The powerhouse teams in Pinellas County held serve Thursday evening at Taylor Park. Palm Harbor girls and Osceola boys were team champions a year ago. This year, the team strength of both squads prevailed.
Land O’Lakes Gators cross-country coach Kris Keppel is legendary in Pasco County and well-known far beyond. His 20 years of coaching cross-country, 17 at Land O’Lakes High have entrenched him in the local community and in the hearts and minds of cross- country runners everywhere.
The story line coming in was the Estero Wildcat girls sending shockwaves through the cross-country community. After dominant performances at the Flrunners.com Invitational in Titusville a week ago and at the North Port Invitational a week before that, the Estero girls were not just favored to win, they were favored to sweep the top four spots or at least take four of the top five spots.
With conference championships a week away and district tournaments just a week after that, the 2013 Gator Invitational will give many Florida athletes their last big test before running races that count. The margin for error and window for experimentation is closing quickly. Teams and coaches will have their last chance to tweek lineups and tie up loose ends before the races become do-or-die.
It was a warm and muggy morning in Pasco County for the Mitchell Invitational. Andy Warrener was on-site with a full recap and over 200 photos of all the action.
Osceola sophomore Hunter McCann has had his eye on winning this meet for a long time. After finishing runner-up a year ago to Jesuit’s Tim O’Loughlin, McCann wasn’t going to let anyone take first place away from him Saturday morning.
The 2013 Indian Rocks Invitational was sped up to duck a storm system that threatened lower Pinellas County on Thursday evening. The JV race was bumped up to 4pm and the Varsity boys and girls races were combined for a 4:45pm start. The boys started two minutes ahead of the girls to curb congestion on the course.
Rain and wind and weather ambushed the early season tune up at Crescent Lake Park a year ago. It made scoring the meet next to impossible and half the meet never made it into the books. This year, weather closed in as the girls finished their race and struck as the boys race sent its first few runners across the finish. There was to be no stopping the result tabulation this year. In the face of a deluge, coaches and volunteers consolidated all the soaking score sheets and finished the meet complete with results.
Holy Trinity must have still been smarting from a runner-up finish at states last year; at least the girls team, the boys were already defending their state title coming in. Both teams cruised to dominant wins. The girls team scored 106 to second place Evangelical Christian with 66. On the boys side, Moore Haven scored 98 to give Holy Trinity a good run but as soon as it got to the 3200m, the bell had tolled for Moore Haven’s upset aims.
The Pinellas County Championships (PCAC) was delayed from last Thursday due to rain. The Monday re-run had plenty of big ups and fast times from the well-known entities in the county. Lakewood boys continued to look like a state championship team.
Andy Warrener was on site at Fivay High School for the 2013 Sunshine Athletic Conferenc Championship.
The 51st Annual Ed Wells Jr. Kiwanis Invitational stayed with some conventions and broke completely with others. The Lakewood boys continued their winning ways, while the Osceola girls upset Lakewood and Pinellas Park.