It’s Finally Cross Country Season in Florida

by Herb Wills for DyeStat Florida

After suffering through the off season, the pre-season, and the pre-pre-season, it’s finally cross country season in Florida. There have been a few early meets this week, but most teams have been saving their powder for the competitions on 29 August 2015--call it Opening Saturday. What’s happening around the state on Opening Saturday?

If you go far enough west in the Florida Panhandle, you cross the Apalachicola River. There’s still more than 150 miles of Florida in front of you, but it’s a different part of the state. Trans-Apalachicola Florida is on Central Time while the rest of the state sets its clocks by Eastern Time. There are no theme parks. Some of the residents call the region “Baja Alabama.” Call it what you want, but you can’t ignore that part of Florida unless you want to be surprised by distance runners from programs like Choctawhatchee, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, or Pensacola Washington.

Many of those far west schools are staying on their own side of the Apalachicola for opening Saturday, either at the Patriot Invitational in Pace, Florida, or the unusual Cross Country Relays in Niceville. But a few are headed across the river to Tallahassee for Godby’s Cougar Challenge, notably West Florida Tech and Niceville.

The Tech boys are coming off a win at their own pre-season meet, the West Florida Cross Country Jamboree on 22 August 2015. Led by senior Emma Rudman, the Fort Walton Beach girls also took a title at the Jamboree, scoring a near-perfect 16 points. If either of those two teams is looking for new challenges, they’ll find it in Tallahassee. Nearly 30 high schools have entered, including squads from Alabama and Georgia. This will also be the first chance to see if Maclay has the horses to contend in class 1A this season.

If you want to see if the Bolles girls have what it takes to repeat as state champs in class 2A, you’ll want to spend Opening Saturday at Ridgeview's Bob Hans Invitational in Orange Park. That won’t be the only action in Northeast Florida, though. Just a few miles south in Bunnell, Flagler Palm Coast hosts the Spikes and Spurs Classic. That’s where the season starts for St. Augustine, including their ace, Kelly Aponte, the 2014 runner-up in class 3A.

The Trinity Prep boys are looking to repeat as class 2A champs. On Opening Saturday they'll be at home in Winter Park hosting the Trinity Prep Invitational. Winter Park's class 4A powerhouse, Winter Park High, won't be there, though. The Wildcats are headed north to the Deland Invitational, where the girls’ team will start their season as defending champions in class 4A. The class 4A boys' defending champion Lyman Greyhounds are also entered at Deland, which means that the 2014 4A individual champ, Greyhound senior Joshua Jacques, will also be on hand.

In class 2A it’s tempting to speculate as to whether the Melbourne Satellite Scorpions will be able to challenge Trinity Prep for the boys’ state title, or contend with Bolles and Pine Crest for the top girls’ spot. That’s because Doug Butler, who for years coached championship teams at class 1A Holy Trinity, has taken his whistle and clipboard to Satellite. The Butler Era for the Scorpions starts on Opening Saturday at the Wickham Park Jamboree in Melbourne.

Southeast Florida's Opening Saturday events include Park Vista's Cobra Country Invitational in Boca Raton and the King's Academy Lions Invitational in West Palm Beach. Fort Lauderdale's Calvary Christian Academy is entered in the King’s Academy meet, and CCA senior Joel Lacy was the 2014 class 2A boys cross country champion.

The Jim Ryun Season Opener Celebration at Lakeland's Holloway Park is possibly the largest meet in the state on Opening Saturday. It's certainly the meet with the longest name. Among the notable entries at the Jim Ryun meet is Gainesville's Oak Hall. The Oak Hall girls placed second at State in class 1A last year, and this could be the year they pick up their second title.

Among the other opening Saturday offerings are Wesley Chapel's Wildcat Invitational, Lake Minneola's Early Hawk Special Invitational in Clermont, The Villages High School’s Early Bird Invitational, and the Lemon Bay Invitational in Englewood. Even with all those events, not everyone is racing on Opening Saturday. The Chiles boys, defending champions in class 3A, are running a time trial. The Coral Reef boys were a close second in class 4A in 2014 and should be contenders again this year, but Coral Reef doesn’t start racing till the following weekend. Pine Crest, home to 2014 class 2A girls’ champ Tsion Yared, also won’t be competing for another week.

That still leaves a full menu for Opening Saturday. And even though it looks like a feast, remember that it’s just the first course. There’s a lot of competition to digest between now and State. And always save room for dessert--Foot Locker and Nike Cross Nationals.

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 2015 ARTICLES / 2014 ARTICLES