DoctorBob- DistancePreps.com
5 Things We Learned This Weekend:
1. The land of the unbeaten is getting smaller and smaller and I'm not talking the NFL or NCAA. The only 2 unbeaten high school runners in the State of Florida are Nease senior Karen Xiang and Leon junior Suhki Khosla. Team-wise, the only 2 unbeaten teams, at least in-State, are Estero's Girls and Chiles Boys. We're at that point in the season where they have all done the hard work required in big races against good competition to solidify their status, at present, as Florida's best. It also goes without saying, although I'll take a stab, that although they may be seen as favorites heading into the State series, we are lucky enough to have competitors up for the challenge and that will indeed make for an interesting State Meet and beyond. Class 3A will be very interesting with so many good head to head battles looming. And yes, no need to look them up. Xiang, Khosla, Estero and Chiles are all 3A.
2. We really enjoyed the FSU Pre-State Invitational and the quarter million dollar worth of improvements. While roughly 90% of the competitors said they favored the course changes, others thought it had lost it's charm with the narrower, rolling hills in the back woods and the perpetual downhill "net effect". Parking didn't seem to be an issue and will only get better. It's a bit pricey over the course of 2 days, but the huge Jumbotron adds an element of just how relevant ARP and the FSU Pre-State Invitational has become. And how about that finish line move? Bravo, bravo. No longer do us media types dread the finish line at ARP.
3. Kudo's to Disney for doing a live broadcast of the Disney XC Classic presented by New Balance at the Wide World of Sports complex over the weekend. Although it's only an incremental step, any huge production like Disney attempted to pull off over the weekend is to be applauded. Sure, we have some recommendations to take it to the next level, make it more appealing and garner a bigger audience, but why oh why did it have to be on the same weekend as Pre-State? We know a lot of teams are from out of State and those relatives and fans back home can tune-in to see their favorite runners which is really great, but competing on the same weekend with "almost" every Florida team traveling to Tally is bound to leave a void. I'm sure if we look at attendance numbers and tourist receipts, we'll probably find a good compelling reason. Disney puts on a class act - that is to be expected from such a huge corporation with vast resources. What would it take for them to stage a really stellar event with huge fan interest in-State? Connect all the pieces that makes meets like FLRunners and Pre-State such fan and athlete favorites? "It's not complicated".
4. We were very happy to be able to share Freedom HS senior Connor Ferrentino's college announcement from the Pre-State Meet. You'll have to check out his announcement to find out where he taking his talents next year here. We also noticed that the University of Florida women picked up a verbal commitment from Old Bridge HS (NJ) stand-out Rachel Belmont. Congrats to both Connor and Rachel. Do you have a college commitment coming up? Please be sure to let us know and check back frequently to see the updated list for 2014 here.
5. We know there are some really dedicated, talented fans amongst us. One of those fans is Brad McCann from Fort Walton Beach. Brad was kind enough to share his hundreds of photo's from this past weekend's FSU Pre-State Invitational with our viewers. You can too. Just contact us and we will point you in the right direction. Thanks Brad.
More "Five Things I Learned" from Darrin
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