John Mitchell

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

 Personal musings about tonight's meet.

This weekend a couple thousand of runners, including many of the best in the state of Florida, will be headed to an out-of-the way ranch in dimly populated North Pasco County.  Down the small dirt, wooden path they will venture, hoping their bus does not get stuck.  And then finally over the railroad tracks, the woods open up and they will see it:  the beautiful Little Everglades Ranch.  Some hate the course, some love it.  But there is no denying it is one of the most beautiful spaces of authentic Florida that you will find.  No tourists.  No urban sprawl.  Just a serene natural setting filled with the greenest grass, wetland ponds, blue herons and other water birds, along with a few hundred head of cattle! 2096 athletes and 80 schools are entered, coming from as far away as Key West and Fort Walton Beach.  Some of them are perennial powers.  Others are small but developing programs.  All coming together for this preview of the season culminating state championship meet just over a month from now. Here is your first look at the competition.

In day two of the three day Disney Invitational (first day of high school events), the meet was largely filled with unfamiliar faces. That's because at this Easter weekend meet, a majority of the teams are from out of state or even international. However, it was one Floridian who stood out in particular today. His name is John Mitchell. You may not have heard of him yet, but you will. This Durant junior is a track & field rookie and he is really starting to come into his own! Last week, in just his third ever 1600 meter race, he ran a personal best of 4:31. And today he did quite a bit better. After being content to sit back in third place for most of the race, he started closing the gap and moved into second place to start the bell lap. And then with 300 meters to go he started kicking and caught the leader at around the 200 mark. By the 100 meter mark he left little doubt and started to pull away from Novia Scotia's Matias Wolter. Mitchell finished with a 8 second PR of 4:23.39 to Wolter's 4:25.48. High School Photo Album (566) John Mitchell Interview w/Race Footage Day 1, 2, and 3 Complete Results (High School and College)