Deland Invitational: Seymour, Pineiro, Score Back To Back Wins Of Season

DeLand Invitational XC Meet
Craig Janson


 

On-Site Coverage:

A good cross country runner will run hundreds of miles to prepare for that one race of 3.1 miles, a great one will run over a thousand miles during the heat of the Florida summers to accomplish great things four months later in November. Today I was fortunate to see some fantastic young athletes who obviously want to be great ones, and their work ethic, heart and determination should definitely lead them to truly great things down the road in November and beyond.  Today, while many teams went north to Gainesville for the Mt. Dew Invitational at the University of Florida a group of 21 teams gathered in the wee hours of the morning amongst the pin oaks of Deland’s Sperling Sports Complex.  For the first time in years this facility is only hosting the one event, but with accommodating weather and a fantastic support team Deland once again put on a fantastic event for those in attendance.

Girls Varsity-“Seymour makes history”!

Bryce Seymour became the first lady harrier to repeat as individual champion on two different teams. Seymour, who last year set a meet record of 18:26 while running with Circle Christian Academy, left the rest of the field in her wake as she led her Hagerty team from wire to wire in a new season’s best time of 18:38.90.   Bryce came into today’s event with the #3 overall, #4 Class 4 A ranking in the state with a season best of 18:40.80 at last week’s Astronaut Invitational and at the beginning of the race it appeared that she might be challenged from another of the 4A leaders Autumn Bartlett of University.  Bartlett had come in with a season best of 20:16.40, and stayed close for the first 1200m but once they hit the mile mark it was clear that Seymour had other plans as she went on to win by over a minute.  Bartlett can take some consolation out of today’s event as she lowered her time to (19:53.70 SB) as she held off third place Alyssa Bayliff of Seabreeze  who clocked a (20:03. 0 SB)Fourth place was held by Kerstin Sosa of Hagerty (20:10.90 SB), followed by Alexa Chen of Sanford Seminole (20:14.80 SB).  Alycia Loriz of Spruce Creek lowered her season’s best to (20:21.50 SB) for fifth, followed by Regan Farrow-Lake Howell (20:36.0 SB).  Freshman Elizabeth Murray of Seabreeze opened her high school career with an impressive 8th place finish (20:38.20 SB).  The rest of the top 10 were Maite Moscoso- Lake Brantley (20:48.90 SB), and Brenna Johnson of Hagerty (20:54.30 SB).  The team competition was dominated by Hagerty, who ran without their #5 runner but still finished on top of the podium with 68 points.  Lake Brantley (86) narrowly escaped as runner ups over a young Spruce Creek (94).  The final spots in the top 5 were Lyman (151) in a nail biter over Seabreeze (154). 

Interview: Bryce Seymour

 

Boys Varsity- “Home Field Advantage gives Pineiro the edge”

Keneth Pineiro is a young man that any parent would be proud of.  His work ethic is fantastic according to his coaches, and his willingness to help his teammates does not go unnoticed by many people.  Ken came into today’s meet as a minor underdog on paper to Oviedo’s Justin Schanze who had the fastest time between the two.  Schanze, who ran 16:25.70 at the Mike Gibson summertime run, is finding that while Pineiro whose previous best for 2012 was 16:34.56 at the Astronaut meet last weekend is turning into quite the nemesis this season in head to head competition.  Pineiro had won Astronaut last weekend over Schanze by slightly less than 2 seconds, and this time it was obvious that the home town boy had a different plan in mind on the home course.  From the start it was Pineiro, Schanze, and James Nance of Oviedo that set the tone, but at approximately the mile mark Pineiro went into another gear and opened up the lead over the Oviedo duo.  Ken hit the 2 mile mark in approximately 10:43, and finished in a seemingly un-pushed time of (16:30.30 SB).  Schanze held on for second (16:41.50), while Anthony O’Neill of University lowered his time to (17:01.60 SB) for third.  Cameron McCutcheon (17:03.60 SB) led his Lyman team, followed by Chase Morgan of Ocoee in 5th (17:06.90 SB).  The rest of the top 10 were CJ Westfall of Orange City University (17:15.50 SB), Marcel Krige-Lyman(17:27.20 SB), Zach Kometas-Seabreeze (17:43.40 PR), Kevin Gilhooley-Deland (17:44.43 PR), and Odaine Porter of Wekiva rounded out the top 10 (17:46.10 SB).  On the team front Lyman put on a nice early season performance with 5 runners in the top 22 (69) to edge out an up and coming Oviedo team (75).  Host school Deland finished a respectable 3rd (102), followed by conference rivals Spruce Creek (139) and Orange City (213) rounding out top 5.

Interview: Keneth Pineiro

 

Girls JV- “Chow makes statement for varsity”

Kaley Chow wasn’t available for her interview after her win today, but she surely got Coach Finke’s attention when she won the girls JV race in a time of (23:57.10 PR).  Her time was almost a full 2 minutes faster than last week’s 25:59.05 at Astronaut, and now places her in her team’s top 6 overall for the year.  Chow’s victory did not come easy as she and eventual 2nd place finisher Leah Glassburn of Spruce Creek (24:06.20 SB) battled for most of the race.  Glassburn is rehabbing a hip flexor issue, and was not scheduled to finish today’s event but her competitive nature wouldn’t let her walk off the course.  Third place went to Sara Konecny of Oviedo (24:18.50 SB), followed by Rachel Grossmann-Spruce Creek (24:22.0 PR), and Kayla Ramsey of Lyman (24:55.2 PR).  The girl’s team championship for the second week in a row goes to Spruce Creek’s Lady Hawks as they dominated the field by putting 7 runners in the top 10.  Creek was followed by Deland (73), Seabreeze (107)

Boys JV- “Disciplinary issue puts Smith on top”

Preston Smith is a good runner, and Coach Stephon Gallon of Spruce Creek believes he could be a great one “BUT” in order for him to get his varsity spot back he will have to do more than just run.  Smith is serving out a team punishment for breaking team rules that includes running JV and disqualification from traveling south next week to the Key West Excursion with his teammates. Smith easily won the JV race today going wire to wire in (17:52.4 SB), but during the post race interview it was obvious that he wasn’t happy with his choices that led to this situation.  Second place went to Braxton Karr-New Smyrna Beach (18:52.70), followed by Charlie LeGrand of Lyman (19:00.9) in third.  The boys JV team champions went to an Oviedo team that appears to have mastered the art of pack running taking 4th-7th place with their fifth runner finishing in 10th place and a 31 second spread 1-5. Oviedo (32), Lyman (45) with Spruce Creek finishing 3rd with 64.

I would like to thank Coach Jim Lowenstein, and his staff for once again putting on a great event and getting those results printed in record pace.  Of course it helps him that his wife really runs a great meet, but that’s another story!  Next week I will be reporting from Margaritaville as I travel to the Key West Excursion so until then, may your miles be productive, your life prosperous and your toes pointed to the finish line.