Three Big Things: Week Two

The outdoor high school track and field season blasted off this weekend with teams from Lee County traveling all over South Florida to participate in meets.  The Covid restrictions limits the number of teams at any given competition which makes finding meets a real problem for coaches.

1.  The finding a meet issue sent Lee County's best middle distance runner to Miami to compete in the Louis Bing Invitational.  Canterbury's Jessica Edwards faced some stiff competition from one of the nation's up and coming 800 runners Cha'iel Johnson, a sophomore and daughter of football great Chad Johnson.  Edwards had to run a semi-final on Friday which she won under control at just under 2:17.

Johnson and Edwards lined up with a strong wind facing them in the backstretch.  Johnson shot to the lead and Edwards closed easily into the face of the wind, catching Johnson as they headed into the homestretch of the first lap.  They went through in about 64 seconds with Edwards grabbing the lead before heading down the back stretch..

Johnson wasn't ready to give up and made a second move into the face of the wind retaking the wind but she lacked to strength to hold off a hard charging Edwards who pulled away in the last 50 meters running 2:12.99.  It was a big win and a big scalp for Edwards.

2.  Kolton Pickard looks like he's ready for all comers in Lee County.  The Estero junior clocked a 4:04.45 in the 1,500 at the Ida Baker Invitational.  Pickard won by about 15 seconds over Lehigh's Evan Meyer.  His time when converted to the 1,600 puts him a good ten seconds ahead of Fort Myers senior Liam Holston who managed to run a 4:31 at IMG on Saturday.

3.  SFCA senior Ethan Tank rolled to an easy win at Ida Baker in the 3,000.  Tank committed this week to Flagler University.  Tank's time of 9:19.41 under windy conditions is worth a sub 10 minute clocking over the 3,200.  Hopefully we will have an opportunity at some point during the season to see Tank, Pickard, Holston, Meyer, Dunbar's Oglar Bartolon and Fort Myers Paul Kolson show down in a 3,200 meter.  It would make for some hot racing.

Three Big Things: Week One

Track and field is back in Southwest Florida.  Covid restrictions is limiting the number of teams at area meets.  Last year I tried to give blog followers five takeaways from each week but given the numbers we're going to keep it short and sweet.  So as we head into the 2021 season I will break down Three Big Things in an effort to stay on top of the Lee County distance scene.

Thing 1:  I can't wait to see Fort Myers senior Amy Meng tangle with Canterbury senior Jessica Edwards over 3,200 meters.  It's a dream race that may never happen given the way the schedule lines up this season.  Meng opened with an un-pressed 11:48.46 to win the Dunbar opener while Edwards was occupying herself with the shorter distances running a screaming 56.38 in the 400.  Meng also ran a leg on Fort Myers' winning 4x800 team while Edwards ran a respectable third in the 200.  Not bad for one of the nation's best over 800 meters.

Thing 2:  A new distance running force maybe emerging from Ben Pignatone's Lehigh distance crew.  Freshman Gianna Del Pizzo scored double victories in the 800 and 1,600 running 2:32.93 and 5:45.31.  Del Pizzo won both races by sizeable margins.

Thing 3:  It appears Fort Myers senior Liam Holston is on the comeback.  Holston enjoyed a ho-hum cross country season.  He showed a sparkling kick at Dunbar to win the 1,600 4:34.49.  This sets the table for some epic battles with Estero's Kolton Pickard and Lehigh's Evan Meyer who finished second to Holston on Saturday.

My Marathon Journeys: Olympiad Marathon 1994

The 1992 Drake Relays Marathon marked the beginning of a long, downhill slide that I still don't understand to this day.  It's perplexing as I look back on my training logs through 1992.  I ran 11 races through the end of October. 

I had short stints of lackluster training but it was consistent enough that by the end of October I was well over 2,000 miles on the year and ran a decent 17:21 5K despite suffering from nagging calf issues through much of the late summer.  A ten mile run on in mid-November with former Kansas State distance runner Phil Byrne in Des Moines was my last run of the year.  I didn't run again until March 1, 1993.  

That period marked the end of any hope I had of ever being a reasonably decent runner.  I look at the three and a half months of blank pages of my training log and know that my life a complete mess. Little did I know that a year late life would be a complete shit show, but I digress.

I went down a personal rabbit hole that I couldn't pull myself out of.  I had been named acting general manager of the television station where I was working in Topeka, Kansas as news director.  I was hoping that I would get the bump to GM.  Looking back I wasn't ready.

When the owner made the new hire, a fine gentleman by the name of Gary Sotir, I just withdrew into myself.  I can't say enough good things about Gary.  It wasn't until I had left the station in August of 1994 that I realized what a great guy he was.  Gary just wanted to get to know me and understand me and I think it only added to my personal confusion.  I was too immature and too messed up to see that he had my best interests at heart.

1994 was marked by the great flood of the Missouri and Mississippi Valley.  The Topeka area fell victim to the storms that ravaged the Midwest.  I did some of my finest work as a journalist.  But during it all I began planning my exit from KSNT and landed a job at WPSD as news director in Paducah, Kentucky.

The change of scenery didn't help.  I hardly ran but I did bring a fresh injection of energy into a stale news operation that needed some leadership that had experience from outside the market.  I ran my sole race of the year in October, a 10K, in a wheezy 44:07.  

Sometime shortly after that race one of my best friends, Steve Riley, a legendary Masters runner in Kansas asked me to go to the 1994 Boston Marathon with him.  I hadn't run anything longer than seven miles at that point and I didn't have a qualifier.  Steve was persistent, bless him and he wouldn't take no for an answer.

I had two months to prepare for the Olympiad Marathon in St. Louis on February 27th.  Suddenly in late November I actually started doing some long runs.  I got less than a half dozen long runs under my belt during this period and suffered through a nasty bought of the flu in early January.

I was 12 pounds heavier than my last marathon when I toed the line in St. Louis on a 13 degree day.  It was brutally cold, but fortunately there was very little wind.  My October 10K converted to a 3:22 marathon.  I had to break 3:15 to qualify for Boston.  Despite everything, I knew I could do it.

Steve promised to stay with me for the first half even though he was in shape to run under 2:50.  Unbeknownst to me this was one of the hilliest courses in the United States.  It was the course that was run at the 1904 Olympics.  The first half went along easily enough as we passed the half in 1:33:50.  

Steve took off because he wanted to break 3 hours (which he did) and I was on my own.  I went through 15 miles in 6:42 and then a series of major hills began to take their told.  I held on for dear life clicking off my last four miles at about 8:20 pace squeezing out a 3:13:33 and slipping under the BQ that I needed.

I drove back to Paducah self satisfied.  The next morning I woke up sick as a dog.  I walked into the newsroom looking like death, my sinuses completely plugged up.  My boss sent me across the street to his doctor, who fortunately was a fellow runner.  He had a good laugh and gave me a shot that blew out my sinuses.  I went home and spent the rest of the day in bed and was back at work the following day.

My first Boston Marathon was seven weeks away.

My Marathon Journeys: The Drake Relays 1992

Running took a back seat after the 1990 St. George Marathon.  First, I cleaned up on my act.  I decided it was time to be an adult.  Parts of my life that I didn't like I had excised.  People trying to help me felt working on myself and not focusing on running as an escape needed to be part of the plan.

I was in a good place by the spring of 1991.  I was enjoying my job and some six months after St. George I was doing some light training.  Then an opportunity came along that made me do some soul searching.

A personal goal of mine was to be the director of a television news operation by the time I was 35 years old.  That opportunity came along unexpectedly in June and much to my surprise, my boss who had lured me back to Kansas City just two years before, was supportive of my quest.

I took a job in Topeka, Kansas... just an hour down the road and started to shape up a small staff of 20 or so people working for a boss who threw nickels around like manhole covers.  I loved what I was doing because everyday brought with it a different challenge, whether it was people, equipment or shaping the kind of journalism we would practice.

My running began to take slowly take shape.  My very first boss in television news talked me into running the Lake Atwood 10 mile in late July and I skipped along at a leisurely 6:40 pace.  It didn't hurt that it was 45 degrees in August, unheard of summer weather in Western Kansas.  The race told me the wheels were still there.

Training came along slowly in the fall and starting in 1992 I tackled the difficult January classic, Topeka to Auburn Half Marathon in just a shade under 1:31.  Now the time was not great, but the race is nothing but non-stop hills after four miles, a real grind.   It planted a seed that running a spring marathon might be possible.  I was averaging 50 to 60 miles a week on a steady basis.

I followed that up with a 38:10 10K in Manhattan on St. Patrick's Day and by early April I ran a difficult 20K in 1:20.  A final 10K the third week in 36:58 let me know I was in shape to run a sub-three hour marathon.

The target race was Drake Relays Marathon on Saturday April 23rd.  I had no idea what the topography of the course offered.  If I had I probably would have waited to run Grandma's in June.  The course was a real bear.

Saturday morning was a cold one with temperatures just below freezing as snowflakes greeted us in Drake Stadium.  As we headed off the track and out on the roads I felt easy at a couple of ticks over 6:30 pace through five miles.  Then two major hills hit and it dawned on me that this section would be two loops and not a lot of fun.

I hit the half feeling strong in 1:26:10 and clipped those tough hills and settled back into 6:30 pace.  After 18 miles in 6:19 I began to tire.  Mile 20 was in 7:03 and I knew I just had to hang on.  Fortunately the last four miles were gradual downhill and I stopped the bleeding averaging 6:45 pace over the last five miles.

I was in no man's land over the last five miles.  I could see a lone figure catching me two miles from the finish.  I was in a dilemma.  Do I dare push the pace and risk a complete blow up or just hope he'll run out of gas as I ran steady.  Slowly but surely he slid by me with a mile to go.  I just lacked the heart to fight him over the last mile.

I hit the finish in 2:53:59. I had finished 13th overall.  But the man that I let by with a mile to go took third place in my age group taking the last of the awards.  I was incredibly angry with myself.

I was 36 years old and I suffered a mental meltdown after the work that I had put in for this race.  This marked a turning point.  I was done with the marathon, or so I thought.  I was working 50 hours a week and training my ass off.

I  had poured myself into work and the night before the race a work crisis popped that I had to handle over the phone that proved to be a major mental distraction.    Trying to run a television newsroom and trying to be a semi-serious runner is a tough balance.

A large part of me wishes I had kept the self-discipline that running brought as a focal point in my life.  But I had to learn some more hard lessons over the next two years before I finally reached the place where moderation in all things became true words to live by.  And in turn, I wasn't done running marathons, just done worrying about chasing times.

My Marathon Journeys: St. George 1990

A goal is a tenuous journey.  I had career goals.  I had running goals.  I unfortunately didn't have any life goals.  1990 was a journey in which I completed my main running goal of breaking 2:40 at St. George but realized that if I didn't start having some life goals, my professional life and personal life were going to not go the way I wanted.

By the beginning of 1990 I was tired of living in Phoenix, Arizona.  The unrelenting heat and unending brown of the desert was more than I could handle.  I didn't like my job.  It had been promised to be one thing and it became something entirely different without the pay to justify the workload I had been handed and with a boss who ridiculed me in front of my peers.

My old boss in Kansas City wanted me back.  So with some phone diplomacy and some back channel manipulation my Phoenix boss reluctantly agreed to let me go back to Kansas City.  He was reluctant because despite everything I was producing the number one 10 p.m. newscast and thus making a lot of money for the station.

I turned in my resignation on March 19, 1990.  I was training and racing during the first part of 1990 but the results were less than satisfying.  The week after my resignation with a lot of professional pressure off I ran 107 miles.  I hadn't run that many miles in a week since my junior year in high school.  I was thinking ahead to October and St. George.

I ran my next to last race in Phoenix that same week.  The South Mountain YMCA Half Marathon told me that I could run a sub 2:40 marathon.  I ran 1:22:38.  It wasn't anywhere near my personal best but I did it on tired legs and never felt truly stressed in doing it.  

Two weeks later I was back in Kansas City running 21 miles almost every Sunday with my old buddies.  I kept the mileage steady at 60 to 70 miles a week until I raced myself into a nasty cold in mid-May.  It forced me to curtail my training as I headed toward a major early June race.

I ran the Hospital Hill Half Marathon on June 3 hoping to break 1:20 on one of the toughest courses in the nation.  I couldn't take advantage of the downhills and ran 1:20:41.   I finished, took two deep breaths and instantly realized I could run the course again right then and there at the same effort.  The power of the long runs was kicking in.

The last push of serious training didn't begin until the end of August with an 82 mile week.  It was followed with a 94 mile week and a 108 mile week.  That third week culminated in a 26 mile long run in under three hours.

Two weeks later, one week out from the 1990 St. George Marathon, I ran an 8K PR 27:42 and drove to a local high school cross country meet where I won a two mile race about two hours after the 8K.  I was ready to go after St. George.  

The morning of the race the weather was crisp and cold.  The field was made up of more than 2,500 runners.  I was there with my old buddy from Phoenix, Craig Davidson.  I was ready to conquer the race and hoping to serve up a surprise for Craig.

To Craig Davidson, to whom I owe so much

The gun went off and so did Craig.  He shot away from me as I cautiously pattered through the first mile in 6:16.  I wanted to save myself for the big uphill at mile seven.  I hit seven miles in 42:35 and made the one mile climb in a little overly aggressive 6:27.  I paid a price over the next four miles as I recovered rolling through those miles at 6:25 pace.  

I went through the half marathon in 1:21:17 and I was waiting for the first big downhill.  I clocked mile 15 in 5:40 and followed that up with a 5:33.  It was during that 5:33 mile that I rolled by Craig with a wry smile on my face.  I had never beat him.  Craig had a 2:28 marathon to his credit.  He gave me an appreciative grin as I ran by him.  Something tells me he wasn't surprised by my fitness.

Mile 21 was my last fast mile in 5:35.  I was carefully checking myself.  I didn't want to crash and burn as I cruised those final downhill miles.  I knew I had a chance to crack 2:39 as I clocked my 24th mile in 5:58 but I was beginning to feel the effort.  I deliberately backed off running 6:10 miles over the last two.

I hit the finish line in 2:39:24.  It was a personal best by nine minutes.  I was exhausted, coughing up all manner of crud.  I had even managed to score an age group award, something that came as an unexpected bonus to the PR.

It never occurred to me at that point that I needed to set a new running goal.  I was 34 years old.  I didn't think I had the desire to work hard enough to break 2:35.

I was satisfied.  My time placed me in the top 50 and I won an age group award.  I did wonder if I had run more miles in June and July if I could have run a couple of minutes faster.  But what I did got me to where I wanted to be.  

A lot of people will criticize the St. George course because it is so downhill.  But those runners never take into account the difficult hills from mile seven to mile 13 or the pounding your quads take running downhill.  Training for that race by running up and down South Mountain when I lived in Phoenix resulted in surgery to both my achilles in my 25 years later.

Three weeks later on almost no training I ran a 35:25 10K on a super hilly course where marathon legend Dick Beardsley kicked me down for 55th place.  Unfortunately my motivation to continue training was gone.  It would remain buried for nearly a year as I dealt with trying to set my personal life in order and capture a seemingly impossible professional goal.

The Miseducation of David McCormack

This may be the most confusing Kansas basketball team of the last decade.  The squad lacks a talented big man yet has a roster of eight guards, yes Jalen Wilson is a guard, that is as deep and talented as any in the Bill Self era.  The confusion stems from David McCormack and whether or not he can find the game that his teammates raved about before the season started.

McCormack is a physical specimen.  He has a sweet jump shot from 12 feet and in and is an enthusiastic rebounder.  He is a solid defender.  Yet he play seems rushed and unsettled.  His frenetic presence in the low post is downright confusing on the offensive end.

I think Self has bent over backwards to give McCormack minutes when the steadier Mitch Lightfoot plays a more polished low post game.  He lacks McCormack's physical presence but he is a better shot blocker and ball handler.  Yet Lightfoot's minutes will likely be limited because the best Kansas lineup doesn't involve a big man.

Kansas plays its best with five guards on the floor.  Jalen Wilson at 6-8 is big enough to handle many of the interior big men he will face as the season grinds on and creates massive matchup headaches with his ability to handle the ball and shoot the three.  Plus Wilson is a fierce rebounder.  He is the best Kansas freshman I have seen standing at 6-6 or more since Paul Pierce.  It's unfortunate that he will be a one and done.

Christian Braun and Ochai Obaji are the ying and yang of the back court swing players.  Both are deadly from beyond the arch, can handle the ball and are fearless rebounders.  With Wilson, Braun and Obaji should average 15 a game night in and night out.

The problem is Marcus Garrett.  Bill Self has put too much on K.U.'s best lockdown defender.  You can see his game suffering with the added responsibility of playing the point.  His offense is down and he seems tired on the defensive end.  At some point Self needs to consider finding a way to get Dajuan Harris, Jr. into the game more as the point to free Garrett to be the defensive spark that Kansas desperately needs.

The other guard part of this abundance of guard goodness is freshman Bryce Thompson who should also get more looks at point.  Thompson has an old school mid-range game that we haven't seen in years.  Plus he's a sure ball handler.  

Sadly lost in this depth at Tristan Enaruna.  He's got a great three point stroke but seems another year away from being the mature player that can contribute on a consistent basis.  My guts tell me he may transfer given the wealth of talent Kansas seems to recruit every year.

JUCO transfer Tyon Grant-Foster is an athletic freak.  He can jump, handle the ball, and play defense.  I suspect he'll have some conference games where he comes to the rescue but he's a role player at best.

This Kansas team lacks a Frank Mason, DeVonte Graham, Devon Dotson, who could pressure opposing defenses with their drives and outside shooting ability.  And that will be the achilles heel of this squad, the lack of a consistent penetrator from the guard spot that can get the other team in foul trouble.

This is not a Final 4 team.  A trip to the Sweet 16 is the best the Jayhawks can hope for.

COVID Cross Country

Some how, some way, the Southwest Florida high school cross country teams made it through the 2020 season, something quite a few of their football counterparts failed to do.  I think it's a credit to all of the coaches across Lee County that their teams made it to November with more than a half dozen squads making it to Tallahassee to compete at the State Championships.  It's nothing short of a miracle.

Ladies first.  Canterbury's Jessica Edwards, a superb middle distance runner, landed the highest finish of her fine high school cross country career by taking fifth in the Class 1A race.  Right behind her in seventh place was Ava Povich from ECS.  Only a sophomore, Povich made giant strides improving more than 30 spots at State this year.

The top girl in Lee County and Southwest Florida is Amy Meng.  The junior from Fort Myers High led her squad to a third place finish in Tallahassee while taking fifth as an individual.  She wasn't even on the Green Wave squad last year.  Meng has the work ethic to be one of the best runners to ever come out of Fort Myers High.

The hidden gem on the top girl's team in Southwest Florida was Fort Myers senior Anna Fischler.  A nagging hip injury kept Fischler from training until deep into the season.  She went from running 24 minutes in a JV race in early October to finishing 23rd at the State Championships.  Her heart and tenacity is something to admire.

Kudos go to the Estero girls led by Madison Hood for making it to State and to the girls of Bishop Verot, a young and promising squad that could give the Green Wave a run for its money next season for county bragging rights.

It's hard to pinpoint a single boy that dominated the season.  Lehigh Acres junior Evan Meyer had a terrific season although he appeared to run out of gas at the Class 4A race.  Senior Ogler Bartolon of Dunbar had a great season and led his team to State in Class 3A.  The same can be said of SFCA's Ethan Tank who also took his team to State while finishing 15th in the Class 1A race.

Bragging rights for the best team belongs to Fort Myers but by a razor thin margin over Dunbar.  Junior Colsen Palmer was consistent all season along with seniors Liam Holston and Paul Colsen in leading their team to a fifth place finish in Class 3A.

That being said based off his finish at State and his season resume Estero junior Kolton Pickard is the best of a good group. Pickard finished a respectable 13th in Class 3A.  He did it while overcoming some nagging mid-season injuries.

Pickard will be back next season along with Palmer, Meyer and Bishop Verot sophomore Cooper Banks.  Look for Povich to continue her improvement and for some epic battles with Meng next fall.  But lets hope those duals resume this spring and that Covid doesn't put the road block on high school track and field.