Edwards wins, Khosla sets record in 3200s at FSU Relays
 

By Brian Miller, Special to DistancePreps.com

TALLAHASSEE— Watch Fort Myers senior Emily Edwards run enough and you notice a trend, one which even she wishes she didn't find herself in so often.

Edwards doesn't make things easy on herself when it comes to crossing the finish line first. She did it during the cross country season many times, most notably in the 3A state championship at Tallahassee's Apalachee Regional Park. She needed a surge at the two-mile mark in that race and a laborious finish to collapse across the line as a state champion.

So in Friday night's 3200 girls invitational race at the FSU Relays, Edwards once again drew a lead, and once again saw it disappear. This time, however, she fell to sixth place with just two laps to go in the eight-lap race.

"The pack caught up to me and kept going," Edwards said. "I tried to stay with them, but it just got to a point where I was mentally and physically shutting down. I told myself, 'Just stay as close as possible because you may find it somewhere. You found it in cross country, you may find it now."

Like the grit she displayed at ARP, Edwards did it all again at Mike Long Track. She found an extra gear on the last curve and willed herself past five girls. Then she endured a furious sprint to the finish with Fort Walton Beach sophomore Emma Rudman, clipping her in a photo finish, both collapsing immediately in exhaustion.

"It just hit me, it was going to hurt whether I was slowing down or picking it up," Edwards said. "So I just decided to go for it and try finishing. I could hear the crowd, so I knew someone was coming. I just kept trying to throw in surges so I could get across."

"I run to the pain," Edwards added. "I try to hit it until I can't go anymore. I tried to do that the last 200 meters."

Edwards time was 10:50.94, while Rudman, who finished fourth behind Edwards in state cross country, finished in 10.50.96. Jacksonville Bolles' Mackenzie Wilson was third (10:51.43), Cardinal Mooney sophomore Grace Casagrande earned fourth, followed by 2A cross country champ Julia Montgomery of Pine Crest and Karen Xiang of Nease.

"I tried to keep in contact as much with the leaders as I could and build the race," Rudman said. "I knew it would hurt, but I wanted to just give it everything I could. The pack I was running with was Julia, (Casagrande), and we just started closing. It was an awesome race. This was like a mini-peak to get me ready for state. I'm happy to run this."

If you didn't think that race could be topped, it was almost as if you didn't like record-breaking performances. Tallahassee local Sukhi Khosla of Leon High followed up the girls' race with an eyebrow-raising performance in his own 3200.

Khosla, a junior and the reigning 3A state cross country champion, led from start to finish without challenge and shattered the FSU Relays meet record of 9:02.97 set by former Leon star Matt Mizereck, who went on to run for the University of Florida and Florida State University.

Khosla broke the nine-minute barrier with an 8:59.50 treat, bringing to its feet the sellout crowd sitting in bleachers along the final straightaway. Khosla is now only the 10th person in Florida high school history to break nine minutes, and three of them have competed at Leon.

"I watch a lot of professionals' videos and assess what they're doing and what I'm doing," Khosla said. "I've really been concentrating on my form since cross country season. I'm making sure I'm using my arms and getting my knees up. I think it really helps because you stay efficient even when you're tired."

It almost seemed matter-of-fact for Khosla. Many runners enjoyed the perfect weather and low humidity on display. Two others broke meet records: Holy Trinity senior Daryth Gayles set a record in the long jump with a leap of 19-04.00, and Niceville's 4x800 relay team of Tripp Davis, Caden Ewing, Thomas Howell and Jack Massey raced in a combined 7:51.69, which was nearly three seconds better than the previous record.

Wakulla senior Madison Harris scored a win in the 800 in 2:14.67, while Niceville senior Nicholas Morken topped the boys 800 in 1:53.45, the fastest time in the state this year. That was especially pleasing to Morken, who did not have nearly the cross country season he expected.

"I think I peaked a little bit too early in cross country, ran a little too far, too fast too early," Morken said. "During track, I just want to take it a little easier with my training. I'm actually surprised with the times I'm running right now because we haven't done many speed workouts. I'm happy with it."

It was a blistering pace set early. In the end, Morken worked his way out of a pack on the final lap and won a sprint ahead of Pine Crest's John Decker to take the win.

"I knew some of the guys were feeling really good, and I was pretty sure they were going to go out really fast," Morken said. "I was kinda of scared of being in the back, in the very back. I just went with like 325 to go and no one really responded."

Among other notable results, Estero's 4x800 team of Daley Cline, Bethany Jenkins, Araceli Leon and Katie Slater grabbed a five-second victory over Ft. Walton Beach. Holy Trinity's 4x100 team of Daryth and Gabrielle Gayles, McKenzie Kilborne and Alisha Pound scored a strong win in 48.38.

Over 1,500 athletes are competing at the 35th annual FSU Relays, which is divided among 110 high schools and 24 colleges. Competition resumes Saturday morning with a focus on the 1600 invite, 100, 400 and 4x400 events.

Many are already on cloud nine after thrilling victories, no matter how they were achieved. Pain or otherwise.

"It's kind of scary because I'm really surprised with the times I'm running," Morken said. "Hopefully I can keep improving with all the speed workouts I'm going to do. I'm really looking forward to UNF and state's."

Said Edwards: "It makes it very worth it."