Florida Middle School State T & F Championships

At 4 o' clock on Friday, May 15th, I embarked on my journey from Orange Park HS to Clermont, Florida where the Middle School State Track and Field Championships were to be contested. All my training since the beginning of March has gone to the cause of the State Championships where hopefully a PR in the 3K and 800 awaited me. The meet was scheduled to start at 9 AM on Saturday morning, but the team decided to get there the night before. Once Aaron, Eric, and Steven all arrived at the high school, and we all climbed into Coach May's van and headed down towards Clermont where we would meet up with the rest of the 1st Coast Track Club. During the 2.5 hour drive down, I envisioned my success for all of 10 minutes then got to watching "Invincible" with Steven and Eric. We arrived at the hotel at about 6:30 PM, checking into our rooms then promptly leaving and heading over to the track which was within close proximity of the the hotel. The track was just one of many training facilities at the National Training Center. After a couple minutes of driving around looking for the track, it turned out it was right under our noses the whole time situated in a large ditch. Despite its unusual location, the facility was well groomed and the track was one of the best I've ever set foot on. The four of us did a mile warm up while Coach May wrestled with the team tent, then hung out for a bit afterwards before going back to the hotel to change for dinner. We went to a nearby Carrabba's where we met up with another teammate, Carl. The restaurant was packed with many other teams whose athletes, like us, were carbo-loading before the big day ahead of us. Eric and I both ordered the Fettuccine Alfredo, not knowing it caused slow-digestion and made you sluggish. By 8:30 PM we were done with dinner and back at the hotel. After frolicking around for another hour and a half, Eric, Steven and I called it a night and zonked out at about 10:00 PM. I got a nice quiet and undisturbed nine hours of sleep before waking up at 7:00 AM and getting breakfast. I continued the tradition of having biscuits with gravy before a big competition and also downed a sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich. The whole team checked out of the hotel at 8:30 AM, and made our way back towards the ditch the track was situated in. I could tell the temperature was climbing as I emerged from the car and made may way over to the team tent. Once the field events were underway, the running events began. Steven, Eric, and I were checked in for the 3K by the time the 4x400m relay started. The track club's relay team, made up of Aaron, Jontue, Garrett, and Carl, had an excellent showing as they took 3rd in the 4x400m relay. Next event up was the girl's 3K, which we watched from the infield as the boys got ready to run. Capturing 3rd place for 1st Coast Track Club was Mary Ann, finishing the 3K in 10:55. Now the boy's 3K was ready to be contested as the field of the 24 best middle school distance runners in Florida stretched across the width of the track. This event was surely the one with the most depth, featuring what was possibly the strongest field in the Southeast. The sun beat down on us as we lined up on the crimson track, ready to run our hardest. The starter gave the commands and this herd of buffaloes took off at the sound of the gun. I made a smart move by cutting straight into the inside lane, wasting little energy unlike Steven and Eric who jostled for position ahead of me. I was filed towards the back only ahead of a couple people who made the smart move of not starting out too fast. Matt, a fellow teammate, was vying for a state championship and licking his chops for months at the thought of winning the 3K. He was leading the pack as I watched him from about 70 meters back in the chase pack. The first few laps ticked off effortlessly as I caught a couple more people, passing the 1st mile in 5:58. It seemed like it was getting hotter and hotter as the laps progressed and I knew that if I didn't pick it up I would fail to PR. With about 2 laps to go I caught Eric and Steven, who fell off the pace dramatically. Still, I could not manage to pick up the pace any more. I groaned for another lap and a half until kicking it into the finish. Eric came in about 12 seconds later, followed by Steven. I knew for a fact that I did not place top 8 (I placed 19th) and that I possibly didn't PR. Dejected, I dragged myself back to the tent where I was congratulated for my efforts. Matt won the race in a pressure cooker, but was still off his PR by 4 seconds. My Dad told me I ran a good race, considering the conditions which made everyone's time much slower than their seed time. I waited patiently for the results of the 3K to be posted and once they were put up, I ran over to the group of people huddling around them only to find out to my dismay that they were botched. It only included 17 athletes when 24 athletes competed int the event and, beside the top 3 runners, all of the times were botched between 10-20 seconds. I walked back to the tent and told my mom who immediately complained to the meet director, who reassured us that they would be corrected (not true). But, my competition in the meet was not over as I had one last event- the 4x800m relay which consisted of Ronald, Steven, Eric and I representing the 1st Coast Track Club 'B' team. However, the relay was the last event to be contested so in the meantime we cheered on our team to a possible top 3 finish in the team points. The next event for the track club was the 1500m, an event where Matt and Mary Ann were both slated to have at least a top 8 performance. Mary Ann won her heat, placing here 3rd overall. Matt, although fatigued from the recent 3K, still had an above average performance placing 7th overall. We quickly amassed more and more points as Jontue finished 4th place in the 400m and Kiari finished 4th in the 200. Aaron also had a stellar performance in the 800m, running a 2:08 to finish in 1st. By now the meet was winding down, leaving us with the last meet to be contested, the 4x800m relay. The 'B' team's goal was top 8 while the 'A' team, consisting of Jontue, Carl, Matt, and Aaron, was gunning to win the relay outright. My goal was to PR en route during the relay and hopefully put our team in striking ground of a top 8 finish. The 1st legs of each relay team were called to the starting line, while I waited in line as the 2nd leg. The gun shot off and our 1st leg, Ronald, got us into perfect position staying in a pack of about 5 runners who fought for places 3rd through 8th. Ronald was looking strong after a fast first lap and was in 7th for the remainder of the 2nd lap. Coming around the bend, he brought it home handing the baton to me. I took off in pursuit of 3 runners about 50 meters ahead of me. I hadn't made up any ground on the 1st lap, but I quickly switched into a higher gear for the 2nd lap and with 100 meters to go I made my move. I began to sprint passing two runners and gaining ground on a third. Once I passed the baton to Steven, we were in 8th place but soon it became 9th then 10th. I was sprawled in the sand pit, exhausted from a hard race. The 'A' team was in first with a comfortable gap, while Steven was getting passed by a couple people as he handed the baton to Eric, our anchor. It looked like the sore legs from the 3K were catching up on Eric as he ran an 80 second 1st lap, three seconds off his PR pace. By now we were out of contention but just to feel good I wanted Eric to out-kick a pursuer in a purple uniform, part of the team that edged us out at regionals. Turns out that history repeats itself and once again we were edged out by a second putting us in 10th place with a time of 10:29. The 'A' team performed to their expectations, winning the race with class. Once I was back at the tent packing my belongings, my Dad told me that my split for the 800 was a new PR of 2:36. This pleased me that I was awarded at least one PR for my efforts but what surprised me more was how fast Ronald went. He ran a 2:27 in his first 800m ever, putting him in the upper echelon of the state for 800m runners. Another piece of good news was that our team placed second overall at this state championship meet.  Once packed up and ready to go, a couple teammates and I sprinted up a nearby hill overlooking the track. It was a good way to end a successful season and now I'm gearing up for some road races along with the Hershey State Track & Field Championships in late June. I'll be competing in the upcoming Memorial Day 5K, gunning for sub 20, then trying to better that time at the Run for the Pies. So long runners and see you at the races!