In advance of Saturday's district cross country meet, Hernando should have a parade, a pep rally and any other energy-sapping activities possible.
Hey, it worked for Leela Hadsock last week.
The Leopards junior went through all the customary homecoming activities yet still had plenty left in the tank at Saturday's Gulf Coast Athletic Conference meet. Hadsock finished second in a personal-best time of 20 minutes, 20 seconds, 14 seconds behind winner Holly Van Sicklen of Crystal River.
"I was just feeling so good," Hadsock said. "We had the homecoming (football) game (Friday), a JV game Thursday, a milelong parade Thursday. We were all exhausted, but it gave me that high.
"I was feeling great, and I had a competition to go to."
Just three weeks earlier on the same course for the Zak Lukas Invitational, Hadsock finished in 20:57. But in milder conditions she got off to a better start and held in for the entire 3.1 miles.
"We told her to go out and stay as long as could possibly stay, and she hung in there," Hernando coach Erin Sullivan said. "At the 2-mile mark she was in third, by the time I saw her coming around the corner with three-quarters of a mile to go, she was pulling into second and she just hung there.
"I was screaming like I've never screamed before."
The coach may have more reason to scream Saturday at the Class 2A, District 5 meet at Anderson Snow Park, where Hernando should be able to advance to the regional meet. The entire team had a good morning at the GCAC race, with Anna Gray, Nicole Daughtry and Kristie Morrill having their best races of the year.
MAKING DO: It has been a long season at Central, where the girls team has been shorthanded while runners such as Roxanne Ceccarelli have been sidelined with injuries. At the GCAC race, Central brought only four runners, not enough to post a team score.
However, No. 1 runner Kerri Costanzo has a shot at finishing in the top 15 at Thursday's Class 3A, District 5 race in Largo, which would put the junior one step closer to a return to the state meet, where she ran as a sophomore.
"She has a good shot; she's only about 11 seconds short of beating her best time overall," coach Juliann Davila said. "But it is a little bit frustrating, especially when you come here with four girls and one of my top runners (Ceccarelli) is there on the sidelines with two fractured legs."
WHAT IF?: Hernando's Mike Laird ran the final two miles of the GCAC race with a shoe untied after falling in the first mile. He finished eighth with a time of 17:30. "I would have been top-four," he said. "I did well, but I got tripped up."
RATTLESNAKE RUN: Josh Dahmer, a Hernando Christian eighth-grader who competed on the Lions' independent cross-country team, finished first (34:19) among 14-under competitors at the 5-mile run in San Antonio.
