Behind The Rivalry: Holy Trinity & Trinity Prep


 

Although the schools are small, there is no bigger rivalry in the state of Florida than 1A’s Holy Trinity and Trinity Prep. Well, except maybe Florida vs. Florida State.
 
It’s hard to look past the domination of 1A cross-country over the last decade by the boys from Holy Trinity and Trinity Prep. One of the two teams has won the last eight 1A state championships, and the dominance has even increased in the last five years. Since 2007, one of the two schools has won every 1A state title, and the other school has finished runner-up each time.
 
The rivalry is headed by two distinguished head coaches in Holy Trinity’s Doug Butler and Trinity Prep’s Ken Vinal, owners of five and three boys XC state championships, respectively.  While the rivalry is very intense, the coaches have a great amount of respect for each other.  Said Vinal, “As his results say, (Butler) is obviously a great coach. He’s able to take kids and help them succeed beyond what they ever really thought they could. I have great respect for him and what he does over there.”
 
Although Coach Vinal has transformed Trinity Prep into a cross-country powerhouse, most people don’t know that he actually used to work at now-rival Holy Trinity (albeit before the creation of the running program). Vinal said, “I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Holy Trinity.”
 
He sure doesn’t let it show. Both teams begin each season with the similar goal of defeating their rival and winning the state championship. In fact, according to Vinal, the moment that really began the 1A supremacy by the rivals was “in 2007, when we won on a tiebreaker. It’s like it woke up the guys who were here. They wanted to know what it took to be good, and it was a huge change in our attitude.”
 
This is just one example of the rivalry being beneficial to both teams. “Having a rival that’s good has helped us to also become good. I believe you compete up to your competition,” Vinal said.  “It motivates both of us because we both want to be the best.”
 
Aside from the coaches, the many talented runners who compete in the rivalry have helped make it what it is today. Griffin Jaworski, a class of 2011 two-time top five finisher at the state meet, was at the head of Trinity Prep’s back to back state championships in 2009 and 2010. He said, “The rivalry is so strong because it’s been going on for so long. We have been back and forth with them so many times. When you work hard all year long and lay it on the line at the state meet, then lose to your rival again by three points like my sophomore year (2008), it just sparks that desire to work that much harder for the next year.”
 
2010 individual state champion David Kilgore (class of 2011) was one of the many Holy Trinity runners who propelled the team to the top of 1A. He said, “I feel like it’s almost a tradition for Holy Trinity or Trinity Prep to win the 1A cross-country championship, which causes the rivalry to heat up a lot more when the state meet comes around.”
 
Current Trinity Prep senior leader Daniel Salas has been around the rivalry since his days in middle school. He said, “On those days when we’re just not feeling it, the HT rivalry reminds us that we have got to push through every tough day if we want to win. Our rivalry with HT has motivated the team to do everything they can in order to make themselves the best they can be on November 17.”
 
Daniel Moore, Holy Trinity’s three-time top ten state finisher, graduated in 2012 after a very successful career. “I don’t mean this as a slight to any other teams in 1A but every year I ran for Holy Trinity it was very simple: Beat Trinity Prep and you win state,” Moore said. “My first couple years, it wasn’t a friendly rivalry. We didn’t talk to them and we didn’t want to be friends with them.  Looking back now, it’s pretty silly.  My junior and senior year we became more civil.” 
 
Another former Trinity Prep 2011 graduate, three-time top ten state finisher Whitner Chase believes that the rivalry continues to build on itself and get stronger year by year. He said, “The championship memorabilia hanging in the gym serves as a reminder of a higher standard set by former teams and the desire to continue such a glorious tradition of victory. This is why the Holy Trinity/Trinity Prep rivalry is so strong; the fire comes from within, not from the other team.”
 
That doesn’t mean the rivalry is not fierce.  Chase went on to say, “Only one team for the past 6 years has stood between our team and our title, and I’m sure the Holy Trinity runners believe the same thing about us too. The Holy Trinity XC program has a great tradition of victory to sustain, and, to be truthful, I was satisfied whenever I took it away from them.”Kilgore added, “We wanted to beat (Trinity Prep) every time we ran against them. No other way to put it.”
 
Chase’s favorite memories during his days in the rivalry were often intense encounters. He recalls, “I ran Joey Castagnaro (HT class of 2012) off the course during the 2008 FSU Invite. It was certainly done in poor taste.”  Chase also remembers “congratulating Alex Brown and Cole Oliver (HT class of 2013) on their 2009 state championship after Chaplain Vinal told us we had lost before I found out that our team had actually won.”
 
Not all of the interactions between the two teams are that heated, however. Jaworski said, “One of the reasons the rivalry is so unique is that after running against the same guys so long you feel like you really know them and the closer you get to graduating, the closer you get as friends.”He then recalled one of his favorite memories of the rivalry: “My senior year we stayed at the beach after prom and me and Whitner, with zero hours of sleep, showed up at their practice and ran eight miles with them. It was strange to just converse and joke with the team that we would be racing all out the next week at states, but it was an experience that most rivals would never have.” HT’s Kilgore remembers, “actually becoming friends with their team at the end of my time in high school. When I come home from college I still go on runs with Whitner Chase and Griffin Jaworski. They are great guys.”
 
Salas also had some nice words about his bitter rivals. “Without the HT rivalry I wouldn’t have ever gotten the chance to meet the great bunch of guys that make up the HT XC team.”
 
This year at states promises to be just another chapter in the back-and-forth rivalry. Holy Trinity and Trinity Prep are likely to finish as the top two teams yet again, and it’s anyone’s guess as to who will come out on top. HT is the slight favorite heading into the state meet, but it is likely to be decided by just a few points. 
 
Coach Vinal wouldn’t want it any other way. He said, “I expect it’s going to be very very close, even only a couple of points between us.  It’s going to be fun.  I look forward to that, I relish the opportunity to go out and have it be such a tight, close race.”
 
Although it is such an intense rivalry, TPS and HT love competing with each other. The competition motivates both teams to push themselves each and every year. Salas said, “It’s hard to imagine Trinity Prep not going toe to toe with Holy Trinity at the state meet. I think that some of the thrill would be lost if we didn’t have a team like HT always not too far ahead or not too far behind.”

Luckily for fans everywhere, the rivalry between Trinity Prep and Holy Trinity is only getting stronger.


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Holy Trinity Team Page
Trinity Prep Team Page