Saturday, February 18, 2012

A dozen fast for Cox and Showman at Flash 12K

Stephen CoxMaclay School assistant track coach Stephen Cox stole the lead from Wakulla High distance runner Stanley Linton during the tenth kilometer of the Flash 12K, then went on to win the 24th annual race in 41:23. Gary Droze, the head track coach at Maclay, was the fastest master runner in the 12K, placing third overall in 42:45. Tallahassee's Katie Showman took top female honors in the race with a 49:52, while Thomasville's Mary Anne Grayson ran 51:46 to finish as the first female master. 214 athletes completed the race, held Saturday, Feb. 18 in St. Marks.


2012 Flash 12KIt was the second year in a row that St. Marks was the site for the Flash 12K, after a long history of the race being run first in Chaires and later in Woodville. Swarms of hungry no-see-ums greeted the runners that morning as they assembled near the starting line in front of Fort San Marcos de Apalachee.


"It's kind of a weird distance," commented one of the runners.


Yes and no. You certainly won't see as many 12K as 5K events on the weekend road racing circuit, but 12K is the official distance for the world cross-country championships. For those of us who never quite switched over to metrics, it works out to almost exactly seven-and-a-half miles.


Stephen CoxSome minutes after the scheduled 8:30am, the race got under way. Maclay coach Gary Droze led the initial charge off the starting line, but before the end of the first kilometer Stanley Linton was out in front. Just four days earlier, Linton had opened his senior year track season with wins in both the 1600 (4:48.34) and the 3200 (10:20.03) at a track meet at Rickards High School. In this longer race he led the field through the streets of St. Marks and onto the Tallahassee-St. Marks Rail Trail. By midway through the third kilometer, Linton was 20 seconds up on Droze, with Stephen Cox another five seconds back in third.

Stephen Cox and Stanley Linton
For a while Linton's lead grew, but during the second half of the race Cox accelerated. Linton didn't. Cox moved past Droze into second and started chasing down Linton. At nine kilometers, Cox pulled even with the Wakulla High senior. After a brief battle, Cox was the front runner. He spent the last two kilometers running away from the field, finishing the race over 200 meters ahead in 41:23. Linton was runner-up in 42:13, with Droze another 150 meters back in 42:45.


Katie ShowmanLike Linton, in the women's competition Katie Showman went to the front early. By the third kilometer, a group of four runners was chasing Showman--Kristine Cox, Micah Adriani, Mary Anne Grayson, and Flash 12K defending champion Kelly Stevens. Cox dropped out of the pursuit group and Showman continued to pull away, making it look like Adriani, Stevens, and Grayson were going to be fighting for second. Showman crossed the finish line in 49:52, close to 200 meters ahead of Kelly Stevens, who had fought free of Adriani and Grayson to take the runner-up spot in 50:38. Grayson was closing on Adriani on the homestretch, but Adriani hung on to take third, 51:40 to 51:46.


Top Ten Men, 2012 Flash 12K
  1. Gary Droze41:23 ~ Stephen Cox (M, 28) Tallahassee, FL
  2. 42:13 ~ Stanley Linton (M, 18) Crawfordville, FL
  3. 42:45 ~ Gary Droze (M, 50) Tallahassee, FL
  4. 44:28 ~ Carl Nordhielm (M, 49) Tallahassee, FL
  5. 44:36 ~ Jay Wallace (M, 47) Tallahassee, FL
  6. 45:01 ~ Hunter Scott (M, 15) Tallahassee, FL
  7. 45:08 ~ Roger Schmidt (M, 20) Tallahassee, FL
  8. 45:23 ~ Jack McDermott (M, 42) Tallahassee, FL
  9. 45:44 ~ Tim Unger (M, 52) Tallahassee, FL
  10. 47:38 ~ Peter Kaus (M, 27) Tallahassee, FL

Kelly StevensTop Ten Women, 2012 Flash 12K
  1. 49:52 ~ Katie Showman (F, 30) Tallahassee, FL
  2. 50:38 ~ Kelly Stevens (F, 30) Tallahassee, FL
  3. 51:40 ~ Micah Adriani (F, 34) Tallahassee, FL
  4. 51:46 ~ Mary Anne Grayson (F, 46) Thomasville, GA
  5. 53:21 ~ Kristine Cox (F, 34) Tallahassee, FL
  6. 53:40 ~ Angela Wable (F, 38) Tallahassee, FL
  7. 54:54 ~ Tiffany Roddenberry (F, 27) Tallahassee, FL
  8. 55:07 ~ Mary Vancore (F, 48) Tallahassee, FL
  9. 55:18 ~ Cora Atkinson (F, 17) Crawfordville, FL
  10. 55:20 ~ Christina Greene (F, 29) Tallahassee, FL


Flash 12K Champions, 1989-2012
Date
Men
Women
1989 39:44, John Devine 48:50, Barbara Balzer
199044:10, David Rigby
54:40, Kathy Weiss
199139:36, Jessie Close
50:24, Tina Davies
199239:33, Jessie Close
45:24, Paula Johnson
199342:40, Jonathan Bigg
45:43, Linda Nilges
1994 38:02, Robin Rogers45:34, Jane Johnson
199540:49, Gary Droze
45:34, Jane Johnson
1996 41:10, Gary Droze
44:27, Jane Johnson
1997 39:25, Brian Erb
47:57, Sarah Williams
7 Feb 1998 42:57, Clarence Calloway
45:12, Sarah Williams
20 Feb 1999 44:40, Tim Simpkins
46:27, Sarah Williams
19 Feb 2000 39:44, Michael Strickland
46:06, Sara Docter-Williams
17 Feb 2001 43:56, Tim Unger 45:38, Sarah Docter-Williams
16 Feb 2002 40:35, Gary Droze 47:17, Jane Johnson
1 Feb 2003 42:52, Shawn Patterson 52:18, Lisa Whitworth
7 Feb 2004 42:46, Tim Unger
52:49, Lisa Whitworth
5 Feb 2005 42:05, Lee Willis 45:30, Sarah Docter-Williams
4 Feb 2006
42:49, Vince Molosky
50:21, Lisa Johnson
17 Feb 2007
44:58, Todd Smoot
52:22, Kim Likens
16 Feb 2008
43:10, Tripp Southerland
50:57, Stephanie Liles
21 Feb 2009
42:34, Jay Wallace
50:48, Jane Johnson
20 Feb 2010
41:57, Daniel Lee
47:12, Sheryl Rosen
19 Feb 2011
40:57, Thomas Kunish
49:23, Kelly Stevens
18 Feb 2012
41:23, Stephen Cox
49:52, Katie Showman
In 1989-2004 the race started and finished in Chaires.
In 2005-2010 the race started and finished at J. Lewis Hall Park
in Woodville. (FL05007DL)
In 2011-2012 the race started and finished at Fort San Marcos
de Apalachee in St. Marks. (FL11133EBM)


89 runners finished the 6K race that was run concurrently with the 12K. Duane Evans of Crawfordville, Florida was the fastest overall finisher in the shorter race as well as the top master, finishing about half a kilometer ahead of his nearest challenger in 24:57. Tallahassee's Nancy Gribble was the first female and the first female master in the 6K, placing fourth overall in 27:39.


Top Ten Men, 2012 Flash 6K
  1. Duane Evans24:57 ~ Duane Evans (M, 44) Crawfordville, FL
  2. 27:16 ~ Daniel Cosme (M, 26) Tallahassee, FL
  3. 27:24 ~ Michael Culligan (M, 37) Tallahassee, FL
  4. 28:49 ~ Mark O' Neill (M, 50) Tallahassee, FL
  5. 30:26 ~ Michael Molen (M, 12) Tallahassee, FL
  6. 30:37 ~ Steven Bingert (M, 24)
  7. 31:09 ~ Alvin Young (M, 31) Tallahassee, FL
  8. 32:27 ~ Christopher Turner (M, 29) Tallahassee, FL
  9. 33:15 ~ Ed Claiborne (M, 57) Monticello, FL
  10. 34:13 ~ Jeremy Shinn (M, 31) Gainesville, FL
Nancy Gribble
Top Ten Women, 2012 Flash 6K
  1. 27:39 ~ Nancy Gribble (F, 53) Tallahassee, FL
  2. 28:07 ~ Fran McLean (F, 54) Tallahassee, FL
  3. 29:21 ~ Jamie Nichols (F, 23) Crawfordville, FL
  4. 29:28 ~ Ana Wallace (F, 12) Tallahassee, FL
  5. 29:28 ~ Alexandra Wallace (F, 14) Tallahassee, FL
  6. 29:44 ~ Emily Molen (F, 10) Tallahassee, FL
  7. 31:35 ~ Karen Bennett (F, 35) Crawfordville, FL
  8. 32:42 ~ Shelby Stanley (F, 60) Tallahassee, FL
  9. 33:06 ~ Lilly Unger (F, 9) Tallahassee, FL
  10. 33:13 ~ Amy Gregor (F, 31) Gainesville, FL

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1 comment:

  1. Put me in, Coach, I'm ready for the test!!! It was a great and fun race! Also very cool to see Margarete recognized for race #1000!

    ReplyDelete