Stars to shine Saturday at the ARP

The state championships were almost two weeks ago, but Tallahassee has one more chance to see some of the finest high school cross-country runners in Florida when the Florida Athletic Coaches' Association hosts their annual Senior All-Star Cross-Country Meet at Leon County's Apalachee Regional Park Trail on Saturday morning 5 December 2009. Each year FACA invites the best high school senior cross-country runners from each of the four FHSAA regions in the state to compete at this event, one last opportunity to enjoy the sport before graduation. A boys' team and a girls' team comes out of each region, eight athletes on each team, and the races will be scored as an inter-regional competition. The all-star girls' 5K will start at 9:00am, with the all-star boys' 5K to follow at 9:30am. The awards ceremony is scheduled for 10:00am. Unlike the FHSAA state championships, runners will compete against each other without regard to their schools' sizes; athletes from small class 1A academies will match strides with their counterparts from huge class 4A institutions. The fields will be small--no more than 32 athletes in each race--but loaded with talent.

Although the Senior All-Star Cross-Country Meet has come to Tallahassee before, this is the first time that it will be run at Leon County's Apalachee Regional Park Trails, a new venue that was dedicated earlier this year at the FSU Invitational. The course didn't escape the torrential rains of 2 December 2009 unscathed, but county workers were out at the park on Thursday, 3 December 2009, repairing washouts and making sure that everything is race-ready for Saturday.

Listed below are the athletes entered in the meet. For each I've included their school and their time at the state meet (if they ran). State meet performances aren't necessarily an athlete's best, or even representative. However, if you're going to make comparisons, it's at least a situation where almost everyone was running on the same course on the same day.


GIRLS' ENTRIES

Region 1
Kendall Andrews (Chiles, Tallahassee) 18:56
Angie Epifano (Ridgeview, Orange Park) 20:30
Gretchen MacMillan (West Port, Ocala) n/a
Shelby Salimone (Maclay, Tallahassee) 19:40
Iolani Scanlan (Fort Walton Beach) 19:34
Sierra Solaun (Buchholz, Gainesville) 19:00
Holly Stanton (Fort Walton Beach) 18:56
Jana Stolting (Maclay Tallahassee) 17:52
Coach: Stephen Cox (Maclay)


Region 2
Victoria Cabrera (Timber Creek, Orlando) 19:57
Marjorie Ducos (Winter Park) 18:52
Katie Homme (Seminole) 19:53
Melissa Jones (Holy Trinity, Melbourne) 20:21
Maggie Klusman (Winter Park) 20:32
Jessie Prendergast (Lake Highland, Orlando) 19:23
Chelsi Woodruff (Trinity Prep, Winter Park) 18:52
Coach: Doug Butler (Holy Trinity, Melbourne)


Region 3
Juliette Gourdett (Cypress Lake, Fort Myers) 20:08
Darlene Hanlon (Ida Baker, Cape Coral) 19:33
Jessica McKinnis (Palmetto) 19:36
Kaitlyn Martin (Cypress Lake, Fort Myers) 19:42
Megan O'Boyle (Wellington) 20:08
Danielle Oster (Park Vista, Lake Worth) 20:38
Gigi Price (Berkeley Prep, Tampa) 20:47
Wally Rosario (North Fort Myers) 20:55
Coach: Ray Rodriguez (Academy of Holy Names, Tampa)


Region 4
Cristina Brea (Lourdes Academy, Miami) 19:48
Michelle Diez (Archbishop McCarthy, Fort Lauderdale) 20:08
Lauren Gelzinis (South Fork, Stuart) 20:50
Claire Long (Miami Country Day) 19:36
Stephanie Padron (Lourdes Academy, Miami) 21:03
Camila Ramon (Sunset, Miami) 20:37
Alexa Rangel (Killian, Miami) 20:26
Coach: Rebecca Rodriguez (Lourdes Academy, Miami)


BOYS' ENTRIES

Region 1
Chris Haynes (Lee, Jacksonville) 16:45
Sean Rynning (Lyman, Longwood) 16:02
Luc Lawrence (Fort Walton Beach) 16:24
Matt Bevil (Fort Walton Beach) 16:32
Brandon Scott (Columbia, Lake City) 16:22
Anthony Sullivan (Matanzas, Palm Coast) 16:16
Diego Blanton (Lake Mary) 16:23
Francisco Menna (Mosley, Lynn Haven) 16:39
Aternate: Chris Douglas (Fort Walton Beach) 16:45
Coach: Kristin McWilliams (Winter Park)


Region 2
Tyler Camacho (Ridgewood, New Port Richey) 16:57
Zach Christenson (Countryside, Clearwater) n/a
Bruce Federico (Nature Coast, Brooksville) n/a
Benjamin Hilton (Armwood, Seffner) 16:28
Brandon Kempton (Crystal River) 16:28
Seth Rosonina (Astronaut, Titusville) 15:54
Delonzo Sharp (Wiregrass Ranch, Wesley Chapel) 16:56
David Worthington (Hernando, Brooksville) n/a
Coach: Armen Mejerian (Hernando, Brooksville)


Region 3
Neil Coffman (Santa Fe Catholic, Lakeland) 17:00
Josh Epperson (Robinson, Tampa) 16:44
Bryan Garcia (Robinson, Tampa) 15:59
Tyler Greathouse (Berkeley Prep, Tampa) 15:54
Ryan O'Neill (Jupiter) 16:49
Kyle Taylor (Tampa Catholic) n/a
David Tomchinsky (Lemon Bay, Englewood) 16:26
Coach: Mark Altimari (Robinson, Tampa)


Region 4
Joshua Estrada (Ferguson, Miami) 16:33
Adrian Diaz-Granados (Ransom Everglades) 16:31
Heriberto Guerrero (Okeechobee) 16:23
Osdaniel Hernandez (Hialeah-Miami Lakes) 16:59
George Machado (Sunset, Miami) 17:50
David Ramirez (Coral Reef, Miami) 16:30
William Wiesler (Archbishop McCarthy, Fort Lauderdale) 16:43
Coach: Alex Shaw (Sunset, Miami)

Links:

• North All-Stars Sweep the FACA Cross-Country Meet
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/12/north-all-stars-sweep-faca-cross.html
  
  
• Apalachee Regional Park Trail
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/10/eve-of-debut-of-apalachee-regional-park.html
  
  
• 2009 FHSAA State Cross-Country Championships
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/11/2009-fhsaa-state-cross-country.html