LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE.
Well, it's almost here. The long anticipated and biggest cross-country meet of the year in the State of Florida. FLRUNNERS VI at Little Everglades Ranch in DadeCity.
The History:
For cross-country fanatics it doesn't get any better than this.
From humble beginnings in '99 with roughly 450 runners, the 6th annual FLRunners.com meet has grown by leaps and bounds to become the premier cross-country event in the State of Florida and one of the largest and most acclaimed meets in the Nation. This years event will feature 5147 athletes from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and as far away as New Mexico.
Flrunner's founder Jason Byrne ushered in the first meet back in 1999 and since then there has always been a certain attribute that separates FLRunner's from other meets.
Simply put, great match-ups.
The best of the best always circle Flrunner's on the meet calendar. Superbly orchestrated with a fine supporting cast, Jason has succeeded in giving race fans an opportunity to see the best athletes in the sport go head to head regardless of classification and it doesn't stop there.
There's a race for everyone.
Community/open races, middle-school, JV, seeded invitationals, college and of course the premier match-ups in the high school ranks with the Race of Champions.
Die hards will remember that in the very first meet, there was an epic rivalry in the making when two of the states best on the boys side, Winter Park's Mike Swope and Flagler Palm Coast's Matt Cianciulli dueled it out over 3 miles at sub 15 pace. They would duel it out at again in the 2nd annual Flrunner's in 2000, with Cianciulli gliding to victory in 14:31 and marking Flrunner's as the showcase of the State's best talent.

The match-ups just kept on getting better.
The Boys Race of Champions in 2002 was probably the most exciting finish of all time when Maclay's Ryan Deak and an eventual Footlocker finalist unleashed a furious all out kick to catch Bishop Kenny's Ryder Leary at the tape after making up what most thought was an unsurmountable gap with just about a quarter mile to go. It's what makes Flrunner's the most anticipated race of the year.

2003 was no different. In the end, people walked away with a sense of the miraculous when Belen Jesuit's Eddie Arguello ran the race of a lifetime to capture the Boys Race of Champions trophy and secured his place in the annals of Florida cross-country history by out distancing the likes of Gulliver Prep's Bryan Sharkey and Chiles' Alex Miletich.
2003 was also the year we found out that Oviedo's Jennifer Barringer was a true national talent when she blew away a fine field and won the Race of Champions by a whopping 33 seconds.

Lastly, 2004 also produced one of the greatest ladies battles when Jenny Barringer and Pope John Paul's Nicole Schappert went stride for stride down the homestretch with Jenny finally outleaning Nicole to claim victory by a mere 3/10's of a second.

The Venue:
2005 brings a new and much anticipated venue for the races.
The last few years had seen the meet held at Ed Radice Park in Tampa which also hosted the FHSAA finals. Ed Radice was known as being relatively fast and boring due to its relative flatness.
Not so in 2005.
The new venue at Little Everglades actually has terrain elevation changes and presents challenges to the typical Florida flatlander. First off, the new facility is somewhat obscure which lends itself to distance runners in general. We're always looking for new paths; somewhere or something to sooth the senses during the sometimes monotonous tribulation of miles upon miles. Little Everglades Ranch fits the bill perfectly.
Put rather bluntly, according to Jason Bryne, "It is in the middle of nowhere ". Located north of DadeCity in PascoCounty off Highway 301, the ranch is a throwback to old Florida, devoid of the skyscrapers and hustle and bustle of everyday life in our cities. It also happens to be the new home for the FHSAA finals and the NCAA Division 2 South Regional Championships later in the fall.
The site has been described as an ideal cross-country facility. This is no ordinary cross-country venue. Although in reality it's a steeple chase track for horses and is used sparingly, it's been described as "2,000 acres of rolling hills, oak trees and untouched lakes, plus a playground for bald eagles, blue herons and sandhill cranes." The beauty is that it also has plenty of parking, vendor areas, team areas, and spectator stands in which to see the races although it would be wise to bring binoculars if you want a close up of the action on the backstretch !!
It's so highly regarded as a cross-country facility, that the United states has put in a bid to host the 2008 World Championships in this very venue.

The Races:
This years rendition will be the biggest yet and have national implications for several teams vying for a coveted trip to the Nike Team Nationals in Portland, Oregon, in December. On the boys side, New York's nationally ranked NE #5 Warwick Valley High has made the trek to Florida to enhance their chances of being an NTN competitor by competing in the Race of Champions alongside nationally ranked opponents SE # 5 Tampa Jesuit, SE #6 Chiles, and SE # 7 Holy Trinity. (New rankings have subsequently been released). Waiting in the wings as spoilers are other fine teams such as the Armada of Winter Park, Lyman, Colonial, and Miami Columbus.
The girls race will really be a race for second place as SE #3 Episcopal looks like a run-away winner, but then again this is FLrunner's.
Looking to be spoilers on the girls side is previously ranked Coach Butler's Holy Trinity squad and winner of the unseeded Division at the Stanford Invite this past weekend, Coach Ary Montalvo's always tough Lady of Lourdes Bobcat's.
Individually, this is going to be the clash of the Titans. For the most part, every top-notch runner in the state is healthy and ready to roar. On the boy's side look for Flagler Palm Coast's Footlocker finalist Justin Harbor, Winter Park's Caleb Vogt, Tampa Jesuit's James Osborne, Chiles' Jonathan Blocker, Warwick Valley's Jerry Greenlaw, Holy Trinity's Kyle Cooke, and the Army of One's Luke Russell from Bishop Kenny High in Jacksonville along with a slew of other harriers to be in the mix during the Race of Champions.
The boys TrackShackLargeSchool race features one of the State's finest in Boone's Aaron Kindt who has already clocked 15:49 at Florida's Mountain Dew classic in Gainesville earlier this year.
The Boys Invitational should see James Uthmeier from Ft Walton Beach High and PensacolaWashington's fine sophomore Eric Larson matched up in the hunt for the Invitational trophy.
The girls Race of Champions will be highlighted by two of the nations fastest runners in Ocala Vanguard's Footlocker finalist from a year ago, Kelly Parrish, and front running freshman Ashley Brasovan of Wellington High who has the fastest 5K time in the State to date. This will most definitely be a contrast in style and tactics as Kelly has the experience of big time races and Ashley has simply dominated every race she's run in her high school career so far with an average margin of victory well over 70 seconds.
It'll be interesting to see how Ashley handles the strength running of Kelly and which tactics Kelly will employ to thwart off the only way Ashley knows how to run--from the front with an ever increasing lead over the course of the race. Both of these fine runners should be shoe ins for a trip to BalboaPark if they decide to run at Footlocker South in an attempt to qualify for the National Championship.
The chase pack will be led by Bona Jones of Estero High, with HB Plant's Brigithe Moreno and Emile Amaro of Cypress Bay High in close pursuit.
Amanda Quick of Gaither High and Kaitlin Shiver of Satellite look to be the two fastest competitors in the LargeSchool race. (I totally missed this one and apologies to the Girls and the schools. It was actually the Boys teams in the LargeSchool race.)
The girls seeded invitational should be a wide open race with ranked leaders Emily Houston of Jensen Beach and Astronaut's Devin Spoerle amongst the pre-race favorites.
This meet has a little of something for everyone. There is actually a pot of money up for grabs to the top 3 finishers in the Community/open race. There will also be a special informational session for high school seniors who plan to run in college with a fine panel of College coaches and former collegiate athletes on hand to discuss the "confusing world of collegiate athletics". The forum will be headed up by Mason Cathey a former Army of One state champion from Bishop Kenny and the University of Florida.
FLRunner's VI promises to be a fine meet. With a cooling trend forecast, no hurricanes in sight, healthy athletes and a fine supporting cast led by Meet Director Fred Finke, Venue Coordinator Cyle Sage of St Leo University, Meet announcer Dan Dearing and always precise- Steeple Timing, it's time to get ready for the rumble at Little Everglades !
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