Track 2021

The end of the 2021 Florida high school track and field season was marked by the end of an epic career of one of Southwest Florida's greatest runners. Lee County has had an incredible string of  middle distance runners over the last half decade.  Krissy Gear of Fort Myers, Hugh Brittenham of Estero, and Sierra Oliveira of ECS enjoyed fantastic success at the prep level.  Gear's 2017 triple gold performance over 800, 1600 and 3200 meters is the Mount Everest of Lee County success.  Last Friday Jessica Edwards of Canterbury did her best to emulate Gear's feat.  

Edwards made some tough choices given the tight schedule and the tough distance corps from Cambridge Christian.  Justifiably she went team first in choosing the 4x800 relay and 4x1600 relay along with her signature event, the 800, over a tough 1600 field in Class 1A.  Edwards flew through the 4x800 pulling her team from sixth to third with a 2:13 split.  

The 800 followed in the midst of the brutal midday heat.  It was not her finest effort, in fact Jessica Edwards ran one of her worst 800's of the season to win easily 2:16.79.  The race left Edwards spent and throwing up after the finish.  It seemed there wasn't much gas left in the tank as she prepared to anchor the Cougar's 4x400 team.  

Down 40 meters when she received the baton, Edwards showed remarkable composure, easing into the race rather than blasting at away in pursuit of her rivals.  The gap was the same with 300 meters to go as Edwards began her stunning run down the back stretch, closing the gap to 10 meters with 150 to go.  The Florida bound athlete rolled past the two other competitors helping her team win gold with a 55.3 split.  It's easily one of the best relay legs I've ever watched and cemented her place as a Lee County middle distance great.  The hug at the finish from big sister Emily says it all. 

The season was so much more than Edwards.  Ava Povich showed more grit and determination after a disappointing 9th place finish in the 1,600.  The ECS sophomore endured the searing heat to run 11:08.63 in the 3200 to grab third place and record the fastest time by any Lee County girl this season at that distance.  A sub-11 minute performance awaits Povich's junior campaign.

Estero junior Kolton Pickard was undoubtedly disappointed with his fifth place finish in the 1,600.  His time of 4:22.84 fell short of the early season promise that Pickard displayed over 1600 and 3200 meters.  He undoubtedly was the best distance runner among Lee County boys this season.  Sub 4:15 and sub 9:10 has to be the goals for the 2022 season.

While I focus this blog on the distance scene in Lee County I would feel remiss in not mentioning the great season across the board shown by the boys and girls at Dunbar High School.  The Tigers hurdle duo of Leonard Mustari and Lucheyona Weaver are two of the best Lee County hurdlers ever seen and rate among the nation's best at both the sprint hurdles and 300 hurdle events.  It took a state record in the long jump by Curtis Williams to keep Mustari from triple gold.  I would have to think Mustari's 24-9 3/4 jump may be the best the county has ever seen.  Both Mustari and Weaver are headed to national sprint power North Carolina A&T.

Hopefully we'll have one more track blog as many of these super athletes head into the post season.

Three Big Things: Fear and Loathing on the Road to State

Forgive me for I have sinned.  In the previous two blogs I completely failed to mention Lehigh and their distance standout Evan Meyer.  I won't make that mistake again.  Evan is one of 14 individuals who will make the journey to Jacksonville to compete in the Florida High School Track and Field Championships.  Many of those 13 will be part of the 4x800 relay teams competing in the four classes that Florida serves up for the sport.

1.  If you were going to wager money on any of these races the sure bet is Canterbury senior Jessica Edwards in the Class 1A 800.  She clocked a 2:09.13 over the weekend for an easy win.  Her teammate Giana D'Altrui also qualified as did the Cougars' 4x800 team.  Edwards split a 2:12 in the relay along with a 55 in the 4x400.  Another Cougar, Gabrella Santucci clocked a fine 11:58.05 to join ESC sophomore standout Ava Povich in the 3,200.  Povich ran a PR 11:16.26 along with a qualifying time in the mile of 5:19.65.  Both girls will have their hands full against the superb distance squad from Cambridge Christian.

2.  The Class 3A qualifiers from Lee County is a who's who of the best boys and girls in the county.  Estero junior Kolton Pickard easily held off Ida Baker's Jacob Fritz with a 4:22.03 in the 1,600.  This time came a couple of hours after he split 1:55 to qualify the Wildcat squad in the 4x800 along with Dunbar in a race won by Fort Myers High led by a 1:56 split by senior Liam Holston.  The Green Wave was just a half second off the school record.  The Fort Myers and Cape Coral girls qualified their 4x800 teams with Fort Myers junior Amy Meng the only distance qualifier as an individual in the 3,200 clocking a 11:58.23 in the sweltering heat while Dunbar senior Ogler Bartolon also advanced in the boys race running 9:57.2.

3.  Lehigh competes in the state's largest class 4A.  Evan Meyer, a junior, ran 4:26.63 to qualify in the 1,600 where he will face Nease superstar Rheinhardt Harrison.  Meyer also helped his Lightning team qualifying in the 4x800.  In Class 2A, Bishop Verot qualified a pair of 800 runners, sophomores Cooper Banks for the boys and Julia Reitz for the girls.  Verot's boys qualified their 4x800 team but shockingly the girls just missed out on making it to Jacksonville.

Editor's note:  I failed to mention the fact that the Canterbury boys squad qualified in the 4x800 as well.  They did it with sophomore standout Charlie Meagher unknowingly running on a stress fracture.  Here's to a super fast recovery for Charlie.