2002 Cross Country in full swing By David Yon

Chiles High School was the place locally and Polk Community College in Winter Haven was the site for a big state meet this week as cross country runners began rounding into shape for important mid-year battles. Ryan Deak put on quite a show in Winter Haven to win the Flrunners.com meet.

The first meet of the week was the middle school meet at the Chiles Invitational on the premises of Chiles High School. Deerlake was the dominant team as both the boys and girls won with the girls besting Cobb by a score of 31 to 40, while the boys topped Raa 38 to 77. Complete scores were as follows: Girls: Deerlake 31, Cobb 40, RAA 77, Griffin 141, Swift Creek 142, Ft. Braden 207, Belle Vue 216, Nims 263 and Fairview participated by did not have a full team. The boys scores were: Deerlake 38, RAA 77, Griffin 101, Cobb 103, Swift Creek 194, Belle Vue 275, Ft. Braden 298, Nims and Fairview participated but did not have full teams. The next middle school meet is Champ days at Everhart on October 3 at Everhart School. North Florida Christian is also hosting a meet this weekend at Summit East Park. Details are on the Prep Calendar.

Saturday’s high school meet saw Chiles grab both the boys and girls titles, with the boys beating second place Godby 35 to 68 and the girls beating Rickards 26 to 43. The meet was held on Centerville Properties site off Pisgah Church Road. The individual winners were Courtney Robinson of Godby (18:29) and LaShaunta Arnold of Rickards 21:31. The top ten finishers in the girls race were: LaShaunta Arnold (Rickards) 21:31, Karla Savery (Chiles) 21:53, Kelly Savery (Chiles) 22:31, Christy Forsyth (Godby) 22:36, Lane Maifarth (Chiles) 22:52, Angie Lewis 23:45, Lisa Giblin (Chiles) 24:12, Katie Schwartz (Rickards) 24:59, Calyn Allen (Chiles) 25:17 and Loreal Smith (Rickards) 26:01. On the boys side the top ten were: Courtney Robinson (Godby) 18:29, Elie Busen (Wakulla) 18:48, Fritz Stoeppelbein (Wewahitchka) 19:10, Justin Dickinson (Godby) 19:17, Michael Lewis (Chiles) 19:20, Evan DeVore (Chiles) 19:22, Spencer Calloway (Chiles) 19:26, Jonathon Blocker (Chiles) 19:26, Jason Ross (Chiles) 19:36, Chase Walter (Marianna) 19:40.

The performance of the week however belonged to Ryan Deak who led Maclay to a third place finish at the Flrunners.com Invitational at Polk Community College in Winter Haven. A very patient Deak ran with a group of four or five runners over most of the five kilometer course although Ryder Leary had opened a bit of a gap as they reached the last 100 yards or so. Ryan turned on the after burners though and the last 20 meters were an all out sprint with Mr. Deak getting a little more than a lean at the tape to win in 15:23.34 to 15:23.74. It was the fourth fastest time in the state so far this year according to the Flrunners.com site. Maclay’s total of 139 points left it behind only state power houses Bishop Kenney (93) and Winter Park (98). Winter Park was ranked number one in the 4A boys division before the weekend, while Bishop was fourth preseason in the 2A division. Maclay and Ryan went into the weekend ranked number one in the 1A Division and of the performance of both with only solidify those rankings. Jennifer Emo was the top local finisher for the girls, running just above twenty minutes to finish tenth in 20:01.59. For complete results and a good picture of Ryan visit flrunners.milesplit.com.