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!