Indian Rocks sweeps the top three places, but it's not enough to beat Berkeley Prep for the Bay Conference title.
By C.J. RISAK
Published October 16, 2004
LARGO - Go ahead: theorize. Strategize. Plot possible scenarios. But plans still may not pan out.
The Berkeley Prep coaches did all of that prior to the Bay Conference Championships on Friday at Taylor Park, trying to figure ways to unseat defending boys champion Indian Rocks Christian. The first and most pivotal part of the plan, according to coach Eileen Daly, was to disrupt the Eagles overpowering trio of frontrunners.
"We attempted to break up their first three," she said. "We wanted to somehow be in the mix with them."
Ooops. Didn't work. Tim Rousonelos finished first easily for Indian Rocks, winning in 16:57.71 on the 5-kilometer course, well ahead of teammates Matt Kotchman (17:33.71) and Zach Rousonelos (17:42.83), who nonetheless were second and third.
A one-two-three finish in a meet featuring seven teams can be near impossible to overcome. But the Buccaneers managed it, placing seven in the top 14 and matching Indian Rocks' 43 team points. Placing all seven runners ahead of the Eagles' fourth-place finisher meant the tiebreaker (best sixth runner) went to Berkeley, giving the Bucs the team title.
And allowing them to sweep the conference, since their girls team already had dominated its meet, scoring 31 points to place well ahead of second-place Shorecrest's 53.
Adam Kerr and Robert Livingston paced Berkeley, taking fifth (17:55.42) and sixth (18:04.80), respectively. Shorecrest was third with 76 points.
In the girls meet it was more of the same, although Daly wasn't quite sure what to expect, since she hadn't seen any of the teams due to hurricane meet cancellations. Defending individual champ Melissa Kotchman of Indian Rocks placed first again in 20:05.85, but the Bucs group running proved effective. Jane Watts took second overall for Berkeley (20:23.14), leading a pack of six Bucs in the top 10.
