Three Big Things: Week Seven

This week of racing boiled down to these three big things: 1. Dunbar, 2. Dunbar, 3. Dunbar.  The inaugural Dunbar Tigers Invitational addressed one of my biggest pet peeves with high school track and field.  Coaches Guy Thomas and Ray Romero staged one mile races for high school boys and girls instead of the bastardized 1,600 meters usually run at high school meets.  One of my biggest grievances about the federations that rule high school track is they don't run either the mile or 1,500 meters rather than a distance, 1,600 that is run nowhere else in the world.  

My other grievance is that the silly high school rules forced any of the athletes who entered the mile races to run unattached.  I watched as freaked out athletes were told to pull off their uniform tops and turn them inside out so they don't face the risk of being disqualified for the rest of their outdoor track and field season.  It is an arbitrary and archaic rule that needs to go away.

I was on hand to watch the elite miles and both the boys and girls races lived up to expectations with one surprise.  The weather was decent, a bit warm at 76 with a touch of humidity and a brisk cross wind.  Javier Vento from distance powerhouse Belen Jesuit ran a picture perfect 4:09.26 timing his kick to perfection.  Seeing a boy break 4:10 in a high school only race doesn't happen often.  

Southwest Florida's top entrant, Kolton Pickard from Estero, never looked comfortable.  He had trouble settling into the pack and yo-yo'd around before throwing in the towel, literally walking across the finish line in 4:20.56.  Pickard is in sub 4:15 shape.  Pickard staged a nice comeback doubling back to win the 3,200 in 9:37.2.  He's going to be a major factor at the state meet.

The surprise came in the girl's race that held the promise of Canterbury's Jessica Edwards getting the chance to finally break five minutes over four laps.  600 meters in you could see the look of panic in Edwards eyes as Carly McNatt and Krystal Rodriguez broke the race open.  Rodriguez powered past McNatt to win in 4:57.8.  Meanwhile, a frustrated Edwards finished in 9th in 5:16.65.  

The big local story was Elizabeth Williamson.  The Cape Coral 8th grader ran 5:08.9 to finish fifth.  One area high school is going to get a certified stud next year.

The kicker to this day of distance running (excuse the pun) was a showdown in the girl's 800 between Edwards and Miami based stud Cha'iel Johnson, daughter of NFL great Chad Johnson.  Based on the mile one would think it wouldn't be much of a race.  But Edwards showed why she is the best 800 runner in the state clocking a 2:10.62 to beat Johnson handily.  Given it was her second race of the day and it came during the hottest part of the day, it's an amazing performance.  Sub-five can wait.