I did almost all of my long summer runs here and the Mount Dora Bible course has to be one of the hardest in the state. It's hills are grueling and seem to be placed in the worst places. Knowing you have to do two loops of it for it to be a full 5K, is almost as mentally exhausting as it is physically. Thankfully, Saturday at the 39th Mount Dora Bible Invitational the weather was absolutely beautiful with the temperature at a comfortable 75 degrees for both the girls and boy's varsity as well as JV races.
For the girls race, Denae Chapman of Circle Christian led the first mile around 6:20 pace with Christina Mckinney (MDB), Sarah Hammond, (Merritt Island HS), and both of Olympia's top runners, Emily Headley and Kaitlyn Campo trailing only about 12 seconds behind at the mile mark. After the two mile, Headley made her move and pressed on to steal the lead from Chapman. Chapman stayed relatively close behind Headley, but never managed to take back the lead. In the last 200m, Headley opened up her stride and sealed the deal with her second victory of the week with a final time of 19:44, which was almost ten seconds better than her time last year on the course. Following Headley for second place was Denae Chapman from Circle Christian with a 19:53 finish and for third, Kaitlyn Campo from Olympia with a solid 20:19. Olympia had five girls in the top 10 which allowed them to earn the team victory with 27 points. Merritt Island's girls finished second with 70 points.
One word for the boy's varsity race: Dominated. Troy Clark, a junior at Mount Dora Bible won the race wire to wire. He took the lead in the first 300 yards and had a 100m to 200m gap or more the entire time. Troy crossed the mile mark at around 5:21, with Circle Christian's Jordan Foster and Nature Coast Tech's Cody Van Natter, and Kevin Ciccone following about 100m behind. In the last 200m, Clark, looking stronger than ever, sprinted in through the finish line to ensure his solid sub 17 minute time of 16:53 which was 20 seconds better than his time of 17:13 last year on the course. Circle Christian's Jordan Foster was next with a 17:39, followed by Nature Coast Tech's first two who finished practically side by side, Cody Van Natter with a 17:51 and Kevin Ciccone with a 17:54. Van Natter and Ciccone's side by side win allowed Nature Coast Tech to achieve the victory with 48 points. Olympia's boy's took second place with 59 points.
In the boys and girls JV race, Corbin Rodier (Olympia HS) was first with a time of 19:55. Jacob Rockwell from Nature Coast tech took second with 20:13, and Jack Dey from Olympia finished third with a 20:41. For girls, 6th grader Rebecca Clark from Mount Dora Bible School won in 24:16 with Father Lopez's Isabella Napolitano with 25:20 for second, and Mount Dora Bible's Chase Brock for third in 25:24.
Great races everyone!