FHSAA Region 1-3A 1600m Run, 30 April 2010

Suppose that you go to a track meet, get rained on, and only see one event. If you had a choice, that event should be the mile. That was almost the situation at the 2010 FHSAA Region 1-3A track and field championships, held Friday, 30 April 2010 at Chiles High School in Bradfordville. I did actually get to see more than one event, and there was no mile, but a 1600m. But I did get rained on, and the 1600m was worth a soaking.


After preliminary heats of the sprint events, there was even a bonus 1600m, a community race held before the finals started. Most if not all of the entries in the community 1600m were distance runners from various high schools who hadn't made the cut at the District 1-3A meet to advance to the regional championship.


After the finals in the 100m hurdles, the 110m hurdles, and the 100m dash, it was time for the Real Deal--the Region 1-3A championship finals in the 1600m run. For some of these runners, the seniors, it would be their last high school race in Tallahassee. For the ones who failed to qualify for state, it could be their last high school race ever. Of course, for the underclassmen, there was every chance that they'd be back next year to annoy us regardless of the outcome. But all would be fighting for a berth at the FHSAA state championships a week later in Winter Park.

The girls ran first. By the second lap Lily Williams of Chiles, the 2009 regional champ, was leading with Darronisha Lott of Pine Forest and Holly Stanton of Fort Walton Beach shadowing her closely. At 1000m, Stanton had dropped off the pace, but Lott was still running nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with Williams. Then with 200m to go, Lott moved into the lead. As Lott ran away from Williams, Carly Thomas of Chiles overtook Stanton. At the line it was Lott (5:08.07), Williams (5:10.12), Thomas (5:15.96), and Stanton (5:16.33) taking the top four spots and advancing to state.

Girls 1600 Meter Run
 1 Lott, Darronisha          11 Pine Forest            5:08.07   10  
 2 Williams, Lily            10 Chiles                 5:10.12    8  
 3 Thomas, Carly             10 Chiles                 5:15.96    6  
 4 Stanton, Holly            12 Fort Walton Beac       5:16.33    5  
 5 McGuff, Jodie             11 Chiles                 5:22.01    4  
 6 Perez, Alaina             11 Bartram Trail          5:24.08    3  
 7 Rodriguez, Lauren         10 Creekside              5:24.87    2  
 8 Morris, Shannon           10 Creekside              5:35.88    1  
 9 Epifano, Angie            12 Ridgeview              5:40.40 
10 Costers, Kathleen         11 Gulf Breeze            5:46.45 
11 Flaws, Rachel             12 Pace                   5:49.49 
12 Crouse, Elle              09 Navarre                5:50.12 
13 Solomon, Rachel           11 Stanton                5:56.68 
14 Harris, Lauren            10 Stanton                5:58.88 
15 Liberty, Caitlin          10 Paxon                  6:06.27 
16 Murphy, Morgan            10 Columbia               6:38.78

The boys 1600m resembled nothing so much as an exhibition 1600m by Leon's Matt Mizereck. Mizereck bolted to the front immediately, covering the first 200m in 30 seconds and the first 400m in 61. No one else was in the picture as Mizereck hit the 800m in 2:03 and the 1200m in 3:09, and then turned on his kick to win the race in 4:11.76. Behind Mizereck, Creekside junior Jimmy Clark took a firm grasp of the second position and held it all the way to the line to finish in the runner-up spot at 4:18.55. Jake Dearmon of Fort Walton Beach spent much of the race in third, but lost three places on the final lap, passed by Pensacola Washington junior Peter Fricke, Wrane White of Menendez, and Chiles sophomore Taylor Buzzard. Fricke and White finished third and fourth respectively, earning berths at the state championships.

Boys 1600 Meter Run
 1 Mizereck, Matt            12 Leon                   4:11.76   10  
 2 Clark, Jimmy              11 Creekside              4:18.55    8  
 3 Fricke, Peter             11 Washington (Pens       4:25.09    6  
 4 White, Wrane              11 Menendez               4:28.06    5  
 5 Buzzard, Taylor           10 Chiles                 4:30.75    4  
 6 Dearmon, Jake             11 Fort Walton Beac       4:31.87    3  
 7 Scott, Brandon            12 Columbia               4:34.61    2  
 8 Leo, Adam                 10 Bartram Trail          4:38.49    1  
 9 Haden, Cody               11 Navarre                4:38.84 
10 Haynes, Chris             12 Robert E Lee           4:41.94 
11 Larson, Ryan              10 Washington (Pens       4:42.09 
12 Koroso, Kamal             09 Terry Parker           4:43.66 
13 Sundaresan, Karthik       12 Stanton                4:46.71 
14 Davis, James              10 Eastside (Gaines       4:56.40 
-- Tarpley, Hakeem           11 Choctawhatchee             DNF 
-- Kotick, Jacob             10 Washington (Pens           DNF

After that, I was tired of being rained on and left. As it turned out, events after the first section of the girls' 800m run were postponed due to weather, so if you drop by Chiles on Monday, 3 May 2010, you can catch the 800m, the 200m, the 3200m, and the 4 x 400m relay. Weather permitting, of course.

Links:

• My photos of the 2010 FHSAA Region 1-3A 1600m runs
  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2843751&id=5215641&l=09c1b80db3
  
  
• Conclusion of the rain-checked FHSAA Region 1-3A meeting
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2010/05/region-1-3a-part-two.html
  
  
• The 2009 FHSAA Region 1-3A 1600m runs
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/05/fhsaa-region-1-3a-1600m-run-30-april.html