The Coming of Jalen Wilson

Kansas is on its way to defending its first NCAA basketball championship in 14 years.  I'm going to posit that the 2022-23 edition of the Jayhawks is more talented than the championship team.  Blasphemy but hear me out.  The only thing missing from this year's supremely talented squad is senior leadership.

Gone are All American Ochai Agbaji, the enigmatic David McCormack, the surprising Christian Braun and the longest serving Jayhawk in history, Mitch Lightfoot.  It's a lot of leadership and talent.  But back are two key pieces to the Jayhawk roster, fourth year junior Jalen Wilson and junior Dajaun Harris.

Three games in and Wilson has elevated his game to a level that we saw glimpses of in his first two seasons as a Jayhawk.  Tuesday night against Duke, Wilson became only the fifth Jayhawk in history to score 25, pull down ten boards and dole out at least five assists.  Think about it.  He did this against Duke and we're talking about a lot of Jayhawk history.  Wilson will average 18 and 8 all year and he's not even the best player on the team.

The best player on the team is the best freshman that I've seen since Andrew Wiggins suited up for Kansas.  Gradey Dick is the real deal.  He's got something that Wiggins lacked, aggressiveness.  Somehow Norm Roberts had forgotten that he had buried Dick on the bench.  Once back in with five minutes to go Dick made a three, a back door flush and a twisty lay up and it was game over for Duke.  Dick has the quickest, purest jump shot I've ever seen.  And for a freshman he doesn't look completely lost on defense.

Harris leads a stalwart back court.  His old man game would be complete if he ever committed to being a good three point shooter.  The same can be said for his principal back up Bobby Pettiford.  But both guards play hellacious defense and dole out assists like Mary Poppins spreading sunshine and cheer.  Then there's Joseph Yeseufu.  I said it last year and it's even more evident this year.  He's a waste of a scholarship.  He's taking minutes that should go to MJ Rice, another fabulous freshman who will have to fight for minutes.

Harris's running mate is a Texas Tech transfer who is the only senior on the squad.  Kevin McCullar plays defense.  He's the best defender since Marcus Garrett and he can do something that Garrett couldn't do, he can shoot.  Even though he is one of two seniors, it's clear that Harris and Wilson will provide the leadership for this squad.  The other senior, Michael Jankovich would actually be a better alternative for instant offense that Bill Self will look for out of Yesefu.  He's a deadly shooter but isn't the defender that Yesefu is.  Too bad.

The three guard rotation will be vital because the achilles heel of this year's squad is the four big men expected to take the black of David McCormack.  K.J. Adams deserved more minutes than he got his freshman year.  He's not tall but he's supremely physical who needs a little more polish to his interior game.  He'll be backed up from two supreme freshmen who are both beasts in the making and both first rate shot blockers.  Ernest Udeh and Zuby Ejiobor are physical specimens.  Both are 6'9" and both top 240 pounds.  Once they get some minutes under their belts, watch out.

That leaves sophomore big man Zach Clemens on the outside looking in. Clemens excels from the perimeter but seems to lack the desire to go inside.  If he can stand to wait his turn odds are he'll be in an excellent position to take Wilson's spot on next year's squad.  But my guts tell me he's going to think about transferring out.  Speaker of transfers, one has to wonder if the now injured Kyle Cuffe will stick around.  With a number of guards already committed for next year and McCullar the only senior guaranteed to be graduating it leaves a dwindling number of minutes.

And then there's Bill Self, serving out his four game suspension.  The NCAA is so neutered and incapable of doing anything it's going to look really bad if they try to take serious action against the Jayhawks, for violations that occurred nearly a half dozen years ago that under the new NIL rules would likely be legal.  Kansas is back for another deep NCAA run and possible trip to another Final 4.

Green Wave Fever

Saturday Night Fever has nothing on JoJo Koraya's Friday night fever.  The pre-meet illness must have had the Fort Myers Green Wave boy's cross country team sick to its stomach knowing that their junior star might not be 100 percent for Saturday morning's Class 3A State Championship showdown.

Koraya showed no signs of illness as he picked his way through the star studded field to finish fourth and lead his team to a consecutive second place finish at States.  Junior Allard, the Fort Myers sophomore star who had an up and down season aided the Green Wave cause by having an up day finishing 20th to earn All-State honors.

Other Lee County teams and runners acquitted themselves with sterling performances throughout the different classes. We'll start small first and the one sure thing all season.  You could bet the house that ECS senior star Ava Povich would finish in the top three in Class 1A.  The Florida State signee did just that to finish third improving four places on her junior year finish.

Canterbury's Gabrielle Santucci closed out her senior campaign claiming All State honors.  Santucci ran 19:32 to place 20th.  Not far behind was another senior who certainly can claim the honor of the most improved runner in Lee County.  SFCA's Tommie Bade finished 29th in 19:47.

My favorite senior story came in the form of another SFCA senior, Hayden Tank.  His season looked like a complete disaster after a heat distressed race and health issues early in the season.  Tank led his SFCA squad to a 6th place finish by finishing 8th in Class 1A.  Given the obstacles Tank overcame don't be surprised if his outdoor track season is something special.

Class 2A Mackenzie De Lisle did everything she could to lay claim to the title as the best girl in Lee County.  The Bishop Verot sophomore sensation ran the fastest time of the weekend in 18:07 to finish fifth.  The best Lee County freshman girl was also in that Class 2A race.  Oasis Jazlyn Forbes finished 27th in 19:31.

The Bishop Verot boys can rightly say they had the third best boys team in the county.  The Vikings squad finished a solid 5th in Class 2A led by senior Grayson Tubbs who claimed All State honors with his 18th place finish.  Verot returns the bulk of their squad next year.  

The second best team in Lee County were the boys from Cape Coral.  The Seahawks were nipping at the heels of the Fort Myers all season thanks in large part to Declan Ziomek and William Canales.  Cape finished fifth in Class 3A with Ziomek finishing 9th and Canales 17th.

Fort Myers easily produced the best girl's squad in Lee County.  Led by sophomore Masha Dorofeev the Green Wave finished 16th at State in Class 3A.  Fort Myers will reload next season losing only two seniors, Olivia Olney and Lilly Harris.

Finally there's Class 4A and the runner who I would dub the Comeback Runner of the Year.  After a less than sterling sophomore campaign, Lehigh junior Gianna Del Pizzo rededicated herself.  The work paid off with a fine 13th place finish at State.

This cross country shows me that we could be in store for some incredible fireworks when the first outdoor track meet rolls around in three months.  We can't wait to see what these athletes will do on the oval.

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Two Weeks To Go

Lee County high school cross country is into its home stretch.  Teams and individuals begin competing Thursday to qualify for the State Championships to be held in Tallahassee in a little less than two weeks.  My complaints about their being too many meets and the length of the cross country season took an unexpected turn due to Hurricane Ian.  It dropped an atom bomb on a lot of athletes and coaches right at the height of the season and the fact that so many local schools will probably be racing on November 5th is no small testament to the perseverance and commitment these folks have to the sport.

This time I will start with the men where two runners have dominated the county, Fort Myers junior Joseph Koraya and Cape Coral senior Declan Ziomek.  The two have traded scalps all season.  What happens at State should decide once and for all the county's top XC dog  They will face off again this Thursday at Regions in Lakeland.

Team wise it's been Fort Myers and Cape Coral all season with a surprising surge from Bishop Verot under new coach Tyler Stowell.  Fort Myers has the best chance to podium as they did last year.  But strange things happen in Tallahassee and it wouldn't surprise me if Fort Myers and the Cape both finish in the top five in Class 3A with Bishop Verot doing the same in Class 2A

The biggest surprise from this season was the rough road faced by SFCA's Hayden Tank.  It started with a heat incident at the Fort Myers Invite that led to a health scare.  I want to give Tank all due credit for not letting these setbacks ruin his senior campaign.  He's got the talent and two more weeks of training could put him in position to finish in top 10 in Class 1A, a major accomplishment considering what he's endured.

On the ladies side all due props go to Mackenzie DeLisle of Bishop Verot.  The sophomore star wouldn't step aside for ECS senior standout Ava Povich.  These two are by far and away the best in the county. The two have handed each other defeats with DeLisle winning their last meeting with a victory at Private 8.  Both have been running sensational times.  I wouldn't be surprised if these two both run sub 18 in Tallahassee.

The surprise individual was a freshman from Oasis, Jazlyn Forbes.  She has broken 19 minutes and appears to be capable of a top 20 finish at State Class 2A.  In fact if Oasis gets a strong performance from senior Jenna Rosado the Sharks are capable of cracking the top ten as a team.  

A trio of other Lee County runners stand good chances of claiming All State honors Class 4A.  Lehigh junior Gianna Del Pizzo saved her best performance of the season for the qualifier at Districts running her fastest time to date, 19:11.  South Fort Myers senior Sofia Torres did the same with her fourth place finish at Districts in 19:43 in Class 3A.  The third, Canterbury's Gabriella Santucci should be a lock to earn All State honors as well in Class 1A.  

When it comes to teams there's no question that the girls from Fort Myers can lay claim to the top spot in the county.  The Green Wave should make it to State led by sophomore Masha Dorofeev.  The question will be whether or not the Greenies can crack the top ten.  

Friday Night Lights

I wanted to write this a week ago because I was supposed to be covering the Cypress Lake High School football game.  But I had no internet and I didn't see the point.  Tonight I was supposed to be in Naples covering another game but with Lee County not playing football I wasn't needed.  So I figured now was as good a time as any to write.

We rode out Hurricane Ian in our home.  After Irma I had vowed never to do it again.  I really didn't think this storm would get us.  But like Hurricane Charlie in 2003, this storm made the right hand turn and wham.  Except this time it was like a slow motion execution.  This thing was the slowest moving monster I could have ever imagined.

The morning of Tuesday September 27th I asked the Czarina if she wanted to go to West Palm Beach.  Miami and Fort Lauderdale were out of the question.  I-75 was jammed with traffic headed to the east coast.  I thought it might be wise to get the family together and head to West Palm.  That suggestion was rejected.  At about 11 p.m. that same day the Czarina said we should go to West Palm.  I told her it evacuation at this point was out of the question.  It was too late and too dangerous and given the direction of the storm there was nothing to say that it wouldn't head straight east to West Palm Beach.

The entire family huddled down Wednesday morning for the big blow.  We lost power very early on in the storm.  It was gone before 1 p.m.  I had forgotten about the radio I had left behind so we couldn't hear the news and our cell phones were useless.  We had no idea what was going on except for the wind.  With hurricane proof windows we could see what was happening outside and it wasn't pretty.

The Czarina wanted to hide in the small guest bathroom area which has no window exposure.  I chose the master bedroom because I couldn't see anyway that the tiny bathroom window would blow out.  Pretty soon I was joined by everyone else including a portable battery powered light that was a life saver.  A card game ensued and eventually Baxter the Boston Terrier was allowed to settle with me in bed.

The wind was endless.  My past hurricane experiences told me that the bad wind lasts three or four hours.  This storm went on for eight hours.  The Czarina was terrified.  The rest of our Russian clan seemed pretty composed.  The Czarina fretted about not having hurricane shutters.  I told her that's why we invested in the windows.  By the time the storm had calmed down it was too dark to see much of anything in our neighborhood of about 300 homes and condos.

The next day showed that Ian had meant business.  We had suffered minimal damage.  We lost some big tree branches and had some soffit damage to the back of the roof.  Our new roof appeared to be intact.  The same couldn't be said for dozens upon dozens of our neighbors.  Shingles were everywhere.  Huge pieces of aluminum from lanais were laying around yards everywhere.  One neighbor had lost a nice size chunk of their entire roof.  I can only imagine the terror.  Some huge trees had tumbled.  The only saving factor was the lack of rain.  We had missed the major flooding that we had figured was a certainty.

Thursday morning I jumped in my SUV and made my way to my store fully expecting to find flooding as it sits less than a half mile from the river.  Every traffic light was out which made major intersections a sometimes exasperating game of chicken.  Once on McGregor Boulevard, Fort Myer's main drag, you could see the giant palms resting against the power line.  Some were laying across the road.  I got to the store, saw a few shingles missing and a gutter ripped off.  The store itself was bone dry.

The yard clean up went quickly.  It mainly a matter of stretching food supplies and praying for a return of electricity.  After Irma power was restored within 24 hours.  This time it was a different story.  But again we were lucky.  Power was restored after only 48 hours.  As I write thousands of people in Lee County still don't have power.  We were lucky because Ian had sucked out all the heat and humidity and our weather was cool and comfortable like a mid-February winter.

The Russians returned to their home on Sunday when power was restored to their neighborhood which was closer to parts of the county that had been severely punished by Ian.  Fortunately their home was spared from the winds and water. Sunday night I was supposed to travel to Tampa to watch the Chiefs game with Ron and Tracy Tabb.  But I couldn't justify the trip and instead went to Walmart where I purchased the last available antenna and watched the game in all of its HD glory.

Monday our internet and cable returned.  I had gone to the store to find power had been restored and my lone customers was an evacuee from Sanibel who had lost everything.  Her husband needed running clothes so I gave him a couple of singlets and some heavily discounted a pair of shoes.  I sat there pondering just how I was going to pay my bills as I knew that business would be really, really slim for the next month or so.  Plus my store relied heavily on Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach residents and those communities in reality, no longer exist for at least the next several months.

Each day I've gone to work and had one customer, sometimes two.  But today, Friday was different.  Several people came in, many to replace shoes lost to flooding, some to replace shoes left filthy but all the yard work.  I helped those who really needed it with the price and gave away a lot of socks.

I reached out to a couple of my main shoe suppliers, Hoka and Saucony, to see if we could get some free shoes for nurses who had lost theirs to the storm.  Hoka has come through big time, I'm still waiting to hear from Saucony and I suspect they will come through.  

I can't believe the pictures I see.  Much of my community looks like some post-apocalyptic hell.  I look at my neighborhood and marvel that a matter of six to seven miles can make such an incredible difference.  I really like living here.  Even the miserable heat and humidity of the summers are worth the incredible late fall, winter and early spring weather we enjoy.  But this is the third major hurricane I have lived through in less than 20 years.  I just don't know.

This was a thousand times worse than Charlie which was really, really bad.  Irma was a walk in the park compared to this storm.  We bounced back quickly after Charlie and Irma.  I believe we will bounce back sooner than a lot of people probably believe from Ian.  Southwest Florida is one of the few remaining parts of Florida that isn't overpopulated.  The state needs the income that Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel tourism generated.  I suspect heaven and a lot of earth will be moved to make these communities livable sooner rather than later.  

 

Four Weeks In

The Lee County high school cross country season reached its fourth week of racing and one thing is clear.  Ava Povich and Mackenzie DeLisle are going to battle all season.  DeLisle, a Bishop Verot sophomore, runs with a fearlessness that she didn't show last year.  Povich, the ECS senior, just grinds.  She powers her way through a cross country course trying to bend it to her will.

They matched up Saturday night at the Kelly Road soccer complex at the Fort Myers Invite.  DeLisle appeared ready to try and bury her pursuers early.  Povich, Tara Watkins of Naples and Olivia Fraga from Lourdes chased.  The course played a major role in how the race unfolded.  It was a hot mess because Lee County Parks wanted to protect their precious soccer fields from the 700 plus runners after a couple of days of heavy rain.

DeLisle made a off course detour allowing Povich to pounce leading to a long two mile plus drive to the finish for the win.  Mackenzie never recovered and had to be content chasing Fraga and Watkins.  The course issues were numerous.  Due to the triple loop runners were getting lapped.  There were about ten turns on every loop and it was an invitation for misdirection.  Plus apparently some self appointed course marshals helped contribute to the chaos sending runners the wrong way.

The course issues led to the disqualification of Bishop Verot's number three runner.  Much to my surprise Fort Myers not only beat Verot but Naples as well.  Verot is without one of its top runners, Julia Reitz who has a foot injury.  Fort Myers senior Olivia Olney is also dealing with a foot problem but still managed a top 25 finish.  Lilly Harris and Rori Pandolfini showed signs of coming to life for the Green Wave so figuring out which of the two squads is best still up in the air.

DeLisle and Verot will get a chance at payback next week in Northport.  The course is the fastest in the area and should produce some terrific performances.  Povich will be there as well and the stated goal on her half is to run 18:30 or better.

The boy's race was a battle of attrition.  Cape Coral's talented senior duo of Declan Ziomek and William Canales made sure the early tempo was fast.  It took about a mile to whittle the lead pack down from ten to four.  Ziomek steadily applied pressure to ease away for a three second victory over defending champion Bernardo Barnhart of Palmetto Ridge.  Sergei Guzman of CSN keeps showing what a good summer of training can do taking third following up his second place finish last week at DDD, a meet which Ziomek won.

Ziomek is looking more and more like the best boy in Lee County.  Hayden Tank of SFCA had a terrible night due to the heat and humidity.  Joseph Koraya of Fort Myers started slowly and never put himself in a position to compete for the win, something he did at the opening meet hosted by Dunbar.

Koraya's seventh place finish helped the Fort Myers boys beat Cape Coral.  The Green Wave put three in the top ten which was enough to negate Ziomek's win and Canales's ninth place finish.  My personal hero was Fort Myers senior Timmy Schmidt who ran much of the race after losing a shoe.  He still managed an eighth place finish.

Hiding in the weeds are the Dunbar boys who have opted for meets out of the area the last two weeks.  Junior Olmar Bartolon will be a factor at the county championships.  The question is whether the Tigers can get their fourth and fifth runners in a position to put a scare into Cape Coral and Fort Myers..

State is still eight weeks away.  I'm looking forward to mid-October for Private 8 and LCAC.  At Private 8 Povich and DeLisle will square with Canterbury's Gabriella Santucci in pursuit.  The boys rac will be a hot one as well with Verot's talented duo of Cooper Banks and Grayson Tubbs taking on defending champ SFCA's Hayden Tank.

The Lee County XC Championship should be a walk for the Fort Myers girls and an interesting battle between Fort Myers, Cape Coral and perhaps Dunbar.  Can't wait for the fireworks.

  

So It Begins XC 2022

The first official meets of the Florida High School cross country rolled by this Saturday and surprise, look out for Mackenzie DeLisle.  The diminutive Bishop Verot sophomore is two inches taller and took a major scalp at the preseason meet hosted by Dunbar last week.  DeLisle scored the "upset" by beating ECS senior star Ava Povich.  DeLisle followed that win with another Saturday morning at the Lemon Bay Invitational helping her depleted team to a second place finish to the always powerful squad from Naples High.

Verot is depleted with the loss of senior Julia Reitz.  The Vikings showed surprising depth in finishing ahead of county rival Fort Myers which I had slotted as the top girls squad in Lee County.  Granted the Green Wave was running without senior Olivia Olney but Fort Myers needs more from its squad, three through seven. 

Povich bounced back at the Lehigh Lightning Invitational on Saturday in a cake walk.  The Lehigh meet produced two surprises.  Oasis ninth grader Jazlyn Forbes debuted with a stunning third place finish.  The other shocker came from CSN senior Sergei Guzman who showed what a summer of training can do by winning the first varsity race he's ever run, upsetting SFCA senior Hayden Tank.  For reasons unknown Palmetto Ridge standout Bernardo Barnhart did not run at Lehigh with his team.  Let's hope this senior stud from Collier County is healthy.

Another top Lee County runner was missing in action at Lehigh and Dunbar.  Declan Ziomek didn't run on Saturday and despite his absence, Cape Coral's boys show they will be a force in Lee County winning at Lehigh after finishing second to Fort Myers at Dunbar.  With Ziomek the Seahawks could make a run for the county title against Fort Myers.

As for the Fort Myers boys, they won Dunbar behind junior Joseph Koraya's first place finish and won at Lemon Bay where Koraya finished third.  The boys from Bishop Verot finished second at Lemon Bay without the services of senior Cooper Banks.

Next weekend is the DDD Invitational at Estero Park.  Verot is taking the week off but all of the top Lee County squads will line up for the Fort Myers Invitational the following Saturday night at the Kelly Road Soccer Complex.

Jack

I was trying to remember when I first met Jack Turcotte.  It was probably in 1973 at a Lawrence, Kansas bar called the Ball Park.  If my memory is correct Jack worked there as a bartender and I eventually did too.  What drew us both to the Ball Park was a game created by a group of University of Kansas professors that allowed you to play major league baseball teams against one another based on a random number generator.  But I digress.

Jack died last week.  I found out about his passing this morning from an old friend, Phil Wedge, who was close to Jack as well when we were in high school then in college together at K.U.  Jack was one of those special people that touches your life and leaves an indelible impact.  I want to write about friends like Jack because I want to remember them.  I want others to know what made them special.

John "Jack" Turcotte grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the son of the superintendent of schools.  Jack was a pretty good high school baseball player and plenty smart.  He ended up at Kansas on a Navy ROTC scholarship even though he had been accepted at prestigious Vanderbilt University.

Jack and I became good friends around my freshman year at Kansas.  He was in his fifth year.  This was 1974. He wouldn't graduate until 1988.  It wasn't because Jack wasn't smart.  My goodness, I saw him once in our freshman biology class, just once.  You could skip all the tests and go for it all on the final.  Jack missed every class after the first day and skipped every test.  He took my awful notes and my textbook and got a B plus on the final.  

Jack was a distracted man.  Everything interested him.  I'm guessing he probably changed majors at least a half dozen times before finally graduating.  He must have had graduated with more than 200 credit hours and he even spent two more years at K.U. to earn his MBA.

Jack biggest love when I first met him were the Boston Red Sox.  He was born in Vermont which may explain his attachment to a baseball team in New England.  Shortly after getting to know Jack he met an even bigger love, Patricia McCoy, a sassy student at K.U. from Dodge City.  They got married pretty quickly after that.  

Those two loved to have a good time.  They loved their lives together.  Trisha made Jack a couple of T-Shirts that I will never forget.  One said, "Do it again, Fred Lynn."  She gave it to Jack shortly after Lynn's incredible rookie season of 1975 with the Sox.  The other was on the naughty side.  Trisha had snapped a picture of Jack doing his business on the toilet.  It was incredibly funny and Jack wore it proudly.

One of my favorite life memories was sitting in this little shack that Jack had rented drinking strawberry daiquiri's and spending hours creating baseball trivia.  We would pour through the Baseball Encyclopedia looking for obscure baseball facts.  I can only imagine how good Jack must have been at Trivial Pursuit.

Jack had this incredible beard.  He could shave twice a day.  He decided to have his facial hair removed with what I think was a laser.  I remember his red puffy face after the first treatment.  Jack got his whole face done and I think his beard was back in a year or so.  You just have to shake your head at that.

I think about three or four years into their marriage Jack and Trisha gave put their lives on  aa different path and devoted themselves to the Lawrence First Church of the Nazarene.  It was great decision for them.  Not long after they ended up moving into a house across the street from my mother.  They were great to my mom.  They were great to me when I needed their help in tough times.  

After Jack got his MBA they moved to Dayton, Ohio in the early 1990's.  I was so happy for Jack when he landed a job with NCR, National Cash Register.  We reached out to each other over email probably 20 years ago.  That was the last time I touched base with the man I also knew as Turk.

Much to the surprise of myself and Phil texted me a couple of days ago to tell me of Jack's passing.  The Turcotte's had moved back to Kansas without letting any of us know.  They had moved to Topeka, just 20 miles from Lawrence, where Jack dealt with heart failure.  His heart gave out.  I don't know if I ever knew anyone with a bigger heart than Jack Turcotte.  I wish I could be in Lawrence Friday for his funeral.  His old Lawrence friends will be and that I will have to settle for being there in spirit.

Cross Country 2022

Lee County high school cross country rolls out on August 20th with the Dunbar Jamboree.  I will write here what I have written before.  The Florida high school cross country season is too long.  And I think every meet run before Labor Day should be just 3000 meters.  Lee County boasts one of the State's best distance runners and potentially one of the State's best teams.

Ladies first.  When it comes to individuals, it's Ava Povich and a handful of girls who would like to take her scalp.  Povich, a senior from ECS, is a Bona fide Division One recruit and a sure fire bet to finish in the top five Class 1A at State.  She was the best that Lee County had to offer last fall and there's no reason to think that she won't repeat as the best of the best in this neck of the woods.

Since you score the first five on a cross country team we will mention four other girls.  Mackenzie DeLisle was a freshman star for Bishop Verot.  If she can get healthy for her sophomore campaign she could make a legitimate run for the top ten in Class 2A.  Health will also play a role in one of her teammates who should shine for Verot, senior Julia Reitz.  Reitz was hobbled by the end of last spring's track season.  The question is whether both girls have been able to put in the summer miles.

Canterbury's Gabriella Santucci comes into her senior campaign with an eye on a top ten finish in Class 1A.  She finished 11th last fall and showed continued improvement during her spring track season.  The other girl that is my dark horse for the fall is Fort Myers junior Elizabeth McHugh.  She battled injuries for the better part of a year and showed a lot of promise at the end of last spring's track season.  She could be better than returning LCAC champion Olivia Olney who is a returning senior.

That brings us to the teams and only two are worth mentioning.  Fort Myers has everyone back from a team that went to the Class 3A State meet.  With a healthy McHugh, Olney, sophomore Masha Dorofeev and a slew of other girls capable of running 21 minutes or better, the Green Wave could be a top five team in its class this fall.

The other top team is Bishop Verot.  It all comes down to the health of the Vikings top two.  With the departure of Jorge Fleitas, Verot has a capable replacement in Tyler Stowell who has made his bones as a youth coach.  Stowell has last year's entire squad that went to State returning including senior Kylie Thomas who could be a sleeper as an individual.   

The boy's scene will offer something of a shakeup after two years of domination by Estero's Kolton Pickard who has graduated In other words, picking the best for this fall among the boys is a hot mess..  Based on last spring's track season Fort Myers junior Joseph Koraya should ascend to the top of Lee County's pecking order.  SFCA senior Hayden Tank could be the best of the best given his better 3200 credentials and his 19th place finish in Class 1A.  Koraya was 22nd as a sophomore in Class 3A and ran 30 seconds faster on the same course; than Tank.

The real mess is deciding which runners three runners belong in the top five.  Declan Ziomek has left Ida Baker to run at Cape Coral High.  I suspect the graduation of Matthew Speruta led Jake Jacoby and Ziomek to make the switch where they will have William Canales to train with.  I like Ziomek and Fort Myers sophomore Craig Allard, Jr.  The hardest pick is number five and I'm going with Canales.  

When it comes to sorting out the top teams, it's an easy pick.  The boys from Fort Myers lost their best runner in Colsen Palmer to graduation but almost everyone else is back.  The team is loaded and could be eyeing another podium spot in Class 3A at State.  Last year's squad finished second. Timothy Schultz and Quin Roberts give the Green Wave some seasoned vets.  Coach Yancey Palmer has done a great job coaching both the boy's and girl's teams.

The other top team is Bishop Verot.  Tyler Stowell has a couple of studs to coach.  Leaving Grayson Tubbs and Cooper Banks off my top five was really hard to do.  Both had outstanding track seasons. Banks skipped cross country last fall but now realizes that a season of fall running will help his outstanding ability at 800 meters.  Tubbs had a standout spring in both the 800 and 1600.  The Vikings have enough depth that a return to State Class 2A seems a sure thing.   

What I am watching for is whether Povich can join the elite ranks of Lee County girls to break 18 minutes over 5000 meters.  The last girl to do it was Fort Myers High's Stephy Ormsby.  She's running for the Florida Gators now.  Povich and the Fort Myers boys are the ones to watch.

Worlds

Since the 1980's I've had a bucket list to try to attend every major track and field event the world has to offer.  It started with the 1976 Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon where I was fortunate enough to be there as a working journalist.  Those were different times then.  I witnessed things first hand that left deep indelible memories.  There was an injured Marty Liquori crying into his wife's shoulder after having to drop out of the 5,000 meter heats.  Gerry Bjorklund making a stunning run to the finish minus one shoe to make the 10,000 team blasting by Bill Rodgers for third.  An arrogant Dave Roberts breaking the world record in the pole vault after breaking his pole and borrowing a pole from the classiest of acts, Earl Bell.

1976 1500 Trials Final

I could write an entire blog on the 76 Trials and I will but the other championship meets I made it to include the 1984 Olympics, the 1997 USA Outdoor Championships and the 1998 NCAA Outdoor Championships.  With last week's attendance of the World Outdoor Championships in Eugene I have only a handful of meets to attend.  The three major indoor championships, NCAA, USA and Worlds plus the World Cross Country Championships which will happily make a stop in Tallahassee in 2026.

I had thought long and hard about going to Eugene but spending ten days at the meet between astronomical hotel costs, tickets and travel just seemed a bit much.  Fortunately early in the year my favorite track and field travel companion Chris Ronan called me and said he had tickets for the last two nights of competition.  I said yes.  Then I asked if he would be game to come down a day early from Seattle and catch Friday night's competition and he was game.

Chris did all the heavy lifting, patiently waiting for an AirBNB that was halfway affordable.  He made the long drive from Seattle, picking me up in Portland for our journey to Eugene.  This marked our third Eugene trip together, with stops at Prefontaine in 2005 and 2017.  We had also traveled to a meet in 1998 in Edwardsville, Illinois which was set up as a swan song for heptathlon great Jackie Joyner Kersee.

I went to Eugene prepared to hate the new Hayward Field.  I had attended a half dozen meets at old Hayward.  It's charm, the incredible noise from the stomping on the wooden bleachers made it a nostalgic venue.  I had my doubts on how you replace such history.  Once I caught sight of the new edifice my doubts crumbled.  It's a magnificent facility.  The seating was amazing and the noise.  It seemed to me it was a much, much louder stadium than old Hayward.

The three nights of competition was amazing.  As great as it was to see Sydney McLaughlin's stunning world record in the 400 hurdles I enjoyed just as much watching American Kyra Winger end her long career with a sixth round throw to claim silver in the javelin. 

The following night just as we were celebrating the amazing victory by the USA women's 4x100 relay victory, the American men disappointed with their second place finish.  How the American coaching staff did not put either Grant Holloway or Eriyon Knighton on that squad is beyond me.  It took the brilliance off an amazing evening.

The final night started off with a personal flub.  I rushed to hit the restroom as the women's 100 meter hurdles semi-finals started.  I mean, what could possible happen during a semi.  I missed the world record.  I thought I found redemption when Nigeria's Tobi Amusan ran a stunning 12.06 in the final but alas, it was wind aided.  Chris and I sat directly in front of the pole vault competition and American born Swede Mondo Duplantis saved the day by breaking the world record by a centimeter.

The craziest part of that final Sunday was watching Jakob Ingebrigtsen fantastic gold medal run in the 5,000.  It was blistering hot and Norway's Olympic 1500 meter gold medalist took not one, but two shots and grabbing a cup of water during the race.  He confidently drifted out into lane four, how the Kenyans and Ugandans didn't decide to up the pace at those moments is beyond me.  It was pretty clear they had conceded the race to Ingebrigtsen and were biding their time to sort out the silver and bronze.

What's on tap next for track and field travel?  Well, it's not track but the World Road Racing Championships are in Riga next September.

Close But No Cigar... Revisited

An email from an old running rival prompted me to revisit a blog I wrote 12 years ago.  The original intent was to point out that Estero's Erick Montoya, a sub 9:10 3200 runner, never won a state title.  He reminded me of a particularly outstanding Kansas high school distance runner, Steve Shaad.

I can remember the first time I raced against Steve.  It was at an AAU meet in Lawrence to qualify for the AAU State Championships. We raced over one mile.  Steve won and I was about 15 seconds behind him back in fifth or sixth place.  Because our schools were in different classifications we never raced in high school competition.

But we did race again at the same AAU meet the following summer in blazing hot conditions.  Steve easily crushed me in the mile and two mile running something under 4:40 and 10 minutes.  I was second in both races a good 50 yards behind in the two mile.  It was so hot I went from 130 pounds to 118 pounds in four hours.

Shaad was a stud in the early 1970's at Bonner Springs High School.  The town sits just to the west of Kansas City.  He was a competitor that I feared and respected because he was tough as nails.  On the flip side he was incredibly humble and friendly.  Everyone liked him.

Steve had the misfortune of coming up against some other awesome prep runners that he raced in the same classification, Terry Glenn and Jerry Peffly.  I don't remember Steve's best times but I know he ran in the low 4:20's for the full mile and in the 9:20's for two miles.  It seemed Steve was always running second or third behind those two.

One race I remember in particular occurred in 1973 at the Kansas Relays.  Shaad was a senior and had entered the boys mile steeplechase, skipping the two mile, figuring he could pick up the prestigious title.  Unfortunately Bob Christensen, who had won the boys mile the day before, had entered as well.  The two waged a great battle both bashing the meet record running 4:36 with Christensen coming out on top.  Ironically both runners ended up at Wichita State as teammates and became top steeplechase competitors, both breaking 9 minutes.

Despite the crushing disappointment Shaad toed the line 20 minutes later for the boys 4 x 800.  If my memory serves me Steve ran the third leg, handing off to his 880 state champion teammate Mark Denning, who crushed his anchor leg giving Bonner Springs the Kansas Relays title. 

It was great to see Steve Shaad celebrate.  It was as good as a state title for him.  It's a memory I will always carry with me seeing his joy because he knew his lack of a kick would probably keep him from ever topping the victory stand at state.

Steve ran 8:51.34 in the steeplechase while he attended Wichita State.  That was an outstanding collegiate time in the 1970's.  He's stayed in Wichita after graduating where for years he was a major part of the minor league baseball team that plays there.

A Razorback Farewell

A major chapter will close on Saturday for the greatest distance runner ever produced by a Lee County high school.  Fort Myers grad Krissy Gear will toe the line at 5:41 p.m. to race the 1,500 meter finals at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.  The Arkansas senior has a superb chance to earn her sixth All American honor and should all the cards fall right, claim a victory to end her epic career.

Coming out of high school Gear was an under-appreciated budding star.  She appeared on the scene in the fall of 2014, an unknown sophomore who grabbed a surprising second place at the county cross country championships.  The icing to that cake came with a medal winning 19^th place finish at State helping her team to a second place podium finish.

By the end Gear had set every record at Fort Myers High from the 800 to the 3200.  At her final State Championship she ran an incredible triple to earn three gold medals to end her career with six state championships.   Even at the New Balance Nationals Gear was overlooked and put in the slow heat.  Gear turned the tables reeling off a 4:49.36 placing third overall.  She should have been looking at scholarships from top five distance powers but having gone unnoticed landed at Furman.

Her time at Furman was fruitful but failed to fulfill the promise she had shown at high school.  Gear won the USATF junior title in the 3000 meter steeplechase as a freshman making the national team that competed at the World Junior Championships in Finland.  Gear was a second team All-American in the steeple her sophomore year.  As an outside observer I felt that Gear wasn’t being given a chance to show what she could do in the 800 and 1500.  From my perspective I think the Furman coaches saw her as a steepler and nothing more.  Suddenly Gear was gone and off to Arkansas, a distance power.

It didn’t take long for Gear to make her mark.  Just as she was prepared to show how Razorback training had transformed her into a formidable miler COVID hit.  Her chance to show the quick progress she had made at NCAA Indoor Nationals was gone and we wouldn’t get to see what she was capable of for a full year.

What she did in the space of four days in March of 2021 is the stuff of legend.  Gear anchored her Arkansas team at the NCAA Indoors to a silver medal in the Distance Medley Relay.  She capped the meet off my grabbing second in the mile for her second silver running 4:32.27.  Earlier in the year she had broken the school indoor record for the mile running 4:31.83.

After her exhausting Friday/Saturday double Gear made the trip from Birmingham, Alabama to Stillwater, Oklahoma for the NCAA Cross Country Championships.  Never a cross country standout in college, Gear ran the race of life finishing 21^st to claim All American honors.  That made three All American awards in four days.

Outdoors was just as impressive.  Gear ran the second fastest 1500 in Razorback history running 4:09.00 in Modesto, setting a meet record in winning the SEC steeplechase clocking a 9:38.62 which also topped the Arkansas school record.  She closed the 2021 season out with a fifth place finish in the 1500 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

While her senior year hasn’t been as magical, so far, it’s been more rewarding in some ways.  Indoors Gear ran the 800 on the Razorback’s school record setting and national champion Distance Medley Relay team at the NCAA Indoors.  Outdoors Gear anchored Arkansas to a collegiate record 16:53.87 in the 4x1500 battling North Carolina State star Katelyn Touhy for the victory at the historic Penn Relays.  The Razorback squad crushed the old record by nearly 15 seconds.  Gear’s anchor leg was emblematic of her Arkansas career, winning for her team.  Krissy always shines brightest when she’s part of something bigger than herself.

Saturday in Eugene she will take center stage against the best collegians over 1500 meters.  Regardless of the outcome, she will have cemented her place as a Razorback great.  What comes next is another is the great unknown.  Which shoe company will see the potential that others have overlooked too often? The world of professional track and field awaits Krissy Gear.

Week 11 State

Sure... let's run 18 kids in a final.  Sure it's a great idea to watch 18 kids fight for space in an 800 meter race.  What a farce.  The FSHSAA should be ashamed of itself.  There were so many things wrong with the way this meet was handled I can't even begin to get into it.

As I noted last week, Florida needs to have at least two more classes in track and field and run two to three classes simultaneously.  Last week's hot mess made tripling difficult to nearly impossible for distance runners.  If you want top performances, the schedule has to be more forgiving for all of the athletes.

We'll start with the good and finish with the bad.  The good, Ava Povich of ECS scored an outstanding double in Class 1A claiming seventh in the 1,600 running 5:07.51.  She faced an uphill battle against the legion from Cambridge Christian.  The 3,200 went before where the junior star ran a big PR in 10:53.51 to finish third.  It was the only top three finish by any Lee County distance athlete.

Bishop Verot's boys and girls brought down school records in the 4x800 in Class 2A.  The girl's finished seventh in 9:50.50 and the boys placed 4th in 8:06.79.  The other Verot distance podium came from freshman MacKenzie DeLisle who took 8th in the 3,200 in 11:19.82.  More on Verot when we get to the bad.

The Fort Myers boys scored a big school record with their 4th place finish in the Class 3A 4x800 thanks in large part to a massive lead off leg from senior Colsen Palmer.  Later in the evening Palmer doubled back in the 1,600 running a PR of 4:22.01 to finish 12th with teammate Joseph Koraya one place better with a PR of 4:21.36.  

SFCA's boys also came home with a podium finish and a school record in the 4x800 with an 8:17.26.  Junior Hayden Tank fresh off a school record in the 3,200 ran a respectable 9:50.98 to finish 11th in Class 1A.  Another season of training and Tank will be ready for his place on the podium.

While I focus on the Lee County kids I want to point out a couple of strong performances from Collier County distance runners.  The Naples girls 4x800 squad ran a super fast 9:29.5 to finish 4th thanks to a strong 2:14 anchor from Tara Watkins.  The freshman star later finished a respectable 8th in the 800 running 2:19.73.  Palmetto Ridge junior Bernardo Barnhart also podiumed with a big PR in the 3,200 of 9:23.04.  Barnhart also ran a leg on the Bears' 4x800 squad which finished 8th.

Now on to the bad.  Undefeated Estero senior Kolton Pickard ran into a lot of it in Gainesville.  He was battling for the lead in the Class 3A 1,600 when he tightened up to finish 4th in 4:17.09.  Then came the 800 where he was perfectly position with 200 to go when the eventual race winner decided to pinch Pickard into another run causing Pickard to tumble to the track.  It was a perfect example of why you can't run 18 athletes in an 800 final.  The track was overcrowded and it was a veritable traffic jam with 200 to go.  

Bad luck also cost Verot junior Cooper Banks a third place finish and a big PR in the 800.  As Banks was sprinting to the finish chasing two other runners, one of them tumbled to the track in front of Banks forcing him to stop and hurdle the fallen runner.  Even putting on the breaks couldn't stop Banks from clocking a fine 1:56.07 but the loss of momentum caused him to go from third to eighth.  A cruel way to end his season.

Listen up FSHSAA... 18 runners in a two lap final is ridiculous.

 

Week 10 Survival

Let me start by saying Florida needs more classes in track and field.  Four classes for a state this large is ridiculous.  For goodness sakes, they have nine classes for football whereas track and field has only four?!?  It doesn't make any sense.

And while I'm at it I think the qualification system is a mess.  There are too many time qualifiers.  It should be the top top three from each region with the next four fastest qualifying.  It would force kids to actually race in weak regions.  Getting third should count for more than just holding your breath waiting to see where your time falls.

Finally spreading the championships over four days is a bit much.  I don't understand why they can't run two classes on Friday and two on Saturday instead.  If you ran two classes simultaneously you would give the athletes more time to recover between races.  It's a head scratcher.

Enough complaining and time to sort through the Lee County qualifiers in the distance races.  Starting with boys 4x800 relays. 1A SFCA qualified, 2A Bishop Verot qualified, 3A Fort Myers, Dunbar and Ida Baker qualified.  The best shot at making the podium (top 8) are Verot and Fort Myers.  Verot has an incredible tandom of Grayson Tubbs and Cooper Banks.  Fort Myers will be gunning for a school record but it will take 1:57 splits from Joseph Koraya and Colsen Palmer for that to happen.  The dark horse in all of this is Ida Baker.  

On the girls side the girls from Bishop Verot qualified in Class 2A as did the ladies from Fort Myers in Class 3A.  Verot has a legitimate shot at a podium finish.  A late season injury to the Vikings Julia Reitz may deny Verot a top three finish but they should land in the top eight.  Fort Myers will need some major PR's to make the podium.

The 800 is sizzling on the boys side with a couple of qualifiers from Bishop Verot in Tubbs and Banks.  Banks ran a season best 1:55.6 last week.  A podium finish is within the junior's grasp but it will take a big PR to make the top three.  Tubbs would need a PR to get in the top eight in Class 2A.  The usual suspects will line up in Class 3A.  Kolton Pickard of Estero clocked a 1:55.68 with Ida Baker's Jacob Fritz hot on his heels at Region.  Both could reach the podium, Pickard will have to clock a PR to hit the top three.

Only one Lee County girl made it to the 800 finals.  Fort Myers High freshman star Giana D'Altrui ran a big PR of 2:21.61.  It will take 2:19 or better to make the podium.  She's got the wheels to do it.

Pickard dominated the 1600 all season.  He has a legitimate shot at winning the 3A title but he will have his hands full against Belen's Julian Rodriguez.  Fort Myers super sophomore Joseph Koraya also qualified and in a talent laden field he will need to break 4:20 to hit the podium.

The lone girl to qualify in the 1600 is Ava Povich.  Talk about timing your peak right.  The ECS junior ran a sparkling PR of 5:04.29 to finish second at her Region.  She will have a hands full in Class 1A trying to fend off the four girls from Cambridge Christian who have all broken five minutes.  I look for Povich to break five in Gainesville.

A boat load of runners made it in the 3200.  We'll talk girls first where Povich leads the way after scoring her second PR in one day with her 11:04.62 last week.  Honestly the best she can hope for is a sub 11 clocking as Caroline Lehman of Cambridge is a good 40 seconds faster than the Sentinel star.  Canterbury junior Gabriella Santucci should be in the picture for a podium finish.  Class 2A freshman sensation MacKenzie DeLisle from Bishop Verot seems a sure bet for a podium finish.  A big PR could land her a surprise top three finish.

The biggest surprise PR came from the boys in the 3200.  Hayden Tank of SFCA rolled to a 9:42.48 last week.  Tank seems assured of a podium finish and another PR could land him a top three finish.  Finally I got to see what I had expected to see last fall in cross country.  Ida Baker's distance duo of Declan Ziomek and Matthew Speruta both qualified in Class 3A.  Both ran PR's last week with Ziomek clocking the fastest time of 9:40.92.  Both would have to run big PR's to reach the podium in Gainesville.  Hey, some guys like Ziomek, Speruta and Fritz are just better at track than XC.  I know that was the case for me.

Here's hoping to a slew of medals for the county's high school distance elite this week!

Week 8/9 Three Things

I'm cramming a couple of weeks worth of running into one blog as their was a couple of meets prior to the start of Districts and now we've hit the mark where all of qualifying for Regionals has wrapped up for Lee County track and field athletes.  I'm going to chop this up a little differently because we are at the point where getting to State is going to be a tough go.  Only the top two places at Regionals move on plus if I understand the confusing FHSAA's rules for qualifying, as many as ten at large relay relay teams/athletes will get invitations.  I personally think they should take the top three from each Regional with the next four fastest marks getting invites but that's just my opinion.

1.  The sure bets to advance of teams/athletes that will advance to State among Lee County distance runners looks like this.  Estero senior Kolton Pickard is a lock to make it in the 800 and 1,600.  He's been running consistently 1:55/4:20 and appears on the verge of a big break through after a sparkling 400 anchor in the District 4x400 that appeared to be sub 50, outstanding for a distance runner.

The other lock is Ava Povich in both the 1,600 and 3,200.  The ECS junior has been running like a Rolex snapping off a 5:10.24 and 11:19.53 at Districts without any competition.  Canterbury's Gabriella Santucci should be able to advance in the 3,200 as well.  1A is stocked with the top girls in the State thanks to super squad Cambridge Christian serving up four of the top five girls in the distance races.  

The other sure thing appears to be Bishop Verot's girls 4x800 along with super frosh MacKenzie DeLisle in the 1,600 and 3,200.  Verot's boys should also advance in the 4x800 because of absolute 800 studs Cooper Banks and Grayson Tubbs.  As good as these two middle distance runners are both are going to have to run PR's if they hope to make it to State as individuals.

2.  The bubble individuals are an interesting mix.  SFCA junior Hayden Tank has really improved over the course of the season.  He's got a shot in the 1,600 or 3,200.  Fort Myers senior Colsen Palmer has run PR's in both the 1,600 and 3,200 this season.  Can he run a PR in one of these two events to slip into State?  Teammate sophomore Joseph Koraya will need a huge race to make it in the 1,600 but Palmer and Koraya could help the Green Wave 4x800 team make it to Gainesville.  The Green Wave girls also appear to have a 4x800 squad capable of qualifying as well.

In the 3,200, Declan Ziomek appears to have a solid chance to advance to Gainesville but he'll be chased by teammate Matthew Speruta and Cape Coral's William Canales.  Something tells me it will take some major PR's by any of those three to make it through and that includes Palmer and Fort Myers freshman Craig Allard, Jr.

3.  I wanted to point out a couple of comebacks.  A year ago Canterbury's Charlie Meagher was racing on a stress fracture.  The 800 specialist battled injuries ever since last spring and finally got healthy in the last couple of months.  Meagher ran 2:05.18 to qualify through to Regionals which is heartwarming to see.  Good things should happen to good people.  The same thing can be said of Fort Myers sophomore Elizabeth McHugh who also spent the better part of the fall, winter and early spring battling injuries.  She's been healthy the last six weeks and split a sub 2:30 leg for the Green Wave 4x800.  We expect big things from both of these athletes next fall.

Track Week 7 Three Things

The high school track and field season is racing to the finish line in Southwest Florida. Two championships dominated the scene over the past season. Friday night featured the Private 8 meet at ECS which is made up of eight private schools from around Lee and Collier Counties. Saturday afternoon saw the public high schools of Lee County take the track at Dunbar for the LCAC meet, obstensibly the county championships. The best individual performance came from a Collier County athlete at Private 8 where FBA's Jacob Panzarella scorched a 48.44 400. 

 1. Ava Povich appears to be headed to an amazing peak to the end of her season. The ECS junior started her day with a strong second leg for the Sentinels 4x800 clocking a split well under 2:30. She came back in the 1,600 peeling off a squeaker over FBA's Katie Beam in 5:16.19. Later in the evening running even splits Povich tracked down Verot freshman star Mackenzie De Lisle running her fastest time of the season winning with an 11:16.29. 

 2. Verot junior Grayson Tubbs tripled up at Private 8 helping the Vikings win the 4x800 before winning the 1,600 and 800 in 4:38.24 and 2:05.21 respectively. While the times aren't super fast Tubbs has had a surprisngly consistent season which features a 1:58.87 open 800 earlier in the season.

 3. A major abscence opened the door for Ida Baker senior Jacob Fritz to take two LCAC titles. Fritz ran 4:27.44 to take the 1,600 title and then lost a shoe in winning the 800 in 2:00.67. Fritz has run 1:58.0 and 4:24.05 for the season and has a shot and making it to state in one of those two events. Estero senior Kolton Pickard was a LCAC no show deciding to save his racing for the post season in two weeks.

Track Week 6 Three Things

Championship season is at hand. Conference meets dominate the upcoming schedule and fortunately cooler weather should drape itself across Lee County this weekend after a scorching temperatures last weekend. The Pepsi Relays headlined the four meets where Lee County athletes competed but the trip to Gainesville was only for a select few and for reasons beyond comprehension the area's top distance runner didn't make the trip north and competed instead at Cypress Lake High School. 1. Kolton Pickard continued his march through an undefeated season. He handily took the 1,600 and 800 in less than ideal weather conditions clocking a 4:20.51 and 1:55.73. It's going to be interesting to see if he can be pushed in any meet outside of the State Championship. Fort Myers sophomore sensation Joseph Koraya did run in Gainesville running 4:22.22 could force the Estero senior to run a little harder than he would like when they face off at next Saturday's County Championship at Dunbar.

2. Welcome back to the 800, Cooper Banks. The Bishop Verot junior was focusing on the 400 but showed he's capable of decent 800's with his second straight week of crashing under 2 minutes with his 1:58.42 in winning the Tarpon Invitational. Banks prefers soccer but if he would commit to another season of cross country he could be a sub 1:55 800 competitor. Meanwhile teammate Mackenzie De Lisle ran the fastest 3200 by any Lee County girl in Gainesville with her 8th place finish in 11:16.71. She traveled back to Charlotte County to help her 4x800 team to victory later in the day. 

 3. Ava Povich appears ready to roll. The Private 8 meet promises to be an incredible match up between De Lisle and the Sentinel junior. Povich ran her best double of the season in Sarasota recording a 5:15.78 1,600 and tripling back (yes, she ran the 4x800) in the 3,200 with a 11:17.6. Don't count out Canterbury's Gabriella Santucci this Friday either. The meet should be chalk full of good performances.

Track Week 5 Three Things

The track and field season in Southwest Florida is heading into the home stretch.  The second edition of Dunbar's big invitational meet, now dubbed the Guy Thomas Memorial Classic shows the promise of becoming to best big track and field competition in the area.  Despite holding the competition on the same weekend as the FSU Relays, GMTC provided some top quality racing and promises to improve as it is the only invitational to offer a full mile for high school athletes.

1.  Kolton Pickard's senior campaign is going about as good as the Estero Wildcat could hope.  He's undefeated in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200.  His focus as the season moves forward is on the 800 and 1,600 and he scored a super double despite an extremely long wait between events.  Pickard closed in 2:05 to win the mile in 4:20.72.  Then in the late afternoon he ran the one of the fastest 800's in the state clocking a 1:54.14.  The 800 time puts Pickard within shouting distance of Hugh Brittenham's school record of 1:51.92, the fastest time ever by a Lee County prep.

2.  Mackenzie De Lisle's super freshman campaign keeps rolling on.  De Lisle gunned it from the start of the 3,200 looking determined to make a run at a sub 11 in cool but breezy conditions.  De Lisle managed to grind her way to an 11:19.63, a personal best by nine seconds and if she were in any class but 2A the Bishop Verot distance ace would be guaranteed a podium finish at State.  She'll have to run her best with the load of talent she will face from Cambridge Christian.  De Lisle also ran a leg earlier in the day on the Viking's 4x800 relays which took second place.

3.  Ava Povich showed why she can't be counted out despite finishing second in both the 1,600 and 3,200.  She scored a big PR in the mile running 5:16.68, the fastest time in the county by far this year.  After a 10 hour wait the ECS junior came back for the 3,200 and watched De Lisle sprint away from the start.  Povich slowly but surely cut the distance down as the race progressed but came up about 50 yards short running a fine 11:24.15.  That's a super double on a long day.  Plus both times were much faster than her 1,600/3,200 double from the prior week.

Track Week 4 Three Things

The track and field universe focused on South Fort Myers High School for a unbelievably long meet brought on by the fact that there weren't a lot of options for competition.  The weather was optimal for the later distance events but the biggest mark made in the meet wasn't by a Lee County athlete.  So I am going to stray from my usual format to recognize a Collier County athlete.

1.  Nick Molloy smashed the meet record in the pole vault climbing 16 feet 4 3/4 inches, also a personal best.  The senior from the Community School of Naples achieved equivalent of a high school boy running under 4:10 in the mile.  It's quite a mark by the defending state champion and it was witnessed by the best high school pole vaulter in Lee County history, ECS grad Drew McMichael.

2.  The best race that I witnessed was the girl's 3200 which saw Canterbury's Gabriella Santucci take a major scalp besting ECS star Ava Povich 11:34.75 to 11:41.96.  Santucci staked an early lead before freshman Masha Dorofeev tried to pull away from the Cougar junior.  Dorofeev came back to earth before the mile.  Santucci was off on a tear as Povich slowly reeled in Dorofeev and looked for a time that she might track down Santucci before simply running out of track.  Dorofeev dipped below 12 minutes for the first time for third.

3.  Estero senior Kolton Pickard chose the Wolfpack Invite as his lone effort at 3200.  After a 1:56 800 4x800 relay split about seven hours earlier Pickard took off in pursuit of a sub 9:30.  I'm sure Pickard had hoped that Port Charlotte's Tyler Wadsworth would offer some competition but the Wildcat senior was on his own from the gun.  It resulted in a fine 9:34.6 with Wadsworth clocking a 9:43.33 and Fort Myers senior Colsen Palmer in third with a 9:52.91.  

This weekend with good weather in the forecast look for some fast times in the mile, yes a full mile at Dunbar's Guy Thomas Memorial Classic.  We can't wait for the fireworks!       

Track Week 3 Three Things

A full slate of meets, decent weather and a ton of great times make this edition all about the distance.  The depth of quality times from Lee County distance runners was pretty surprising.  PR's abounded so let's break it down.

800:  Among the boys there's Estero's Kolton Pickard and everyone else.  Pickard reeled off a stunningly fast 1:55.26 on the concrete track at Fort Myers High.  The time would be at least two seconds faster on a good synthetic service.  Ida Baker's Jacob Fritz showed that he's rounding back into form with his 1:59.24 clocking at Fort Myers.  Both Pickard and Fritz ran those fast 800's after running fast 1,600's at the Edison Relays.

Then there are the ladies at Bishop Verot High School who clocked a school record in the 4x800 in 9:52.4 at the Charlotte Invitational. Leading the charge was junior Julia Reitz who also posted her fastest 800 of the season clocking a 2:23.34.  A sub-2:20 time can't be far off.

1600:  Kolton Pickard ran 4:16.87, the fastest time by any Lee County distance runner since Hugh Brittenham was a Wildcat.  He was followed across the finish line by Fritz who ran a PR of 4:24.05 and then came surprising Fort Myers sophomore Joseph Koraya who ran 4:24.17.  Take about four seconds off those times on a good surface.  Lehigh's Evan Meyer ran 4:27.8 in North Port to boot.

A slower of ladies dipped under 5:30 at the various meets across the area.  The fastest was Verot freshman star Mackenzie De Lisle who ran 5:20.07 following her relay carry.  Lehigh's Gianna Del Pizzo ran 5:26.23, Canterbury's Gabrielle Santucci ran 5:29.74 in North Port and ECS junior Ava Povich showed a returned to form running 5:28.28 at the FBA Invite.

3200:  Povich doubled back from her fine 1,600 with her first sub 12 of the season running 11:54.97.  De Lisle tripled back with a fine 11:28.31 at Charlotte followed by the dynamic duo from South Fort Myers, Sophia Torres and Allison Bratton who ran 11:42.3 and 11:59.49.  Most of the fireworks came on the boy's side.  Ida Baker duo Declan Ziomek and Matt Speruta finally showed their wheels going one-two at Edison in 9:44..82 and 9:50.32.  Fort Myers freshman Craig Allard, Jr. broke 10 for the first time with his 9:57.73.  Dunbar's Ivan Marin-Padilla ran a sterling time as well winning the North Port Invite in 9:48.77.

Track Week 2 Three Things

The second week of high school track and field in Southwest Florida featured three meets.  Friday saw about ten teams compete at the Bishop Verot Invitational while on Saturday there were two meets both in Collier County at Naples High and the Community School of Naples with a smattering of Lee County schools in attendance.  The Naples Invite is largely relays and none of the team relay times stood out.  The best racing took place at the Verot meet.

1.  Bishop Verot junior Julia Reitz scored three victories winning the 800 and 1,600 and running a leg on the Vikings' winning 4x800 team.  The Verot relay team came super close to being the first area team to dip under 10 minutes in the 4x800.  And Reitz had her hands full in the 1,600 holding off teammate Mackenzie DeLisle running 5:26.41.

2.  Fort Myers senior Colsen Palmer scored a big PR in the 1,600 a 4:33.25 winning by a wide margin. Palmer pressed the pace from the gun and appears to be well past a nagging back injury.  It will be interesting to see if he gets a chance to tangle with Kolton Pickard at the Edison Relays this Friday.

3.  We have a little love for an up and coming field star, Fort Myers freshman Julia Lemmon.  Following in the steps of big brother Jacob who set the discus on fire three years ago, Julia bombed the disc 121 feet four inches.  That's a big throw for a freshman.  It would have been good enough to take 4th in last year's state meet. Lemmon also took the shot throwing the iron ball over 32 feet.  

Track Week 1 Three Things

Cross country is one thing for distance runners, running on a track is a whole different animal.  One would think that cross country beasts would thrive on the track, but that's not always the case.  The symmetry of running on a smooth oval suits some runners more than others.

Here are the three things I noticed culling through the results.

1.  Gianna Del Pizzo may be one such runner.  The Lehigh sophomore endured a good but not great cross country campaign.  She ran better as a freshman on the turf.  But she showed signs of rebounding at the Ida Baker Indoor/Outdoor in winning the 1,500 in 5:02.34.  Del Pizzo appears to be the girl to beat in Lee County over four laps.

2. Ava Povich, the best female cross country running in Lee County made her season debut at the Palmetto Ridge Invitational.  Povich, a junior at ECS, doubled in the 1,600 and 3,200.  She had her hands full in the 1,600 finishing second to Sonia Lountchenko running 5:29.15, losing a just a tick.  Povich came back in the 3,200 where she ran to an easy victory in 12:12.61, nearly a minute slower than her best.

3.  Fort Myers High sophomore Joseph Koraya scored his first victory taking the 3,000 at Ida Baker in 9:09.47, which equates to a sub 9:50 two mile.  Pretty stout running for a sophomore.  Kolton Pickard, Colsen Palmer and Jacob Fritz are still the top boys in Lee County but Koraya is going to be a force as the season progresses.

With Apologies

Clyde Lovellette, Wilt Chamberlain, Walt Wesley, Dave Robisch, Paul Mokesi, Greg Drelling, Danny Manning, Mark Randall, Greg Ostertag, Eric Chenowith, Scott Pollard, Raef LaFrentz, Nick Collison, Darrel Arthur, Cole Aldrich, Wayne Simien, Marcus Morris, Markieff Morris, Jeff Withey, Thomas Robinson, Perry Ellis, Udoka Azubuike, the list of great Kansas big men is pretty staggering when you look back over the last 70 years. Kansas fans have been spoiled by incredible post play.  That's especially been true since Bill Self took over the program but the last couple of seasons, not so much.

I've been one of David McCormack's harshest critics.  He followed in the massive shoes of Dok Azubuike who may have been the best post player five feet and in since Wilt Chamberlain roamed the floors of Allen Field House.  McCormack is a solid shooter from 15 feet in.  But he never developed the incredible post footwork or strength of a Simien or Robinson.  He's not even been a great rebounder.

He's nine points away from making it to 1,000 points.  He will finish behind other good Kansas bigs like Kelly Knight and Rick Suttle.  McCormack lacks the explosive dunking ability of Robinson, LaFrentz or Aldrich.  He doesn't have the consistently smooth turnaround jump shot of Robisch.  The big man sometimes plays at a frustratingly, frenzied, out of control rhythm that makes him ineffective.  But what I've come to realize over this last month, McCormack plays with heart.

He's finally become a really effective rebounder.  That being said he won't finish anywhere close to the top ten all time rebounding list in Jayhawk history.  He never developed the footwork that made the Morris twins and Withey so effective.  But he's still serviceable around the basket.  It's a good night when big Dave gets 15 pounds and 10 boards.

The thing that I've noticed over these past four weeks is McCormack has become more vocal.  He's showing the kind of leadership that you would hope to see from a four year senior.  Watching he these last few games talking to his teammates, owning his mistakes and his relentless hustle on the boards made me realize that he's become a pretty good player.

Kansas has Final 4 talent this year save for their post play.  If McCormack can find a way to take his good game up just another notch a deep tournament run isn't out of the question because lets face it, there aren't many great post players in college basketball anymore.  

I felt like I needed to write this because I have bashed McCormack in most of my Jayhawk threads.  I just want to say that I'm happy that we've had four years of David McCormack.  He's represented the program well... unlike other heralded recruits like Cliff Alexander and Silvio DeSousa.  Being a good guy should count for something.

Pre-season three things #1

The track and field season kicked off unofficially in Southwest Florida at Gateway High School on a cement track.  How in the hell does the Lee County School District spend millions on a new high school and not install a new rubberized track when the district says it's going to install new tracks at every high school that needs one.  Oh... so far they've installed four tracks by our count in three years by our count.  

1.  Kolton Pickard made his season debut at Gateway.  The Wildcat senior ran anywhere from 1:55 to 1:57 since there was no timing system no one seems to know for sure.  Everything was hand timed.  What year is this?!?  Pickard also blasted 50 low in the 4 x 400 relay.  This is a nice start to what could be an impressive senior campaign.

The big meet was Saturday at Dunbar High School... proud home of one of those four new tracks in Lee County.  Kudos to the meet organizers to having the 3200 races go off in the morning and avoid the later day heat.  It made for some good racing which leads to this.

2.  Mackenzie De Lisle is a beast.  The Bishop Verot freshman pulled off a quadruple with a win at 3,200, a second at 1,600, a hand in the winning 4 x 800 team and a she handled a leg of the Vikings' third place 4 x 400 team.  De Lisle's 3200 was an impressive 11:40.86 and her 5:34.71 after running the 4 x 800 is equally impressive.  

3.  Craig Allard, Jr. could be the next big deal on the boy's side of Lee County distance running.  In his first varsity track meet he finished second in the 3,200 running 10:06.57.  He came back later in the day in the boy's JV 1,600 with a 4:48.15 for the win.  You never know how a season is going to go but if Junior doesn't run sub 9:50 and sub 4:35 before the end of the season... I'll be shocked.

Tis the Season for Track and Field

High school track and field gets underway on Saturday as Dunbar hosts the pre-season opener at its fine facility.  Some of the most talented athletes to ever compete for Lee County high schools last spring headed off to college to begin the next stage of their careers.  But the cupboard is hardly bare.

Because of what I cover cross country for the News-Press and the fact that I sell running shoes by and large to distance runners,  I want to focus on the three distance aces as we head into the spring. I'm sure as the season progresses I will have a chance to write about some of the outstanding sprinters, jumpers and throwers.  

First there is Estero senior standout, Kolton Pickard.  I'm sure Kolton has one goal in mind.  He would like to break 4:10 in the 1,600.  If he can do so he would firmly cement his place as one of the distance greats in Lee County history.  Kolton has the range and ability to run sub 9:10 for 3,200 as well.  Assuming he has a chance to run at the FSU Invite and at the Florida Relays, Pickard will face the kind of competition needed to achieve those goals.

The top girl in Lee County is ECS junior Ava Povich.  Following her gutty performance at last year's State outdoor track and field championships, Povich looks to be ready to run a sub 11 minute 3,200.  The longer distances seem to suit Povich but breaking 5:10 in the 1,600 should be well within her wheelhouse as well.

The final one to watch is Lehigh senior Evan Meyer.  He's got a wonderful coach in Ben Pignatone and the youngster isn't afraid of work.  With someone to chase like Pickard, Meyer could run 4:15 in the 1,600 and has a fair shot at 1:55 in the 800.

There are a half dozen or so young men and women who deserve a mention but their time will come as our blog gears up for an exciting season of high school track and field.