Saturday, March 25, 2023

Pat Koon blasts a meet record 8:52.60 in the FSU Relays 3200

The high school 3200 was the final event before they turned off the lights at the Friday evening, 24 March 2023, session of the Florida State University Relays. Cambridge Christian frosh Elli Black took care of business in the girls' race, throwing down a 71-second 400 as the last lap of a 10:30.18 win. In the boys' 3200, Leon junior Pat Koon led from the crack of the starting pistol to the finish line, setting a meet record of 8:52.60.

2023 FSU Relays Boys' 3200
The start of section 1 of the boys' 3200

The 3200 was the final track event of the Friday session of the FSU Relays, with the girls' racing first. There were three championship sections, with Pensacola Christian junior RaeAnne Tutton winning the first section in 11:07.71. Sickles senior Alexandra Racquet winning the second section in 10:54.75. After that it was time for section number three, the fast section.


Jillian Candelino, a Bolles senior and the 2022 class 2A champion in the 3200, led the field through the first 400 in just over 75 seconds--fast enough to break Caroline Wells' meet record of 10:10.81. The pace cooled off after the first lap, though, and as the the field settled down on the second lap, Elli Black moved into second. As the laps rolled by, Candelino left the rest of the field behind, but Black ran as if she were being towed by the leader--and towed by a short cable. The previous year in the same race, Candelino had finished third in 10:29.19 and Black fifth in 10:46.77. Both had greater ambitions this time out.


During the penultimate lap, Pine Crest junior Brooke Hooper closed on the two leaders. The bell for the final lap, though, acted as an alarm clock for Black. Black took off. Hooper overtook Candelino, but there was no catching Black. The Cambridge Christian frosh dashed home in a winning 10:30.18, 30 meters ahead. Hooper was second in 10:35.78 and Candelino third in 10:41.58.


2023 FSU Relays Girls' 3200, Top Ten
  1. 10:30.18, Elli Black (Cambridge Christian) FR
  2. 10:35.78, Brooke Hooper (Pine Crest) JR
  3. 10:41.58, Jillian Candelino (Bolles) SR
  4. 10:45.10, Madeleine Gear (Cambridge Christian) JR
  5. 10:45.89, Malinda Underwood (Rockledge) JR
  6. 10:46.18, Kate Drummond (Buchholz) SR
  7. 10:50.84, Emma O'Day (Boca Raton) SR
  8. 10:51.11, Ava Povich (Evangelical) SR
  9. 10:51.86, Mackenzie De Lisle (Bishop Verot) SO
  10. 10:54.75, Alexandra Raquet (Sickles) SR

Four boys' sections followed, with the last being the fast section. Patrick Koon led the first lap of that section in 64.69--fast enough to run under 8:40--ie, way too fast. The field went with him, but soon the torrid pace had the lead group down to three athletes--Koon, Joshua Ruiz, and Graham Myers. Ruiz, a Belen Jesuit junior, had finished runner-up to Koon in each of the past two state cross-country championship races in class 3A. Both times, Ruiz had gone out and tried to run with Koon. Both times, Koon had run away from Ruiz.


The FSU Relays 3200 played similarly. Ruiz and Myers tried to follow while Koon knocked out 67-second laps with the regularity of a metronome. By halfway, Koon had run away from them. The Leon junior was alone out front. He was 70 meters ahead when he crossed the line first in 8:52.60, just bettering the meet record of 8:52.70, set by Jacob McLeod of Trinity Christian in 2018. Ruiz and Myers, racing for the runner-up spot, covered the final 400 in just over 60 seconds. Ruiz got to the line a hair before Myers, 9:03.43 to 9:03.45.


Koon's 8:52.60 was the US leading time at that point in the 2023 season; the previous mark had been 8:53.88 run by Koon three weeks earlier at the Bolles Bulldog Classic in Jacksonville, Florida. In all, 81 boys broke 10:00 for 3200 at the FSU Relays on Friday night, plus another seven during the consolation sections on Saturday morning.


2023 FSU Relays Boys' 3200, Top Ten
  1. 8:52.60, Patrick Koon (Leon) 11
  2. 9:03.43, Joshua Ruiz (Belen Jesuit) 11
  3. 9:03.45, Graham Myers (Fleming Island) 11
  4. 9:07.77, Matt Ryan (Nease) 11
  5. 9:08.79, Alex Pena (Sunlake) 12
  6. 9:09.78, Zack Poekert (Cypress Creek) 12
  7. 9:09.92, Liam Jordan (Berkeley) 10
  8. 9:10.89, Joseph Ruiz (Belen Jesuit) 11
  9. 9:11.07, Jonathan Leon (Hagerty) 11
  10. 9:13.12, Devin Makousky (Rockledge) 12

High School 3200-meter winners, Florida State University Relays, 2006 - 2023
DateMenWomen
24 March 20069:38.76, Daniel Roberts (Crested Butte) 1211:20.32, Alison Babb (Oak Hall) 12
30 March 20079:29.73, Joseph Franklin (Godby) 1111:34.31, Katy Swain (Maclay) 11
28 March 20089:15.18, Joseph Franklin (Godby) 1210:42.71, Kayla Hale (Holy Trinity) 11
27 March 20099:06.78, Derek Wehunt (Sickles) 1111:02.90, Jana Stolting (Maclay) 11
26 March 20109:02.87, Matt Mizereck (Leon) 1210:41.54, Jana Stolting (Maclay) 12
25 March 20119:12.16, Kikanae Punyua (Glenelg) 1210:34.90, Kacy Smith (Estero) 10
23 March 20129:10.37, Andres Arroyo (Colonial) 1110:30.53, Lily Williams (Chiles) 12
22 March 20139:07.38, Mac Macoy (Vestavia Hills) 1110:15.70, Carmen Carlos (McGill-Toole) 12
21 March 20148:59.50, Sukhi Khosla (Leon) 1110:50.94, Emily Edwards (Fort Myers) 12
27 March 20159:03.57, Sukhi Khosla (Leon) 1210:42.20, Rafaella Gibbons (Winter Park) 9
25 March 20169:08.54, Noah Perkins (Seffner Christian) 1210:35.64, Rafaella Gibbons (Winter Park) 10
24 March 20179:03.44, Caleb Pottorff (Lincoln Park) 1210:23.81, Alyson Churchill (Lincoln) 9
23 March 20188:52.70, Jacob McLeod (Trinity Christian) 1210:26.33, Elizabeth Funderburk (Colquitt County) 12
22 March 20199:06.76, Hunter Appleton (Brother Martin) 1210:18.11, Rebecca Clark (The Villages) 12
27 March 2020Canceled, COVID-19 shutdown
25 March 2021No high school events
25 March 20228:57.92, Nicholas Carpenter (Trinity) 1210:10.81, Caroline Wells (Winter Springs) 12
24 March 20238:52.60, Patrick Koon (Leon) 1110:30.18, Elli Black (Cambridge Christian) 9


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Posted by Herb Wills at 10:41 PM

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