Bears' Mobley, Gaynor get off on right foot

Rain turned the field into a quagmire. It forced the pole vault to be canceled. But it didn't completely ruin Central's trip to Wesley Chapel for Friday's Wildcat Invitational.

Tiffany Mobley won the girls 200-meter run, Tim Gaynor took second in the boys 100, and a trio of freshmen had breakthrough performances in the season-opening meet.

"We did okay, but we certainly didn't do as well as we'd like to," said Central girls coach Richard Ortiz, whose team placed seventh. "We hoped to do much better."

Mobley, a district champion in the 200 last year, won in 26.3 seconds. The time was slow for the senior, who runs in the low 25s, but understandable in the conditions. Mobley ran the 1,600 relay but was kept out of the long jump and triple jump -- two of her better events -- because Ortiz didn't want to aggravate an ankle injury sustained last year.

"It's a long season," the coach said. "We'll just go meet by meet with her and, hopefully, at the end, pull it all together and let her go for it."

Freshmen Jessica Osorio and Tia Gaynor and junior Sarah Rosario shone in the 400 relay, putting the Bears in the lead before Mobley was disqualified for running outside her zone. Ironically, Mobley was the only member of the relay squad with experience. "Figure that one out," Ortiz said, laughing.

Alaya Smiley, a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference champ in the 100 and regional qualifier in four events a season ago, was held out of the running events because of an injury that limited her to one day of practice last week. Ortiz didn't disclose the nature of the injury.

"We're going to be very patient with her and see how it all turns out at the end," Ortiz said.

Central's boys took ninth in what coach Vic Cervizzi described as a training meet. "They did all right," he said. "I'm happy with the effort they gave."

Running for the first time, Gaynor placed second in the 100 in 11.73 seconds. Jason Martinez leaped 37 feet, 93/4 inches to capture second in the triple jump.

Freshman Mike Fitzpatrick, a newcomer to the sport, completed the 300 hurdles in 48.7 seconds. "There's a lot of potential there," Cervizzi said.

TRY AGAIN: The Springstead Invitational tentatively has been rescheduled for April 5 at Hernando, Springstead boys coach Fred Hudson said. The meet was postponed Friday because of rain. Springstead has been unable to use its track because of sinkholes underneath the surface at Booster Stadium. Hudson said he had hoped to use the invitational to prepare his team for Friday's meet at Gulf. "We would have liked to have gotten that one in," Hudson said. "Now we're going into a pretty good-sized meet with nothing under our belts."

SITE CHANGE: The March 21 county meet, scheduled for Springstead, has been moved to Hernando.

HONOR ROLL: The Times will publish an honor roll throughout the season. Coaches are asked to fax their school's top performances in each event to Frank Pastor, (352) 848-1412; or e-mail them to pastor@sptimes.com each week by noon Tuesday. Please include first and last names.

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