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!