Khalil Randell was a hard-boiled competitor at Florida High's "Egg-xtraordinary" 5K

The third annual Florida High 5K was run on Saturday morning, 20 April 2019. That was the day before Easter, so it seemed appropriate to hide eggs along the 3.1-mile course through the Southwood section of Tallahassee, Florida. The athletes were invited to hunt the eggs during the race. One young runner was clutching an armful of plastic eggs as he approached the finish line.


“I found one with a gym membership inside!” he said.


Not everyone was stopping to collect Easter eggs. Khalil Randell didn’t pause for anything along the way as he won the race in 17:42, a new course record. Lyndsey Steele was the first woman in the race, placing twelfth overall in 24:50.

Khalil Randell

Fifteen minutes after the scheduled starting time of 9:00 AM, the race got underway on School House Road, just south of the Florida High School campus. Master runner Myles Gibson took the early lead. A crop inspector based in Donalsonville, Georgia, Gibson is coming up on his busy time of year.


“I’m going to be working most Saturdays soon, so I’m racing while I can,” said Gibson.


Khalil Randell was never far behind Gibson, though, and soon took over the lead. A mile into the race, Randell was 50 meters ahead of Gibson and widening the gap. Another 50 meters back, Jim Halley was trailing Gibson in third.

Jim Halley and Myles Gibson

Neither Gibson nor Halley were able to challenge Randell on the way to the finish line back at Florida High. With no other runner around him on the homestretch, he raced the lead the vehicle.


“It was fun!” said Randell.


Meanwhile, Halley had overtaken Gibson. Gibson kept it close, but Halley was second in 18:29 and Gibson third in 18:34.


Amy McKenna was the first woman master in the 5K and the second female finisher, placing fourteenth overall in 25:46. Huan Chem was the third woman and sixteenth overall in 27:33.

Lyndsey Steele

One of six master runners to finish in the top ten, David Yon was eighth in 22:53. Much of the Florida High 5K route followed the course of the Tallahassee Turkey Trot, a Thanksgiving Day race run by thousands of athletes, but not Yon. He's the race director of the Turkey Trot.


“It was a nice change being able to race parts of the Turkey Trot course,” said Yon. “They were the flat parts, too.


Randell’s winning time was very close to the 17:41 he had run a week earlier at the Palace Saloon 5K. He isn’t sure where he’s racing next.


“My coach, Gary Droze, picks the races,” said Randell.


With that, he was off to run the Florida High 5K course one more time.

Amy McKenna

“I heard there are still Easter eggs on the course,” he explained.


53 athletes finished the 2019 Florida High 5K. GunLap Running, LLC, of Tallahassee timed the race.


Top Ten Men, 2019 Florida High 5K

1. 17:41.29, Khalil Randell (M, 22)
2. 18:28.73, Jim Halley (M, 39)
3. 18:33.92, Myles Gibson (M, 52)
4. 21:29.02, Michael Kennett (M, 45)
5. 21:37.78, Joshua DeGrace (M, 30)
6. 21:58.33, David Henry (M, 53)
7. 22:52.20, William Simpson (M, 11)
8. 22:52.87, David Yon (M, 63)
9. 24:15.40, Perry Ponder (M, 50)
10. 24:25.06, Chad Northington (M, 42)

Top Ten Women, 2019 Florida High 5K

1. 24:49.59, Lyndsey Steele (F, 39)
2. 25:45.23, Amy McKenna (F, 43)
3. 27:32.08, Huan Chem (F, 34)
4. 30:25.43, Sherry Smyly (F, 43)
5. 30:58.39, Jessica Wells (F, 33)
6. 32:44.96, Soheyla Mahdavian (F, 39)
7. 35:02.06, Louisa Blenman (F, 49)
8. 35:11.55, Charleigh McKenna (F, 9)
9. 36:59.94, Elizabeth Findly (F, 49)
10. 39:52.31, Karinda Barrett (F, 50)

Florida High 5K winners, 2016 - 2019
Date	Men	Women	Finishers
26 March 2016	20:36, Jeremy Fowler	21:31, Stacie Elliott	103
14 October 2017	18:56, Jonathan LaBarre	20:46, Alyssa Terry	61
20 April 2019	17:42, Khalil Randell	24:50, Lyndsey Steele	53

Links

• Complete results of the 2019 Florida High 5K
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRdY24vwfsWuraMBSq42z3KoEV03P3l9NKVSka7dAZ026ADVTonWEl4My1V8V2jThcA1UPqwVyvYwMh/pubhtml
  
  
• More photos of the 2019 Florida High 5K
  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10113468917717773
  
  
• 2017 story, “LaBarre and Terry send the field back to school at the Florida High 5K”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2017/10/fsus-fan-2017.html
  
  
• 2016 story, “Fowler and Elliott finish first in the FAN 5K”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/03/fsus-fan-2016.html
  
  
• USATF course certification map FL15107EBM for the 2016 Florida High FAN 5K
  http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/maps/showMap.asp?courseID=FL15107EBM
  
  
• Find upcoming running events on USATF-certified courses on the Trouble Afoot! racing calendar
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

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