Best bet: Track and field

WHAT: 10th Annual Suncoast Relays.

WHO: Central, Gulf, Land O'Lakes, Mitchell, Pasco, Ridgewood, River Ridge, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills (Hudson, Springstead tentative).

WHERE: Des Little Stadium, Gulf.

SCHEDULE: Field events 3:30 p.m.; elementary school 4x100-meter relay 4 p.m.; running events start 5:30 p.m.

RELAYS: Boys, girls cross country 4x1,600; co-ed shuttle hurdle relays; distance medley relay (boys 800, girls 400, boys 1,200, girls 1,600); boys, girls 4x100; boys, girls 1,600 medley (200, 200, 400, 800); co-ed hurlers relay; co-ed sprint medley (girls 100, boys 100, girls 200, boys 400); boys, girls 4x800; boys, girls 4x200; boys, girls 4x400.

AT STAKE: Top eight place-winners in each event receive ribbons; gift certificates go to coaches of first- and second-place teams.

ADMISSION: $2 adults; $1 children.

NEED TO KNOW: The Ridgewood girls and Wesley Chapel boys enter as the overwhelming favorites. But when the co-ed relays start, each team will need a boost from the opposite sex: the Ridgewood boys and Wesley Chapel girls. However unlikely it is the Ridgewood girls will lose another regular-season meet, the Rams have to be thinking back to the March 7 Bear Relays, when an errant baton pass in the co-ed hurlers 4x100 cost them the meet and allowed the Lecanto girls the win. It was the Rams' first loss at a regular-season meet since 1997, and they've been undefeated since. Of course, no other team in this meet is as strong as Lecanto's girls, so Ridgewood should have no worries. It's hard to believe that with River Ridge's girls distance runners, Mitchell's boys distance runners, Pasco's jumpers and Wesley Chapel's sprinters and hurdlers on the track, the best competition may be off it, in the shot put and discus. With girls such as River Ridge's Emily Ollivier, Land O'Lakes' Alison Foster, Wesley Chapel's Ashley Martin and boys such as Ridgewood's Adamm Oliver, Wesley Chapel's Tim Davis and Pasco's Kirk Moats, these have become the new events to watch this season.

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