Last week, the Central junior ran two 5Ks within a 48-hour span, winning one and finishing sixth in the other. Friday he will toe a starting line again, hoping to earn a chance at - what else? - running again next week.
Bess qualified for Friday's Class 3A region meet by finishing sixth Thursday in a district at Largo's Taylor Park, and he will travel to Bradenton Lakewood Ranch on Friday to try to qualify for state (the top 15 individuals advance, as well as top six teams). It's the second region run in as many years for Bess, who arguably is the county's second-best runner behind Hernando's Ben Martucci .
Bess ran 17 minutes, 27 seconds in the district, then turned around to produce 18:06 Saturday at Central to win the Run with the Sheriff 5K Challenge.
Bears coach Eric Milholland did not exactly approve of Bess' weekend run, though he did not discourage it. He understands.
"He really wanted to run it. He really loves running," Milholland said. "Those are the kind of people you want to have surrounding you."
The former Seminole coach traveled to Lakewood Ranch last year with cross-country teams, and will now go again with Bess. He thinks the all-grass course could help in Bess achieving his goal of qualifying for one more race.
"It's more of a true cross-country course, and Jacob's run most of his workouts on grass," Milholland said. "He loves to run out front. He's done that all year long. Eventually, he's going to be able to hold onto it."
NEW ATTITUDE: A year ago, Hernando's girls were just hoping to land a spot at the state meet with a young team.
The expectations have changed. The Leopards turned in a solid second-place finish at district, seven points behind Academy of Holy Names, but coach Erin Sullivan hesitated before saying she was pleased.
"Our goal was first," Sullivan said. "We have had to run amazing, but we were shooting for first. But to come so close, we're pleased with that."
It was another strong day for Hernando, which has had a big race from someone at every meet. Often it has been No.1 runner Leela Hadsock . Friday in Tampa it was senior Nicole Daughtry , who ran 21:14 to beat her previous season best by 18 seconds.
"She has probably been the most exciting improvement, just to see her improve so well," Sullivan said. "It's starting to sink in that this is her senior year."
Such a sense of urgency for runners like Daughtry and Hadsock (also a senior) allows the Leopards to aim much higher than last year's 18th place state finish, when they were just happy to be there.
"Last year we just kind of wanted to make it. This year we want to run our butts off at state and see what we can do," Sullivan said. "Our goal at camp during the summer was top 10, we should surpass our goal."
