Championship Season

Three meets to go.  That's the goal for the lucky few teams and individuals as the Florida high school cross country draws to a close.  District meets will be scattered across Southwest Florida beginning on Thursday with Class 3A teams meeting at Estero Park and Class 1A teams running at SFCA.  On Saturday Lehigh will travel to North Port for their District meet while Bishop Verot heads to Englewood for its 2A showdown.

Lehigh has two outstanding runners competing at Class 4A.  Sophomore Gianna Del Pizzo has enjoyed a solid season and should be able to advance through the District and Region meet on to Tallahassee.  The same can be said of Lightning senior distance ace Evan Meyer.  He was forced to miss last week's LCAC meet due to a scheduling conflict with the SAT's which is a big whiff on the part of the athletic leaders of the Lee County School District.  Athletes shouldn't have to make a choice between competition and tests  This would have never happened if it involved football.  Lehigh competes Saturday in North Port.

The girls of Bishop Verot can lay claim to being the top team in Lee County.  Coach Jorge Fleitas has done a great job of building the Viking program.  Verot will compete at Class 2A on Saturday in Englewood and the girls lead by Julia Reitz, Mackenzie De Lisle and Kylie Thomas are on a path to Tallahassee.  If the squad can peak in three weeks they could land a top ten finish at State.  The boys squad is in a tougher spot and will be fortunate to qualify to Region with the hope of moving an individual or two on to State.  Freshman Andrew Marino and Zielke are peaking at the right time.

Hayden Tank of SFCA is the most improved boy in Lee County.  Winning Thursday on his home course at the Class 1A District would mean a major upset as he faces one of the top runners in Florida, Tristan McWilliam from Out of Door Academy.  Tank's SFCA squad should advance to Region and appear in form to go to State.  Charlie Meagher from Canterbury should advance as well.  On the girl's side at the same meet is Lee County's top star Ava Povich.  She has no peers.  She will advance to Tallahassee where she will face the toughest field in the state of Florida.  A top five finish for Povich will be nothing to be ashamed of.  Canterbury's Gabriella Santucci figures to advance to Tallahassee as well.

The biggest clash of area schools happens Thursday at Estero Park when the slew of Class 3A schools from Lee and Collier County will face off for the handful of spots to advance to Region.  When it comes to individuals, Estero's senior distance star Kolton Pickard looks impossible to beat.  Bernardo Barnhart from Palmetto Ridge and Colsen Palmer from Fort Myers will do their best to chase Pickard down. 

When it comes to a boys time title Fort Myers is finally getting healthy and looks to be in the drivers seat.  Naples will give the Green Wave everything it can handle.  When it comes to other potential qualifiers from that District Dunbar, Cape Coral, Palmetto Ridge and Ida Baker should be in the mix.

The girl's individual race looks to be a bit more muddled.  Naples freshman find Tara Watkins appears to be the favorite but Olivia Olney a junior from Fort Myers showed what smart racing looks like in taking the LCAC crown last Saturday.  And the team title will boil down between Naples and Fort Myers.  Given the injuries that have crippled the Green Wave this season it would appear that Naples would have the upper hand.  Both teams are almost sure bets to advance to Tallahassee.

Pickard's Back

We've hit the midway point of the Florida high school cross country season.  Things haven't unfolded as one would have suspected among the Lee County squads, mainly due to injuries.  That could shake things up, especially on the girl's side.

Estero senior star Kolton Pickard is back.  A freak injury thanks to the stupid a coach and his girl's team deciding to cross the Fort Myers Invitational course in front of the lead pack of boys led to Pickard tweaking his hamstring.  Pickard now has back to back wins at Lely and at the Hoka FlRunners meets to show that his form is just fine.

The surprise of the season on the boy's side is Hayden Tank of SFCA.  He's picked up right where big brother Ethan left off. Tank finished a respectable 5th in Lakeland, just 30 seconds behind Pickard.  With Cooper Banks ditching cross country for soccer, Tank, just a junior, appears to be the top small school harrier in Lee County.

When it comes to which Lee County boy's team will lay claim to the number one spot, standby.  Fort Myers and Dunbar aren't exactly shining right now.  Both teams appear ready to make a run to State but neither has raced particularly well.  Fort Myers made a decent showing at North Port two weeks ago with Dunbar notably in need of a stronger number five runner.  Neither team raced particularly well this weekend at Hoka FlRunners.

The biggest surprise among the Lee County ranks is a diminutive freshman from Bishop Verot.  Mackenzie De Lisle gave up gymnastics to take up running.  She's helped turn the Vikings into the top girl's cross country squad in Lee County.  De Lisle has shown progress week to week and Verot's depth has helped them leap frog past Fort Myers and Estero.

If Fort Myers can be healthy they could top Bishop Verot.  Senior Amy Meng, a top five finisher at State last year, has been dealing with nagging injuries.  One of the Green Wave's other top runners, sophomore Elizabeth McHugh, is on the comeback trail from a stress fracture.  Fort Myers can still make a run to State without two of its top runners as could the Estero girls.

A lot of inter-county bragging rights will be on the line this weekend at the Bishop Verot Invitational on Saturday.  Assuming all of the top runners in Lee County participate, the meet will mark the last time schools both large and small will face off against each other.