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FSU Relays Distance Preview - A Carnival of Speed by Mark DeCotis for DistancePreps.comPublished by
FSU Relays Distance Preview - A Carnival of Speed
Many of Florida's top prep track and field athletes will have the opportunity to compete on a high-profile stage Friday and Saturday at the 33rd FSU Relays at Florida State University in Tallahassee.
And while the stakes won't be nearly as high as they will be in the FHSAA state meet at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville in April, the visibility and exposure will be.
One hundred and seven high school and unattached teams from Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Oklahoma are expected to compete. Twenty college teams including host FSU, Florida, Florida A&M, USF, UNF, Tampa and UWF will be represented.
More than 2,000 athletes, including some who will be representing their nations at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, will be participating.
It all adds up to a carnival of speed.
"The atmosphere at a meet like FSU is huge so the kids can't help but run fast," Doug Butler, multiple-time state champion coach at Melbourne's Hoy Trinity Episcopal Academy, wrote in an email. "Great competition breeds great times.
"Nothing big at stake, aside for a chance to run very fast for some college scholarship or walk-on times. This is a chance to sit in the pack and let them pull you along to some fast times."
Things get rolling for preps with the 4x100 relay at 1 p.m. Friday. The night's feature events - the Distance Showcase - begins with the steeplechase at 6 p.m. Saturday's action opens at 8 a.m. and finishes with the 4x400 relay at 4:25 p.m. Admission to the relays and the accompanying TrackFest are free. Among the featured prep athletes is Tallahassee Maclay School junior Stefanie Kurgatt the state high school champion in the 800 with a best time of 2 minutes, 14.25 seconds. Despite injury setbacks Kurgatt has state-best times in both the 1,600 (4:49.62, the fifth-best all-time for a Florida girl) and 3,200 (10:39.08).
Kurgatt is limiting herself to one race, the 3,200 which is shaping up as the meet's premier prep event. It will be contested on Friday night and has attracted a top-flight field.
In addition to Kurgatt, the race is expected to include Estero's Kacy Smith, Dr. Phillips' Bridget Blake, Cocoa Beach's Shelby Davidson, Holy Trinity's Julie Wollrath, Lakewood Ranch's Olivia Ortiz, Chiles' Lilly Williams, Melbourne High's Vanessa Valentine, Circle Christian's Bryce Seymour, Chiles' Carly Thomas and Estero's Katy Solis, and that's just in the first heat.
"Stefanie's my pick to be the winner," said the meet's high school coordinator Chris Sumner who set up the prep field for the relays.
"I've known her since she was in the seventh grade, great athlete. She's dealt with a little bit of injuries and some training issues. Right now she's feeling really good and ready to go. I'm looking forward to her doing something really big.
"She wants to be completely fresh for that two-mile (3,200) since that's pretty much going to be the main event. She wants to mix it up with the rest of those girls."
The 3,200 is truly a race of champions. Kurgatt, the 1A state champion in the 800, will be challenged by no less than four state cross country champions: Wollrath, 1A; Davidson, 2A; Ortiz 3A; and Blake 4A, and four Foot Locker national cross country finalists: Davidson 2010 and Blake, Ortiz, and Williams 2011.
Also, Blake is the defending 4A state track champion in the 1,600 and 3,2000; Williams the 3A defending champion in both events; Smith the 2A defending champion in the 3,200 and Wollrath the defending 1A champion in the 1,600.
The relays will mark the final time for seniors such as Williams, Thomas, Davidson and Valentine to run before the FSU crowd as high school competitors.
Williams and Valentine are headed to Vanderbilt, Thomas to FSU and Davidson to Florida.
The rest of the girls will have the 800 and 1,600 to themselves and Williams is a favorite in both with Ortiz, Smith, Valentine and Mandarin's Mary Kate Ponder all having a say in the outcome.
On the boys side the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 will draw considerable interest with Colonial's Andres Arroyo grabbing the spotlight along with Winter Park's Billy Anguish, Trinity Prep's Ryan Gousse - the 2011 state 1A cross country champion, Lake Brantley's Otniel Teixeira, Chamberlain's Max del Monte and Holy Trinity's Daniel Moore, Alex Brown, Joey Castagnaro and Alex Hoffman, among others.
Arroyo, the 2011 state 4A cross country champion, owns the top Florida times in the 1,500 (4:05.80) and the 1,600 (4:18.41) this outdoor season while Anguish owns the top 1,200 time (3:20.66). Teixeira has the best 800 time (1:54.15).
The top 3,200 time belongs to Pasco County Anclote High's Argishti Gazari (9:31.79). He is not competing. Sumner sees the boys 3,200 as a tough race.
"There are some kids who could easily be in the front of heat one but they're in heat two," he said. "That one is going to be a good race because it depends on how those guys react to each other. The second heat is filled with a lot of guys who have not produced a two-mile fast time yet but are very capable of going low 9:20 or under.
"This one might be a tricky one where you might see the second heat as fast or as equal as the first. A lot of these guys on paper don't look as strong as the year that we had all those guys under 9:10. You know how the races play out. We could still have another great year like that."
The great equalizer for both genders could be the weather forecast which is calling for a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms with a high temperature of 84 degrees and winds of 15 mph.
By Mark DeCotis for DistancePreps.com Contact Mark DeCotis at [email protected] More news
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