Charlie Kline and Shelly Allen are the 2018 Florida RRCA State Cross-Country Champions

Because of work at Apalachee Regional Park, the race had to be shortened from 6,000 meters to 5,500. Persistent rains in Tallahassee created a new creek that flowed across the course, water that the athletes had to either jump or wade twice during the race. Overcoming those obstacles, plus the usual hills and turns, Charlie Kline of the Gulf Winds Track Club won the Florida RRCA’s State Cross-Country Championship on Saturday morning, Dec. 15, running 18:03. Shelly Allen, representing New Balance Tampa Masters Racing, won the women’s title, placing fourteenth overall in 22:29.

Charlie Kline

The event was Gulf Winds Track Club’s eighth annual Tannenbaum Trail Cross-Country Race, and the Road Runners Club of America had designated it as their 2018 State Cross-Country Championship for Florida. The run was scheduled for Leon County’s Apalachee Regional Park, Tallahassee’s championship cross-country course. Unfortunately, feral hogs in the area don’t keep up with the racing calendar. The porkers rooted up the far east end of the course. Leon County Parks and Recreation tilled and reseeded, planning to have the damage repaired in time for the park to host the USATF National Cross-Country Championship in February.


Then it rained for half a week.

Charlie Kline

The havoc caused by 136 runners stomping through that wet, tilled field twice would have been worse than the original hog damage. So, on the eve of the Tannenbaum, that part of the course was eliminated. After seven years as a six-kilometer race, the 2018 Tannenbaum would be five-and-a-half kilometers, or just over 3.4 miles.


There was also the creek flowing across the course, which the runners encountered at 700 meters and again at 3,200 meters into the race. But water on the course is a typical hazard of cross-country. Organizers in Europe pray for rain before their races. In Tallahassee, race director Tom Perkins has water trucked in for his Miller Landing Madness cross-country race. Experienced cross-country runners, true harriers, wouldn’t have noticed the stream crossing, but might have mentioned that there weren’t any hedges, fences, or fallen trees to jump.

Collin Kane

The rain finally stopped the night before the race, and the runners started at 9:00 AM under clear skies. The ground was still moist, though, and instead of the thunder of many footsteps, there was a chorus of squishes and splashes as the field passed by. Two minutes after the start, the first runners came to the creek. Some of the leaders splashed through, ignoring the water. Others tried to jump over the stream. Near the back of the pack, some athletes balked at the water, or looked for a way around. In the end, everyone got their feet wet.


Charlie Kline had a lead of 50 meters the second time he splashed through the creek. A seasoned cross-country man, Kline had raced for Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania and Essex High in Vermont. Behind Kline, Collin Kane was in second, just ahead of Chris O’Kelley. A University of Florida student, Kane had run several times at Apalachee Regional Park for Gainesville’s Oak Hall High, including the High School State Meet, where he had placed eleventh in 2016 and thirteenth in 2017. The creek was new to him, but the hills were not. After cresting the final hill, half a kilometer from the finish, Kane began to close on Kline.

Carter Hay and Hawthorne Hay

Kline held on to enough of his lead to beat Kane to the finish line, 18:04 to 18:08. Chris O’Kelley took third in 18:53. Carter Hay, running with his son Hawthorne, overtook Hong-Guo Yu late in the race to place as the top master runner in the race. Carter Hay was fourth overall in 20:31, Hawthorne Hay fifth in 20:33, and Hong-Guo Yu sixth in 20:37.

Shelly Allen

Master runner Shelly Allen came from Fleming Island, Florida to race, but also to preview the course.


“I’ll be back here in February for Nationals,” said Allen.

Alyssa Terry

In the Tannenbaum, Allen only got farther and farther ahead after taking the lead in the women’s competition. Comfortably ahead, she crossed the finish line in 22:29, taking the state title. Alyssa Terry of Tallahassee was runner-up for the women and fifteenth overall in 22:46. In the final meters, Brittney Barnes ran down Katie Sherron, a three-time Tannenbaum women's champ, to take the third women's spot. Barnes and Sherron were 20th and 21st overall, both runners clocked in 23:42. Leon High cross-country runner Lilli Unger was fifth in the women's standings and 22nd overall in 23:51.

Brittney Barnes

136 athletes finished the 5,500-meter race. Gulf Winds Track Club chip-timed the event.


Top Ten Men, Gulf Winds Track Club's 2018 Tannenbaum Trail Cross-Country Race

1. 18:03, Charlie Kline (M, 26) Tallahassee, FL
2. 18:07, Collin Kane (M, 19) Gainesville, FL
3. 18:53, Chris O'Kelley (M, 25) Tallahassee, FL
4. 20:31, Carter Hay (M, 47) Tallahassee, FL
5. 20:33, Hawthorne Hay (M, 16) Tallahassee, FL
6. 20:37, Hong-Guo Yu (M, 50) Tallahassee, FL
7. 20:57, Tony Guillen (M, 49) Tallahassee, FL
8. 21:04, Kurt Dietrich (M, 27) Tallahassee, FL
9. 21:11, Filippo Aldrovandi-Reina (M, 14) Tallahassee, FL
10. 21:19, Jim Halley (M, 39) Tallahassee, FL

Top Ten Women, Gulf Winds Track Club's 2018 Tannenbaum Trail Cross-Country Race

1. 22:29, Michelle Allen (F, 55) Fleming Island, FL
2. 22:46, Alyssa Terry (F, 25) Tallahassee, FL
3. 23:42, Brittney Barnes (F, 30) Tallahassee, FL
4. 23:42, Katie Sherron (F, 37) Tallahassee, FL
5. 23:51, Lilli Unger (F, 16) Tallahassee, FL
6. 24:26, Kat Sack (F, 27) Tallahassee, FL
7. 24:31, Jillian Heddaeus (F, 35) Tallahassee, FL
8. 24:34, Melissa Thompson (F, 34)
9. 24:51, Laura McDermott (F, 39) Tallahassee, FL
10. 24:53, Clifton Lewis (F, 10) Tallahassee, FL

Tannenbaum Trail 6K Champions, 2011 - 2018
Date	Men	Women	Finishers
17 December 2011	19:49, Chris Lake	25:33, Katie Showman	173
15 December 2012	19:35, Kevin Sullivan	21:56, Stefanie Slekis	182
21 December 2013	20:51, Bryan Koon	22:30, Jodie McGuff	76
20 December 2014	20:17, Kyle Harris	25:21, Jillian Heddaeus	149
19 December 2015	20:36, Joseph Garcia	23:30, Katie Sherron	192
17 December 2016	20:30, Josh Andrews	22:33, Alyson Churchill	87
16 December 2017	20:19, Charlie Johnson	22:46, Katie Sherron	112
15 December 2018	18:03*, Charlie Kline	22:29*, Michelle Allen	136
* The 2018 race was shortened to 5,500 meters because of course conditions.

Links

• Complete results of Gulf Winds Track Club's 2018 Tannenbaum Trail 6K at gulfwinds.org
  http://gulfwinds.org/raceresults/2018/Tannenbaum6K2018.html
  
  
• More photos of Gulf Winds Track Club's 2018 Tannenbaum Trail 6K
  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10112874893811443&type=1&l=58eab9ebcc
  
  
• Fred Deckert's photos of Gulf Winds Track Club's 2018 Tannenbaum Trail 6K
  https://photos.app.goo.gl/pJUgdR48y3gfqYJG8
  
  
• 2017 story, “Johnson and Sherron rule the Tannenbaum Trail”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2017/12/tannenbaum-2017.html
  
  
• 2016 story, “Tannenbaum Trail titles for Josh Andrews and Alyson Churchill”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/12/tannenbaum-2016.html
  
  
• 2015 story, “Garcia and Sherron take the Tannenbaum”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2015/12/tannenbaum-2015.html
  
  
• 2014 story, “Berry College Viking Kyle Harris wins Tallahassee's Tannenbaum Trail 6K”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2014/12/tannenbaum-2014.html
  
  
• 2013 story, “Koon and McGuff traipse the Tannenbaum Trail”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2013/12/tannenbaum-2013.html
  
  
• 2012 story, “Sullivan and Slekis take Tannenbaum for Capital City Runners”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2012/12/tannenbaum-2012.html
  
  
• 2011 story, “Lake and Showman trail no one at Tannenbaum Trail 6K”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2011/12/tannenbaum-2011.html
  
  
• Find another upcoming race named after a tree on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

#2384