Monday, June 10, 2019

Potluck was good luck for Charlie Johnson and Ann Centner

A gentle rain sprinkled the north side of Tallahassee, Florida on Saturday evening, 8 June 2019. In Phipps Park, Gulf Winds Track Club’s 22nd annual Potluck Four-Mile Cross-Country Race was about to start.


“You couldn’t ask for better conditions,” declared race director David Yon.

Charlie Johnson
Charlie Johnson

Well, you could. You could also ask for a pony. But compared to Potluck years when the race took place under a blazing hot sun or during a cloudburst, these were conditions to enjoy. Charlie Johnson enjoyed them by winning the race in 25:37, finishing nearly 200 meters ahead of the next runner. Ann Centner was the first woman at Potluck, placing fourth overall in 27:35. Centner was also the 2016 women's champ, so she knows how capricious the weather can be at Potluck.


“I remember driving to the race through a horrible rainstorm,” said Centner.

Charlie Kline
Charlie Kline

Potluck includes a predict-your-time contest, so no one was supposed to be carrying a watch. Consequently, hardly anyone noticed that the race got started several minutes after the scheduled time of 6:00 PM. The race soon became a Charlie vs. Charlie matchup, with Charlie Kline leading and Charlie Johnson a close second. In this, as in many other local races, the two Charlies were fighting over the top spot.


“I was waiting for him to blast away from me, but he never did,” said Johnson. “He told me he was out of shape, which makes sense, because when he’s fit I can’t catch him.”

Zach DeVeau
Zach DeVeau

Back on the trails of Phipps Park, Johnson did catch the other Charlie. He glanced back with just under a mile to go, but Kline and the rest of the pursuit was out of sight, a hundred meters back. Unchallenged, Johnson continued home in a winning 25:37. Kline was second in 26:17, and Zach DeVeau third in 27:20. Hong-Guo Yu was the fastest master runner in the race, the sixth male runner and seventh overall in 28:33.


It was Johnson’s first Potluck win, although he had run the race previously and finished second in 2018. For Kline, it was his first time racing Potluck.

Ann Centner
Ann Centner

“I haven’t done any trail running since high school cross-country,” said Kline. “But this wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. The turns weren’t as tight and the ups and downs weren’t as tough.”


Centner led the women’s field from the very first. Behind her, Brittney Barnes was second among the women during the early going. Alyssa Terry soon took over the second position, but Barnes wasn’t going away.

Alyssa Terry
Alyssa Terry

“Brittney was pretty close behind me,” said Terry. “With about a mile to go I saw her back there and that motivated me to run faster.”


While Centner collected the women's title in 27:35, Terry gritted her teeth and held off Barnes, finishing runner-up in the women's standings and eighteenth overall in 31:04. Barnes was the third woman and nineteenth overall in 31:28. Stephanie Liles-Weyant edged Lourena Maxwell for first woman master honors, 32:22 to 32:26. Liles-Weyant was fourth on the women’s side and 24th overall, Maxwell was the fifth woman and 26th overall.

Brittney Barnes
Brittney Barnes

128 athletes finished the 2019 Potluck Four-Mile. Gulf Winds Track Club chip-timed the race.


Top Ten Men, Gulf Winds Track Club's 2019 Potluck Four Mile
  1. 25:37, Charlie Johnson (M, 39)
  2. 26:17, Charlie Kline (M, 26)
  3. 27:20, Zack De Veau (M, 31)
  4. 28:24, Stephen Votaw (M, 18)
  5. 28:25, Ryan Truchelut (M, 33)
  6. 28:33, Hong-Guo Yu (M, 50)
  7. 29:07, Tristan A. Lanasa (M, 26)
  8. 29:25, Duane Evans (M, 51)
  9. 29:36, Jim Halley (M, 39)
  10. 29:40, Geb Kiros (M, 52)

Top Ten Women, Gulf Winds Track Club's 2019 Potluck Four Mile
  1. 27:35, Ann Centner (F, 27)
  2. 31:04, Alyssa Terry (F, 25)
  3. 31:28, Brittney Barnes (F, 31)
  4. 32:22, Stephanie Liles-Weyant (F, 47)
  5. 32:26, Lourena Maxwell (F, 43)
  6. 32:44, Lilli Unger (F, 16)
  7. 33:55, Clifton Lewis (F, 11)
  8. 34:44, Laura McDermott (F, 39)
  9. 35:21, Angela Dempsey (F, 50)
  10. 35:26, Stella Lewis (F, 14)

Potluck champions, 1998 - 2019
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
9 June 201823:10, Stan Linton28:47, Sheryl Rosen155
8 June 201925:37, Charlie Johnson27:35, Ann Centner128
The race was five miles in 1998 and 1999, and four miles thereafter.


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Posted by Herb Wills at 2:17 PM
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