West Coast Report (Week 7)

by West Coast Correspondent John Stevenson for DistancePreps.com

To me, this past week was feeling like the calm before the storm. Pretty low key week for many West Coast teams until we get into fast paced April. Pepsi Relays at UF is coming then we get into post-season for the majority of April.

There were some big performances this week though.

Emily Edwards quadruple!

The Lee County Athletic Championships were held this week where Emily Edwards of Ft. Myers earned 40 points with victories in the 1600, 800, 3200, and 4x400! Looks like big weeks for Emily gearing up for the post-season.

Estero milers

At the Lee County Championships, the Estero ladies had 4 of the top 6 in the girls 1600 and the boys of Estero had 4 of the top 7 in the 1600. Lots of depth at Estero!

Sarasota girls 4x800

Sarasota ran at the Marcus Freeman Invitational at North Port. The girls 4x800 team broke their school record with running 9:42. The relay team consisted of Sage Lyons, Mackenzie Brown, Angelina Grebe, and Emily Harding.

North Port milers

North Port High School has some talented young ladies. Four ladies ran the 1600 for North Port and all four of them PR'd, led by freshman Madison Krstec with 5:26.

Tyler Fisher

The Port Charlotte junior ran away with the 3200 title at North Port with a big PR of 9:38 making him a player in the tough Region 3A-3. The 3200 will be tightly contested between Ft. Myer's Bennett and McGregor, Sarasota's Bradtmueller, and Pedraza of Golden Gate.

Kolin Ashbacher

Continues his fantastic season with the 800 meter victory at the UNF Spring Break Invite against challenging competition including Emare Hogan of Dr. Phillips and Rayford James of Robert E. Lee. Looking forward to the UF 800 meter race where we will see Kolin against Javon Patterson.

Jack Rogers

Jack Rogers of Robinson High School is getting into form with his double victories in the 800 and 1600 at the Hillsborough Western Conference meet this past week.  Ran the 1600 in 4:23, which puts him in the thick of things for the 1600 in Region 3A-3.

Bloomingdale 800 runners

Bloomingdale boys went 1-2-3 in the 800 at the Hillsborough County Federal Division Western Conference.  Andrew LeBlanc led the boys with his victory in 2:00.29. Second place was Matt Butler, followed by Kevin Heron.

This week

The biggest meet this week will be in Gainesville for the Pepsi Relays. The two big races I am looking forward to are the boys 800 meter with Patterson against many good runners and the girls 1600 where there will be many of the 1600 runners at FSU racing again.

Which race is the most open?

The boys 1600! There are so many boys within seconds of each other.

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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