Keneth Pineiro

A look at the Top 500 Florida high school boys XC 5K's of All-Time.

Check out the top 1,000 Florida boys performances all-time at the Champs (formerly Foot Locker) South Regional in Charlotte.

Check out the top 100 boys times run in the FACA All-Star Senior Meet since 2002 at the 5K distance.

Check out the top 500 high school boys 5K times ever run at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida.

Check out the top 50 high school boys performances by event in the MileSplit database all-time from the Florida Relays.

Florida has always been a sprint state. The recent outdoor national rankings have five Floridians at the top of the leaderboard including Kendal Williams in the 100 (10.28), Deron Gordon in the 300 hurdles, Ken Pineiro in the 1500, and two Booker T. Washington relays (4x100 and 4x400). Are you on the cusp of being the best of the best? Where do you rank nationally? Rankings are as of 3/31/2014.

Miami Norland senior Kimani Austin-Reese and Deland senior Keneth Pineiro are this week's Athletes of the Week. Austin-Reese, a UCLA commitment kicked off the season  with a first place showing and state leading time of 43.17 in the 300 hurdles. Pineiro, coming off a fifth place showing at the 4A Cross Country Finals, proved he had the base work needed to be successful on the track. The Embry Riddle signee pulled the distance double at the East Coast Classic winning both the 1600 and 3200 meters in state leading times of 4:24.08 and 9:34.72 respectively.

The official season has yet to begin across Florida, but that didn't stop some middle school athletes and high schoolers from getting in some competition. The Embry Riddle Indoor/Outdoor Challenge hosted several high school, college and unattached athletes while the Larry Wooten Invitational in South Florida gave the stars of tomorrow their chance to shine.

The Embry-Riddle track & field team has announced the signings of three recruits for the 2015 season. (via Embry-Riddle University)

Florida might be known for its speedsters, but take a look at the numbers on the distance side. Emily Edwards, the 3A Cross Country Finals Champion has the fastest time comine in at 4:53.91 with Daesha Rogers the only other runner to break five minutes. However, look at the remaining 48 athletes! Fifteen seconds separates the top of the third best to number fifty. On the boy's side they are just as close. Timber Creek sophomore Brandon Marquez will no longer have to face Andres Arroyo in this event,  but has the whole field within in 12 seconds of his best. That is 50 guys in the 4:30 or less range!

An early morning fog greeted the top seniors in the state to Tallahassee for the FACA Senior All-Star Meet. The south team drove the furthest of the bunch, but that didn't stop them from taking some hardware back. Katrina Santiago of Ferguson and Manny Velasquez of St. Thomas Aquinas won individual titles, while the South girls took home the team trophy. Coach Kris Keppel's West squad won the boys team trophy.

Santa Fe College in Gainesville played host to two regionals on Saturday. 4A Region 1 also known as "the region of death", showcased some of the top programs and individuals in Florida's largest classification. Kayley Delay of Fletcher picked up individual honors while Winter Park showed once again why they are the team to beat next week in Tallahassee. On the boys side, sophomore Brandon Marquez had another great race leading his Wolve( to the regional championship!

The Roman god Janus is a two-faced god; his gaze simultaneously fixed forward towards the future and back into the past (hence, his name being the root of our month of January). In Roman religion, it was this god that presided over beginnings and transitions, and was associated with motion, journeys, and passages. In Roman architecture, his presence is sometimes depicted as that of a door, either open or closed. If the door was open, it symbolized war; a closed door meant peace (hence a basis for the superstition that we should “close doors behind us,” and use of the term “close the door” on our competition). 

This week’s “big meet” will be on The Mark Bostick Golf Course on the University of Florida campus which is known to be challenging given the softer grass and multiple hills which are spread throughout. 72 teams are entered on the girl’s side and 69 on the boys teams will gather on a predicted steamy 90+% humidity and 75+ degree morning. Conditions have been dry this week, so the course surface may be more firm for better footing and performances across the board. Flrunners will be on-site with results, race video, video interviews, thousands of photos, and a complete recap of all the action.

It was a chilly morning in Gainesville as Santa Fe College hosted both the 4A Region 1 and 1A Region 2 Championships. Fast times were posted as Andres Arroyo went 15:12.61 and Bridget Blake of Dr. Phillips finished first in 17:56.18. Both runners won by over twenty seconds. Colonial edged Mandarin for the boys team title while Olympia beat out Hagerty for the girls team title.

Originally scheduled for Saturday, October 27th, this meet was prudently moved to Monday, October 29th. That first date, unfortunately, coincided with the passing of Hurricane Sandy on its deadly, northern trajectory.

Deland senior Keneth Pineiro and Seabreeze freshman Elizabeth Murray picked up Five Star Conference titles. FPC swept team titles in three of the four races. Ralph Epifanio was on-site with tons of photos and will have a feature story when he gets back from fighting the Redcoats on the front lines.

It was a beautiful morning for cross country running at Seminole State College - Oviedo Campus home of the 2012 Hagerty Invitational. Nearly two dozen teams took part in the three lap course. For some school's it will be their district meet course, for others it was a chance to get some more racing under their belts as the postseason looms. On-site coverage sponsored by Track Shack.

A good cross country runner will run hundreds of miles to prepare for that one race of 3.1 miles, a great one will run over a thousand miles during the heat of the Florida summers to accomplish great things four months later in November. Today I was fortunate to see some fantastic young athletes who obviously want to be great ones, and their work ethic, heart and determination should definitely lead them to truly great things down the road in November and beyond.  

Chain of Lakes Park has always been a beautiful place to hold a cross country meet, and today was no exception. With clear skies, and a temperature that was more than accommodating for this year’s edition I got out of my car thinking to myself that it was weird that there was so much water in the parking lot.

The Bulldogs senior won the Five Star Conference by almost 13 seconds with a 16:22.50. He also has the second-fastest 5K time in the area at 16:15, just 8 seconds behind Matanzas' David Drumm. (via www.news-journalonline.com)