Adam Wallenfelsz and Ann Centner start the day with Breakfast on the Track wins

On Saturday morning, 10 August 2019, Adam Wallenfelsz, George Escobar, and Jake Mazziotta were racing in Tallahassee, Florida.


During the spring of 2016, the three were competing for their high school track teams--Wallenfelsz at Leon High, Escobar and Mazziotta at Maclay School. Each were continuing to run track in college, with Wallenfelsz at Alabama-Huntsville, Escobar at North Florida, and Mazziotta at the Virginia Military Institute. They weren't wearing school colors, though, when they met in the Gulf Winds Track Club Mile at the 22nd annual Breakfast on the Track. The race was on the Maclay School track, familiar ground for Escobar and Mazziotta. But it was Wallenfelsz, the Leon alum, who left the track with the win, outrunning the field with a 4:43.92. Escobar and Mazziotta trailed in 4:45.74 and 4:47.80

Adam Wallenfelsz

"America's Distance" is what one organization calls the one-mile run--which goes a long way toward explaining why that organization is called "Bring Back The Mile." They would find a lot to like about the Breakfast on the Track, an athletics meet with a single event--the mile. The distance is popular enough that 187 athletes showed up to run the mile at the 2019 Breakfast on the Track. You couldn't fit them all on the track at the same time, so the race had to be run in nine different sections. The fastest was the first section, which started at 7:45.

Tristan LaNasa

It was a tactical race. Connor Edwards, an incoming frosh at Lincoln High, took the field through the first of four laps in 1:14. The pack stayed tucked behind Edwards for another lap, after which Trevor Sununu took over pacing duties. With just over a lap to go, Tristan LaNasa dashed to the front of the pack. Mazziotta, Escobar, and Wallenfelsz went with him. The three collegians left LaNasa behind during the final lap, arriving on the homestretch ready to decide the title. A 4:17.02 1600-meter runner in high school, Wallenfelsz strode away from his rivals, charging across the line in a winning 4:43.92. Escobar and Mazziotta followed in second and third, then LaNasa fourth in 4:52.67. Nicholas Samuel, a Lincoln High junior, was seventh in 4:58.74, just ahead of Fairview Middle School eighth-grader Patrick Koon, eighth in 4:59.74.

George Escobar

After the first section had cleared the track, the runners in the second section were hustled onto the starting line. Zach DeVeau was first in that section, his 4:56.38 putting him fifth overall. Ann Centner crossed the finish line just behind him in 5:04.25, the first woman in the mile.


"I couldn't go any faster," said Centner. " I lost it on the third lap. But it was still a three-second PR. I hadn't trained for the mile since 2012, so this year I did a ten-week training block."

Ann Centner

Those ten weeks paid off. Centner's time was faster than she had run at either the University of Georgia or Oconee County High, and it was the fourth-fastest women's time in the Breakfast on the Track's 22-year history. Brittney Barnes, running in section four, was second in the women's standings and 29th overall with a 5:39.98. Also in section four, Alyssa Terry edged Cecilia Bouaichi for the third women's spot, 5:44.63 to 5:45.78. Terry and Bouaichi were 34th and 35th overall. Amanda Sava also cracked 6:00, taking fifth in the women's standings with a 5:48.28. Eleven-year-old Clifton Lewis was the sixth woman, running 6:09.87.

Brittney Barnes

Master runner Mickey Moore ran 5:18.25 in section one, but the battle for fastest master runner was decided in section two. Michael Martinez took the honor, outkicking master runner Hong-Guo Yu 5:16.25 to 5:18.00. Martinez was a past Breakfast on the Track champion, winning the race in 2007. Angela Dempsey was the top woman master and twelfth female, 82nd overall at 6:37.54.


Pancakes were the breakfast portion of the Breakfast on the Track. Any hotcakes not eaten by hungry athletes were used in lieu of relay batons during the pancake mile relay, the meet's postscript. It wasn't IAAF World Track & Field Championships, but whether or not you can get decent pancakes in Qatar, they won't be running the mile.


Top Ten Men, 2019 Gulf Winds Track Club Mile at the Breakfast on the Track

1. 4:43.92, Adam Wallenfelsz (M, 21)
2. 4:45.74, George Escobar (M, 21)
3. 4:47.80, Jake Mazziotta (M, 21)
4. 4:52.67, Tristan A. Lanasa (M, 26)
5. 4:56.38, Zach Deveau (M, 31)
6. 4:56.94, Ryan Truchelut (M, 33)
7. 4:58.74, Nicholas Samuel (M, 16)
8. 4:59.74, Patrick Koon (M, 13)
9. 5:00.00, Dane Barber (M, 20)
10. 5:00.19, Trevor Sununu (M, 23)

Top Ten Women, 2019 Gulf Winds Track Club Mile at the Breakfast on the Track

1. 5:04.25, Ann Centner (F, 27)
2. 5:39.98, Brittney Barnes (F, 31)
3. 5:44.63, Alyssa Terry (F, 26)
4. 5:45.78, Cecilia Bouaichi (F, 23)
5. 5:48.28, Amanda Sava (F, 24)
6. 6:09.86, Clifton Lewis (F, 11)
7. 6:09.97, Katie Sherron (F, 37)
8. 6:17.46, Mary Rychlik (F, 32)
9. 6:29.04, Natalie Laywell (F, 18)
10. 6:30.80, Laura McDermott (F, 39)

“Breakfast On The Track” Mile champions, 1998 - 2019
Date	Men	Women	Finishers
8 August 1998	4:36, Robert Pautienus	5:21, Jane Johnson	101
14 August 1999	4:26, Lee Willis	5:27, Jane Johnson	123
26 August 2000	4:42.97, Gary Droze	5:09.08, Sarah Docter-Williams	112
18 August 2001	4:21.47, Ryan Deak	5:08.94, Sarah Docter-Williams	130
17 August 2002	4:35.07, Lee Willis	5:10.33, Sarah Docter-Williams	123
16 August 2003	4:45.20, David Huntzinger	5:02.28, Sarah Docter-Williams	122
14 August 2004	4:32.40, Lee Willis	5:11.79, Sarah Docter-Williams	162
13 August 2005	4:46.26, Art Remillard	5:07.13, Sarah Docter-Williams	157
12 August 2006	4:47.58, Whitney Strickland	5:09.85, Sarah Docter-Williams	202
18 August 2007	4:48.04, Michael Martinez	5:12.91, Sarah Docter-Williams	163
16 August 2008	4:31.39, Whitney Strickland	5:12.79, Jana Stolting	190
15 August 2009	4:43.40, Patrick Swain	5:05.66, Jana Stolting	176
21 August 2010	4:33.30, Trevor Touchton	5:00.97, Stefanie Kurgatt	191
20 August 2011	4:26.90, Kevin Sullivan	5:05.82, Stefanie Kurgatt	231
18 August 2012	4:40.52, Travis Covert	5:01.74, Stefanie Kurgatt	210
17 August 2013	4:34.92, Remy Tamer	5:12.07, Sheryl Rosen	178
16 August 2014	4:22.11, Matt Mizereck	5:26.81, Caroline Willis	213
15 August 2015	4:35.32, Joseph Garcia	5:17.98, Katie Sherron	214
13 August 2016	4:30.10, Stan Linton	5:26.47, Caroline Willis	204
12 August 2017	4:32, Charlie Johnson	5:16, Katie Sherron	185
11 August 2018	4:40.44, Chris O'Kelley	5:15.26, Sheryl Rosen	186
10 August 2019	4:43.92, Adam Wallenfelsz	5:04.25, Ann Centner	187

Links

• Complete results of the 2019 Gulf Winds Track Club Mile at the Breakfast on the Track
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQ8VXxH7BIswW38WeIvgKk11IeZkIqEfPsUsk0TnThu-XzNS7jb7D9n5Hsi3Zcz6ms0oiiIv8rQPQTP/pubhtml
  
  
• More photos of the 2019 Gulf Winds Track Club Mile at the Breakfast on the Track
  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10114083406786753
  
  
• Fred Deckert's photos of the 2019 Gulf Winds Track Club Mile at the Breakfast on the Track
  https://photos.app.goo.gl/vntMBM6aPwesd1NS6
  
  
• 2018 story, “O'Kelley and Rosen were light on the syrup, heavy on the speed at the Breakfast on the Track”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2018/08/breakfast-2018.html
  
  
• 2017 story, “A quick bite and a quicker run for Johnson and Sherron at the Breakfast on the Track Mile”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2017/08/breakfast-2017.html
  
  
• 2016 story, “Stan Linton runs 4:30.10 before breakfast”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/08/breakfast-2016.html
  
  
• 2015 story, “Garcia and Sherron headline a field of 214 milers at Breakfast on the Track”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2015/08/breakfast-2015.html
  
  
• 2014 story, “Morning mile honors for Mizereck and Willis”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2014/08/breakfast-2014.html
  
  
• 2013 story, “Tamer and Rosen eat up the field at Breakfast on the Track”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2013/08/breakfast-2013.html
  
  
• 2012 story, “Covert and Kurgatt master the mile and a morning meal”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2012/08/breakfast-2012.html
  
  
• 2011 story, “Making a meal of the mile”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2011/08/breakfast-2011.html
  
  
• 2010 story, “A mile for breakfast”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2010/08/breakfast-2010.html
  
  
• 2009 story, “Patrick Swain wins 2009 'Breakfast on the Track' Mile”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/08/patrick-swain-wins-2009-breakfast-on.html
  
  
• Upcoming races on road, track, and trail in the Tallahassee region
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

#2569