Flrunners.com Invitational 8 2007

Through a muddy and water attraction that was Chain of Lakes 5K course on Saturday for the flrunners.com Invitational, watch the race video replay of the Boys Race of Champions with individual winner Ryan Rodriguez (15:39) amphibiously guide his Belen Jesuit squad to a runaway team victory.

Interview with Coach Desmond of Eleanor Roosevelt MD, whose team took second place in the Girls ROC at the flrunners.com Invitational 8 Presented by Nike on October 6, 2007 in Titusville, Florida.

Interview with Bryan Suarez of Okeechobee after his win of the Boys ROC at the flrunners.com Invitational 8 Prestented by Nike on October 6, 2007 in Titusville, Florida.

Many of the top teams around Florida, a few others from out of state, took to the courses Friday night and Saturday morning at the flrunners.com Invitational 8 Presented by Nike.  The race of the meet took place in the Girls Race of Champions on Saturday morning, where Florida favorite Episcopal beat Maryland powerhouse Eleanor Roosevelt, taking home the team title. 

Another Hot Day Keeps Times A Little SlowGrout Run - Central Park, Schenectady, NY - Queensbury boys continues to look rediculously good with 17 point win. Guilderland girls over Queensbury, Bayshore over Colonie, and Rhinebeck over Duanesburg. Kim Moran (Bayshore) fastest in 16:18, Matt Flint (Queensbury) fastest in 13:45.St. Anthony's Invitational - Sunken Meadow State Park - Smithtown boys win over Arlington 34-39, Arlington girls over Ward Mellville 26-31. Giovanni Signoretti (Smithtown) has fastest time of the day with 13:05. Brianna Welch (North Shore) fastest time of day with 15:11.

 There were lots of exciting races over the last two days!  Friday was windy and rainy but that didn't stop the great races and good times.  Of course, we concluded Friday night on a high note by welcoming Alan Webb, Jim Ryun and Keith Brantly for those lucky enough to have stuck around.  Saturday morning Race of Champions lived up to the hype with the mega-team battles with most of the best teams in the state of Florida (and some beyond) in attendance.   Episcopal girls upset Eleanor Roosevelt, Maryland in a nail-biter.   ER was really tough up front by after five runners it was Episcopal by an eight point margin.  Our Lady of Lourdes, who defeated #20 nationally Lake Braddock VA last week, was third with BK in a close fourth.  Community School of Naples had an incredible week with their fifth place finish and Lake Highland (with Allie Prendergast back healthy) was a close sixth.  Emilie Amaro, as expected, pulled off the individual title--her first ROC win and a season best time.The Boys ROC contained almost every top team in the state of Florida in a battle royale!  It was Tampa Jesuit holding off a surging Ferguson for the win, with a team average of 16:46 and a 61 second 1-5 split.  Ferguson had a great race bettering their performance from last week (and scoring their top five) to defeat the mighty Bishop Kenny.  Belen Jesuit and Pensacola Washington rounded out the top five.In the individual battle it was Guillermo Echarte leading for basically the entire race, coming into the final stretch he had a decent margin and it looked to be his.  But as Bryan Suarez's mighty kick came on, it was fatigue for Echarte.  Guillermo would hold on for second but Bryan Suarez got his first major meet win!  He's looked great all year and it's awesome to see him come away with one on this big stage.   Eric Larson (after falling at one point in the race) was on Guillermo's heals for third, with Derek Wehunt just behind him.  And then they just kept coming....!  Great race!! More summaries and coverage coming. Coverage: Results | Photos (Uploading thousands currently) | G-ROC Video | B-ROC Video | More coming

 Many of the top teams from Florida, and a few more from around the southeast, will compete in the FLRunners.com Invitational 8 Presented by Nike this weekend.  FLR8 is one of the largest invitationals in the country this weekend, and will showcase some of the best talent.  

 For all intents and purposes, this is the final team seed sheet.5K, 8K, and 2 Mile course maps are posted.  The schedule has had some minor changes.  Please be sure to read all about the latest information before coming! Race of Champions Outlook:  Both boys and girls will be a team battle royale!!  The girls side has NTN implications as nationally ranked Eleanor Roosevelt MD and Jacksonville Episcopal face off against Our Lady of Lourdes.  Lourdes has beaten Episcopal earlier this year (without all their runners) and is coming off a big win last week against US#2 Lake Braddock VA.  ER took second last week at the prestigious Maymont meet in Virginia.  Episcopal has been largely idle so far this year and this should be the first big test at full strength!  This will be awesome!!  The boys races will not have the national implications, but will be no less exciting.  Tampa Jesuit was last week at Southern Stars and will be the favorite, but they were tied through five runners with Bishop Kenny.  Well BK is back and hoping to get another point on them and win this time around!  But Miami Belen Jesuit and Pensacola Washington are two of the state's best and they weren't around last week.  They think they can have something to say about it and disrupt the BK/Tampa Jesuit rematch.  Miami Columbus, who took fourth last week, has all five of their runners this week (which wasn't the case last week) and they may just upset them all.  Don't forget some of the dark horses here... Miami Ferguson (Manco at full strength?), Flagler Palm Coast, and others!  It's anyone's guess who will come out of here victorious at FLR8!! Directions | Course Maps | Schedule | Race Seed Sheet | Other Meet Info 

 FLRUNNERS.COM, along with NIKE, is excited to announce that Alan Webb has agreed to speak at the Olympian Speakers Conference that follows pasta banquet at the flrunners.com Invitational 8 Presented by Nike.  The meet will take place on October 5-6 at Chain of Lakes Park in Titusville, Florida with the pasta banquet and speakers appearing on Friday night.  Webb will be joining fellow-Olympians Jim Ryun and Keith Brantly.Brantly is a Florida native who was one of the top distance runners of the 80s and 90s.  Ryun is the former world record holder in the mile and half mile, was the first high schooler to break the four minute mile, and held the high school mile record for 36 years.  His mile record was broken in 2001 by of course Alan Webb!  Today Alan holds the American record in the 2 mile and this summer added the American mile record to his list as well. This will indeed be a treat to those lucky enough to get tickets.  The three will speak and then we will open up the floor to your questions of our "panel of experts".  Reserve your team's tickets in advance, we will likely sell out.  Read the full article for more.

FLRUNNERS.COM LLC and NIKE are proud to introduce a collaboration to make Florida's most anticipated annual cross country meet even better. Today the two companies announced a two year sponsorship deal of the flrunners.com Invitational, which will help to take the meet to a new level and allow Nike to introduce the participants and guests to some of its latest products. READ MORE!

This will be our eighth year now hosting the flrunners.com Invitational. From the humblest beginnings back in 2000 to growing to become the largest, most elite, and most anticipated meet of the year in Florida. In 2007, we are moving to Chain of Lakes Park in Titusville.  The county has built this new beautiful park with nature-filled lakes and a lookout tower for viewing from above. Athletes will run over bridges, across and around the lakes. Spectators will have full access to the course and be able to see the runners for almost the entire race. In keeping with always trying to one-up myself from the meets of previous years, we will be hosting a pasta banquet on Friday night at the course. Included with the dinner tickets will be our post-dinner guest speakers. We will feature at least two guest speakers: three-time Olympian and former world record holder Congressman Jim Ryun and 1996 Olympic marathoner and Florida native Keith Brantly.More details...