Youth on the Run

  • The Youth Running Group got the weekend off to a good start with a visit at Thursday night practice from Florida State University track and cross country runner Alyson Churchill.  Alyson is a freshman at Florida State.  The following stats are from the FSU web page:  Cross Country:  As a freshman helped the Noles finish 15th at the 2020 NCAA XC Championships with a time of 21:43.3 in the 6K for 123rd place… finished ninth overall at the Mountain Dew Invitational in her FSU XC debut (21:36.29)…finished fifth overall at the FSU Invitational in her college 5k debut (17:04.8)…finished 49th overall at the UAB Blazer Classic with a 6k personal-best time (21:36.22)…finished 46th at the ACC Championships as the sixth runner for the Noles with a personal best of 21:12.4- Indoor T&F: Helped the Seminoles win bronze in the distance medley relay at the 2021 NCAA Championships…placed 11th in the 3,000M with a time of 9:14.91…won bronze in the 3,000M at the      2021 ACC. Indoor Track & Field with a time of 9:07.06…was third in the 5,000M at the Tyson Invite (16:08.27) High School (Chiles) – The 2016 Florida HS 3A XC Individual State Champion (17:55) while representing     Chiles High School…helped Chiles bring home the 2018 FHSAA 3A XC team title before finishing as the runner-up in 4A in 2019…2017 Track & Field 3A Individual runner-up in both the 3200m and 1600m (4:57)…finished fourth at the 2019 Track & Field 3A in the 800m (2:14).

  • Special performances: Kent Grayson ran a 5K in a time of 17:56.72 at the TCC Final fling Mini Meet.  Walker Elrod ran 10:44.87 for a big PR and a state qualifying time at the FLYRA Panhandle Regional MS Qualifier in Santa Rosa.

  • Chris Turner gave a recount of the Wednesday Bridge the Gap group  and a shout out to “Get the Run Done” member Eric Bizimungu who finished his first 5K on a track in the TCC meet in a time of 20:17.  The Kid has never run more than what is needed for soccer. From the get go we saw some push in him. Dan Manausa paced him through the first half. Without the help of the club and the ACT program, he probably would not have found his love for this. But it’s not just him, it’s the kids in his family, the kids seeing him. He will be able to share this love with them. We have more work to do but this has been a great start. Can’t wait to get him in a road race to see what he can do with crowds. So proud of him.