread out field even at that early stage. As they emerged from Alligator Alley, the duo from MDB had fallen off the early pace with Rovin just a step ahead of Hamilton headed over the bridge. McKinney and Elliot were a good 100 meters back around the bank.

Rovin broke open a bit of a lead over the final 800 around Do or Die Bend and came through for the victory in 19:47. Hamilton crossed at 20:06, with Elliot and McKinney a minute back. Savannah Broome, Shorecrest's #2 ran good even splits toward a 21:13, almost catching McKinney with a good kick to take fifth in 21:13. With that strong 1-2 punch and a solid depth chart, Shorecrest won big 66-142 over King's Academy.

Videos: Races and Interviews...

Photos:  Jeff Adams (345) | Ralph Epifanio (175)

Boys Small School

It was a two-man race from quite early on with Troy Clark of Mount Dora Bible taking the initiative early. Dalton Shelton of Lake Placid tailed him and didn't let go. By the mile mark they had about 20 meters on the chase pack and by the time they crossed the bridge at the two mile mark, they had completely broken contact. With 400 meters to go, Dalton closed the gap and tried to make a challenge for the lead but Troy held him off on his way to a four second victory 16:13 to 16:17. Ross Porter of Shorecrest lead the chase pack in with a 16:59 for third place, followed by Adam Ramos of Dade Christian and Scott Simpson of King's Academy.

Porter's Shorecrest defeated Key West for the team title by just a point 140 to 141, beating the Conchs on the first and fourth man. Lincoln Park took third with 152.

Videos: Race and Interviews...

Photos:  Jeff Adams (452) | Ralph Epifanio (143)

Girls Large School

From nearly the gun it was Hannah Loder of Matanzas and Taylor Tubbs of Sebring. They had a decent lead going into the mile mark and even through two miles looked to be an assured 1-2 finish. However, Amanda Spring of Northeast came on with a very strong last mile to overtake the early leaders. She extended to a substantial 16 second victory of 19:18 over Sebring's Tubbs in 19:34. Loder held on for third in 19:48. Regan Farrow of Lake Howell, getting back into last year's form, had a solid race with a 20:15 followed by the Columbia 1-2 of Emma Tucker and Samantha Zeigus around 20:30. Sebring also made it two in the top ten with Hannah Schroeder's 20:43 for ninth place.

Behind Tucker-Zeigus up front, Columbia needed help from "the bench" to win. They put their 5-6-7 under South Fork's fifth to add some point buffer that tied the teams at 120 points a piece. Columbia pulled out the win on that sixth runner and held a 21:38 to 21:40 team average over South Fork. Sickles and Winter Springs were third and forth in 130 and 133.

Videos: Races and Interviews...

Photos:  Jeff Adams (362) | Ralph Epifanio (157)

Boys Large School

Justin Schanze of Oviedo led the pack out early from about 400 meters into the race. Between 800 meters and the mile mark though, the lead juggled quite a few times as the runners kind of felt each other out and a solid pack of leaders and chasers emerged, separating from the rest of the pack.  Canaan Meester-Kitterman of Bayshore took over for a while as the mile approached with Schanze, Cameron Allen of Matanzas, and the Plant duo of Travis Lucas and Bryce Weaver just a step behind.

At two miles it was Canaan still in the lead, about 10 meters over Schanze, but now a new challenge tailed close behind in third: Abdin Fator of Sickles. Allen, Lucas, and Weaver filed in about 10 meters behind them with a duo of Tyler Fisher and Adam Roux of Port Charlotte creeping their way in and picking people off in their bright orange jerseys.  Meester-Kitterman fought hard but slowly saw his lead disolve over the next 800 meters. With a half mile to go, Fator and Schanze had dropped him and headed toward home with a 15 meter lead going into the U-Turn. Fator picked up steam but Schanze never gave up with a strong kick of his own; Fator wins in 16:19 with his shadow Schanze in 16:22. Travis Lucas of Plant gave the early leader Meester-Kitterman a scare but he showed heart to fend him off by less than a second... Canaan 16:30.0 and Lucas 16:30.8.

Weaver finished next with a 16:47, followed by the Pt. Charlotte duo of Fisher and Rioux side by side at 16:50. Could this be a close team battle with Plant and Pt. Charlotte? Despite the 1-2, not so much. Plant put those questions to rest pretty quickly by putting five across by 13th place and seven across by 21st place. Plant, as expected, wins easily with 35 points and a 16:52 average. Martin County pulled off a one point edging of Sickles 106-107.

Videos: Races and Interviews...

Photos:  Jeff Adams (414) | Ralph Epifanio (164)

College Men

Jonathan Mott made it look easy, rolling to a 15:38 victory. The Hatters of Steton University though took the team title with 54 points and a 17:36 team average. This is the first major victory for the team this year and they were a mixture of shocked and stoked at the awards ceremony. The Hatters were led by Andrew Epifanio's 17:00.

Videos: Races and Interviews...

Photos:  Jeff Adams (375)  | Ralph Epifanio (159)

College Women

Former Belleview High School star Anne-Marie Blaney, now of UCF, took made a statement with her solid 17:52 victory over Lauren Falcone of Rollins. Falcone, who has been having quite a good season herself, had a time of 18:27--a new personal best. The ladies of UCF took the team title with a miniscule 31 points over former Ferguson High standout Lauren Gonzaelz-led FIU's second place 67 points. Palm Beach Atlantic was just three points back for third.

Videos: Races and Interviews...

Photos:  Jeff Adams (227) | Ralph Epifanio (135)

Girls JV Blue

Cadi Rowe of Real life Christian left little room for doubt in her one minute plus victory of 22:04 over Morayna Thorpe of Matanzas. Ft. Myers though rode to team victory witha  24:14 team average and 38 points to the 68 points of Winter Springs.

Videos: Races and Interviews...

Photos:  Jeff Adams (479)  | Ralph Epifanio (167)

Boys JV  Blue

Sam Shaffer of Viera took a 20 second victory over Robert Roy of the Ft. Myers Green Wave 18:01 to 18:21, but Trinity Prep took the team victory by placing their top five in the top ten to best Ft. Myers 35-43. The 18:01 by Shaffer is his debut in our database. Not a bad way to start.

Videos: Races and Interviews...

Photos:  Jeff Adams (425) | Ralph Epifanio (245)