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.