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.