Thursday, June 8, 2017

After the yellow flag is lifted, Lloyd and Heddaeus win the Potluck Four

"It has always been a bit of a quirky race..."


David Yon was describing Gulf Winds Track Club's Potluck Four Mile, a cross-country event that he has been directing annually since it was first run in 1998. Some of those quirks have been built into the race; it has always included a prediction competition, where athletes are rewarded for correctly guessing their finishing time. Other quirks have quietly disappeared over time--in the early years the race included a team division with randomly-drawn teams and a convoluted scoring system that few understood. Still other quirks were there courtesy of the race director. No one ever told Yon that the course, the starting line, and even the exact distance had to change every year; that was all his idea.

Scott Lloyd
Scott Lloyd

The latest foible wasn't entirely his idea, though. At 6:00 PM on Saturday, 3 June 2017, when the race was scheduled to start in Phipps Park, a gate on the first quarter-mile of the course was still locked. The key was unavailable and there was no way to get over a hundred athletes around the gate safely at full steam.


"We're going to walk the first half mile," declared Yon.


Think of it as proceeding under a caution flag. They do it in NASCAR, even if it's generally unknown in cross-country running. It got the field past the obstacle and on to the somewhat safer part of the course, where racing could begin.

Gulf Winds Track Club's 2017 Potluck Four Mile
The Start

Scott Lloyd had been one of the eager athletes in front of the group during the walk. When the caution flag lifted, Lloyd took off. A rising senior on the Wakulla High cross-country team, Lloyd finished first in 32:22. Travis Parks, an alumnus of the Wakulla High cross-country program, was second in 32:58. Hawthorne Hay, a rising sophomore on the Chiles High cross-country team, placed third in 34:14. Florida State University meteorology professor Philip Sura was the fastest master runner in the race, finishing sixth overall in 35:37.


Jillian Heddaeus was the first women to finish the four miles, coming across the line eighth overall in 35:53. Heddaeus had been the fourth woman in the 2016 race and the third woman in 2015. Haleigh Martin was second in the women's standings and eleventh overall in 36:22. A Wakulla High graduate, Martin has signed a national letter of intent to run cross-country for the Truett McConnell University Bears in 2017. Chiles High rising sophomore Emily Molen was the third woman and fifteenth overall in 37:27. Nancy Stedman was the first woman master and seventh female finisher, 37th overall in 43:14.

Jillian Heddaeus
Jillian Heddaeus

107 athletes finished the twentieth annual Potluck Four Mile. Gulf Winds Track Club chip-timed the race.


Top Ten Men, Gulf Winds Track Club's 2017 Potluck Four Mile
  1. 32:22, Scott Lloyd (M, 17)
  2. 32:58, Travis Parks (M, 21)
  3. 34:14, Hawthorne Hay (M, 15)
  4. 35:05, Paul Guyas (M, 39)
  5. 35:28, Matthias Laywell (M, 18)
  6. 35:37, Philip Sura (M, 47)
  7. 35:44, Chuck Lang (M, 51)
  8. 35:56, Chris Porter (M, 16)
  9. 36:12, Finn Tucker (M, 15)
  10. 36:23, Evan Guarino (M, 18)

Top Ten Women, Gulf Winds Track Club's 2017 Potluck Four Mile
  1. 35:53, Jillian Heddaeus (F, 34)
  2. 36:22, Haleigh Martin (F, 17)
  3. 37:27, Emily Molen (F, 15)
  4. 38:10, Alyssa Langston (F, 16)
  5. 39:21, Jamila Allen (F, 28)
  6. 39:38, Kate Chunka (F, 34)
  7. 43:14, Nancy Stedman (F, 55)
  8. 43:31, Amelia Wilson (F, 27)
  9. 44:08, Martha Guyas (F, 32)
  10. 44:15, Julia Sura (F, 45)

Potluck champions, 1998 - 2017
DateMenWomenFinishers
20 June 1998
5 June 199929:29, Zack Heissner32:26, Sarah Docter-Williams58
3 June 200024:42 Paul Hoover25:59, Kim Wynn
2 June 200124:59, Reid Vannoy25:33, Sarah Docter-Williams53
8 June 200222:47, Ryan Deak26:04, Sarah Docter-Williams132
7 June 200325:17, Tim Unger25:36, Sarah Docter-Williams91
5 June 200423:05, Caleb Carmichael25:59, Kara Newell136
4 June 200523:22, Caleb Carmichael27:21, Kara Newell110
3 June 200623:06, Jared Black25:58, Sheryl Rosen155
2 June 200724:26, Tony Guillen27:36, Jane Johnson115
7 June 200823:00, John Robida25:09, Sarah Docter-Williams144
13 June 200922:40, Jay Wallace27:05, Micah Adriani177
5 June 201022:14, Matt Mizereck27:39, Micah Adriani173
4 June 201122:57, Vince Molosky26:33, Summer Calder196
2 June 201222:33, Vince Molosky27:18, Katie Showman232
1 June 201321:17, Kevin Sullivan26:24, Micah Adriani237
31 May 201423:34, Kevin Sullivan32:17, Katie Sherron165
6 June 201525:45, Vince Molosky30:35, Carrie Seiberlich179
11 June 201622:52, Stanley Linton30:02, Ann Centner160
3 June 201732:22, Scott Lloyd35:53, Jillian Heddaeus107
The race was five miles in 1998 and 1999, and four miles thereafter.


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Posted by Herb Wills at 8:53 PM
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