Now that Pre State is in the books, discussion of Florida high school cross country can become evidence-based, which is one of my favorite things about Pre State. You can say goodbye to conversations like this:

A: Smallbridge Academy is going to win State!

B: I don’t know. Why do you say that?

A: Because Smallbridge Academy rules!

Or like this:

A: Did you see where Essex Prep’s team averaged 15:30 at the Oil Spill Invitational? They are going to dominate in November!

B: Isn’t the Oil Spill course 500 meters short?

A: Who cares? They averaged 15:30!

So what do we know about the season as a result of Pre State? A few things, anyway.

It’s clear now that a few athletes just aren’t going to run as well in 2014 as they did in 2013. Sukhi Khosla isn’t one of them. The Leon senior posted a 14:59.94 winning time, just a whisker away from his time last year. Khosla spent the first 1500 meters with the field before taking his leave and running away from everyone. By halfway through the race, cresting "The Wall" for the first time, Khosla was all alone, running a time trial, and the only race was for second place. He still hasn’t lost a cross-country race in Florida since 2012, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change before November. Sukhi Khosla is poised to repeat as class 3A state champion.

Leon's Sukhi Khosla en route to winning the FSU Invitational in 14:95.94 (by Bob Murphy)

Likewise, Miami Sunset senior Nick Diaz has to be considered favored to repeat as the boys class 4A champ. Diaz was outkicked for second at Pre State by Merritt Island junior Steven Cross, but his class 4A rivals--Sickles senior James Zentmeyer and Plant senior Jack Guyton--were seven seconds back. That’s about 40 meters, and 40 meters is a lot of ground to make up, perhaps too much to make up in the five weeks before the State Final.

Miami Sunset's Nick Diaz (L) and Merritt Island's Steven Cross (R)

photo by Bob Murphy

Immokalee senior Urias Velasquez went from dark horse to favorite in class 2A, edging Ransom Everglades junior Gabriel Correa 15:47.86 to 15:50.61 at Pre State.

Windermere Prep senior Franco Martins made a good case for being considered a threat to repeat as boys’ class 1A champ. At Pre State, Martins outran last year’s class 1A runner-up, Holy Trinity senior Andrew Cacciatore, 15:34.67 to 15:44.03. Cacciatore has beaten Martins at ARPXC, though, finishing ahead of the Windermere athlete at last year’s Pre-State. Look for another Martins/Cacciatore duel in November.

If there’s anyone out there that can challenge the Holy Trinity boys for the class 1A team title, then I didn’t see them at Pre-State. Trinity Prep looked like a team ready to repeat as class 2A champs. The class 3A trophy will probably end up in Tallahassee, but at Chiles? or at Leon? Lyman’s boys earned the yellow jersey in class 4A going into November; the trick now is to keep it.

Winter Park frosh Rafaella Gibbons had the fastest girls’ time in the state, her 17:49 at Great American. But the Old Coach will tell you that cross country times don’t mean much; it’s all about head-to-head competition. Well, at Pre-State, running head-to-head with the best high school girls in Florida, Gibbons ran 17:52.12 and finished in front of everyone, including the class 4A defending champion, St Thomas Aquinas senior Alexa Cruz. Fletcher sophomore Kayley Delay also cracked 18:00, finishing runner-up in 17:58.30. Don’t count Delay out at next month’s class 4A State Final.

Winter Park's Rafaella Gibbons with Fletcher's Kayley Delay in the background go 1-2 at the FSU Invitational

photo Bob Murphy

Fort Myers Evangelical Christian senior Sarah Candiano affirmed her status as the class 1A favorite, coming in third in 18:12. Much can happen between now and November, but it's certain that Candiano won't have to contend with the three time defending champion in class 1A, Julie Wollrath. Wollrath, a senior at Melbourne, is now competing in class 3A. At Pre-State she advertised that she just might be ready to add a class 3A crown to the three she earned in class 1A.

Many considered Pine Crest seventh grader Tsion Yared the front-runner among class 2A girls going into Pre-State. After she ran 18:13.30 and placed fourth last Saturday, there’s no reason to think differently.

Coach Tony Ryan's Bolles girls won the team title at Pre State, making them the prohibitive favorite to pick up a third straight class 2A title at the State Final. Coach Kristin McWilliams’s Winter Park girls came up four points short of Bolles, but well ahead of all their rivals in class 4A. After finishing runner-up in the State Final in 2013, this may be their year. In class 2A it looks like the Creekside girls hold a slight edge over the Fort Myers girls, Highly regarded Ocala Vanguard was not at Pre-State, however, so we’ll have to wait till November 15 to see how they stack up. In class 1A...can you say “sweep”? Coach Doug Butler’s Holy Trinity teams took home both boys’ and girls’ state title in 2013, and after Pre-State they look ready to do it again in 2014.

For Northwest Florida, Pre-State at the FSU Invitational wasn’t scheduled to be the last cross-country meet before District competition. The 25th annual Panhandle Cross Country Championship was slated for this Saturday morning, October 18; traditionally the last large meet of the season for schools in the region. Over the years the Panhandle meet had produced some ridiculously fast times, but not this year. The Panhandle Championships have been canceled. The Panhandle Meet has always been run at the Marianna Educational Recreational Expo Park, but some of the course goes outside the park. Just before this year's Panhandle, the meet lost permission to use that land. An alternate course entirely inside the park turned out to be unusable because of a softball tournament. No course, no races. No races, no Panhandle Championship.

Some of the west Panhandle schools made plans to go to West Florida Tech’s meet in Pensacola instead. In the east Panhandle, some of the teams are headed to Monticello for Aucilla Christian’s Warrior Stampede. Still other athletes, though, are welcoming a chance to spend another weekend preparing for District. District, Regional, and State is a lot of racing after all, and November isn’t that far away.

Northwest Florida Correspondent Herb Wills

Herb Wills' running career goes back to the 1971 boys' age-group mile at the Florida Relays. Since losing that race he has won the 1976 Florida High School class 4A cross-country championship, 1979 AAU USA junior titles in cross-country and the 10,000 meters, and the 1989 TAC USA 30K national championship. As a distance runner at Florida State University from 1978 to 1982, he was NCAA All-American three times in track and once in cross country, and won a silver medal in the marathon at the 1981 World University Games. Graduating Florida State with a degree in mathematics, in the following years Wills ran in the USA Olympic Marathon Trials in 1984, 1988, and 1992, and placed tenth in the Boston Marathon in 1989. After more than a few years of duty as a hurdle setter and lane judge at track meets, Wills discovered that the public address announcer not only got to sit down at meets but was also sheltered from the rain. Since that revelation you can hear him with a microphone in his hand at several track and cross-country events in the Tallahassee area. Writing is another activity you can do while sitting down, and Wills has written about running for Racing South magazine and Tallahassee's local newspaper, the Tallahassee Democrat.

You can read more running related tidbits in his blog at http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/

Herb Wills NorthWest Florida Reports LINK