West Coast Report (Week 6)
by West Coast Correspondent John Stevenson for DistancePreps.com
So I was thinking that since there were so many great performances from the west coast at FSU and we all know about Edwards double in the 3200 and 1600 with that amazing fight in the 3200 and the Estero girls in the 4x800 with their sub 9:30 that I am going to write about some things I have noticed and saw at FSU.
Girls 3200 Elite Heat 2 (Twangster)
1) Season Best vs Personal Record.
Dr. Bob mentioned this in his "3 Things to Start Your Day" and you may have read some on the discussion board on flrunners.
I personally feel that runners at FSU should be seeded by PR. This is basically the first major meet of the year and not many runners may have reached their mid-season best performance because of competition or a coach that might want a great performance from their runner at FSU. Of course, if you want your runner in a faster heat then you can run them in bigger meets, like USF Steinbrenner or the Bolles Bulldog Classic, to help their seeding.
Girls 3200 Elite Heat 1 (Twangster)
2) Kick.
We saw huge kicks at FSU! Nick Morken from Niceville had memorable kicks in all his races. In the Boys 800 Heat 4 (fastest heat), he just exploded the last lap and dropped a state best time going 1:53.45 (Javon Patterson now has the state best with his 1:52.53 from the BCAA Championships.) In the 1600, he once again came from behind and out leaned Ryan Rodriguez from Belen Jesuit to get 2nd.
Boys 1600 Elite Heat 2 (Twangster)
Nick's team-mate Thomas Howell also had a monsterous kick in the boys 3200, closing his last 400 in 60 seconds as well.
Adam Bradtmueller from Sarasota just destroyed the field on the last 300 of the 1600 with his kick. He was in 5th position about 10 meters behind Trey LaNasa of FWB with 300 left and won by 15 meters or so. Adam's last lap was at 63 seconds.
Emily Edwards of Ft. Myers probably went through numerous emotions during her 3200. She started off conservative with the pack, took the lead, but fell back off and was hurting. She never gave up and exploded from the back in the last 100 and out kicked and out leaned Emma Rudman from FWB for the 3200 victory with 10:50.94.
3) Boys 1600 Region 3A Region 1
I know there is still over a month left until states in Jacksonville, but looking at Region 3A Region 1, there are 9 runners under the 4:25 mark in the 1600 and another 5 more under the 4:30 mark. Those runners will have to be on their "A" game to be one of four getting to states. The spread is wide ranging from Sukhi's 4:13 to Trey LaNasa's 4:24.
Boys 1600 Elite Heat 2 (Twangster)
4) Ft. Myers and Sarasota Boys
Looking at the rankings in 3A Region 3's 1600 and 3200, the top is controlled by 4 runners: Zack Summerall, Adam Bradtmueller, Tyler Bennett, and Dean McGregor. Of the eight positions between the top 4 of the 1600 and top 4 of the 3200, seven of the top eight belong to Sarasota and Ft. Myers. The lone runner is Alex Pedraza from Golden Gate, who is ranked 2nd in the 3200 with 9:26.
5) 4x800 Boys in 4A
Looking at the 4x800 on the boys side, I noticed that 1) there are already 6 teams under 8 minutes and 2) five of them are in 4A (Bloomingdale, Olympia, St. Thomas Aquinas, Dr. Phillips, and Countryside !!) The spread between their season bests? Less than 5 seconds! I can't wait to see this race.
West Coast Correspondent John Stevenson
I've been coaching girls cross country since 2010 at Sarasota High School where the girls took 2nd place in the 2013 3A Cross Country State Final. In 2011, I took over the distance track program for both the boys and girls and in 2014 I took the realm as Head Coach of the Boys Track program at SHS. I've been a competitive runner that enjoys the longer distances and triathlete since 2007 and competed in many distances from sprint triathlon to ironman.
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