Trouble Afoot!: Miles at Godby

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Miles at Godby

Sometimes I don't want to take in a whole track and field meet, but just an event or two. This is reasonable. After all, an athletics meet is like a buffet, and sometimes you need to show some restraint at a buffet and not load up your plate with pickled herring and lasagna and cajun shrimp and . . . well, I think you get the idea. So on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 I went to the Godby Home Meet intending to catch the 1600-meter run. I was going to be passing up a great number of other exciting events, but I wasn't going to be at the track long after sundown, either.

Led by Brionnah Kreps of Florida State University School, 17 runners left the starting line in the girls' 1600-meter run. However, Kreps had led early two weeks before in the 1600 at the Lincoln Home Meet, and ended the race second best to Leon's Autumn Wable. Kreps was shadowed by her teammate, Hana Kadir, with Wakulla High's Cora Atkinson and Savanna Harris not far behind. Early in the second lap the four leaders had opened up a gap on the rest of the field. Kreps remained in front, but Atkinson was less than a step behind. Harris had moved past Kadir into third. The pace was too much for Harris and Kadir, though, and they fell back on the third lap. By the 1000 meter mark, Kreps and Atkinson had the lead to themselves, still less than half a step apart. On the final lap Kreps broke away from Atkinson, opening up a growing gap. Kreps crossed the finish line a winner in 6:06.78, with Atkinson second at 6:16.17. Harris outfought Kadir on the last lap to take third, 6:18.51 to 6:20.80.

Results, Girls' 1600-Meter Run

Brionnah Kreps (Florida State) 6:06.78
Cora Atkinson (Wakulla) 6:16.17
Savanna Harris (Wakulla) 6:18.51
Hana Kadir (Florida State) 6:20.80
Anica Sunshine (Lincoln) 6:31.90
Allyson Alonso (Leon) 6:40.61
Erin Palmer (Lincoln) 7:07.26
Rachel Woofter (Wakulla) 7:07.51
Mikela Melton (Godby) 7:10.18
Millennia Dunivan (West Gadsden) 7:12.54
Mariah Gleason (Taylor County) 7:17.55
Emalee Schierman (Leon) 7:19.90
Sara Rysavy (Lincoln) 7:30.80
Jasmine Crawford (Godby) 7:37.42
Shanekquah Cunningham (East Gadsden) 8:25.55
Sylvia Dunivan (West Gadsden) 8:35.33
S Washington (East Gadsden) 8:48.57

41 athletes wanted to run the boys' 1600; so many that the race had to be broken up into two sections. In the first section, Lincoln's Jacob Slupecki set the pace as the mob circled the track the first time. Three runners broke away from the field on the second lap--Godby's Dieumy Duclos , harried by Slupecki and Florida State's Trey Edwards. Slupecki had beaten Duclos two weeks earlier in the 1600 at the Lincoln Home Meet, 4:37.23 to 4:39.46, but this time the race was on Duclos' home track, where he had just run 4:30.88 at the Jesse Forbes Invitational. Edwards hadn't run against either Duclos or Slupecki, but had clocked a 4:41.39 second-place effort at the Chiles Championships.

Edwards was the first to fade, falling back on lap three. Slupecki was still on Duclos, but a step or two behind now. Duclos opened up on the last lap, leaving Slupecki behind. The Godby senior raced across the line with the win in 4:32.55, Slupecki trailing in second at 4:38.77. Trey Edwards hung on to finish third in 4:46.99.

Results, Boys' 1600-Meter Run