A healthy Nicolosi hits stride

By BOB PUTNAM
Published October 6, 2005

Last week, there was an impressive group of girls who ran the flrunners.com open meet at Dade City's Little Everglades Ranch.

Seminole's Heather Nicolosi, however, made sure it wasn't much of a race.

When the gun sounded, Nicolosi broke for the lead with only a handful of runners beside her. They did not have her company for long. By the time she passed the first mile, Nicolosi was well ahead of the field.

Nicolosi, a junior, won in a career-best 18 minutes, 56.65 seconds. Those distant others, the closest of whom trailed Nicolosi by some 51 seconds, were Spruce Creek's Laura Garrow and Lakewood's Ali Crabb.

"That was one of the first races this season that I've been satisfied with my time," Nicolosi said. "But I still feel like I could be running harder. I guess that's why I always try to go out front right away."

She runs hard - and fast - to make up for lost time.

Stress fractures in her right foot and leg the past two years hampered her performance. It showed as Nicolosi often would hang with the pack before her stride gradually turned into a labored limp.

She finished fifth at last year's Pinellas County Athletic Conference meet and her top time (20:30) ranked 10th in the county.

"I've always been working at becoming a better runner, but it seems like I've been hurt," Nicolosi said.

Healthy for the first time, Nicolosi treated the summer like a boot camp. She pushed herself with intense workouts that included cross-training sessions.

"She works harder than any athlete I know, male or female," said Tony Nicolosi, Heather's older brother. "I don't know how she gets the mental capacity to keep that up. She's an animal."

The work has resulted in some big wins. Nicolosi started the season by beating her nemesis, St. Petersburg's Kerry Allen. Nicolosi's next test is today when she faces Allen and Crabb in the Viking Invitational. The girls meet, held at Crescent Lake Park, starts at 6 p.m.

"Heather didn't have the conditioning before to pull off those type of wins," coach Bruce Calhoun said. "But she's worked extremely hard at getting better and had some phenomenal workouts."

PHU POWER: The Hurricanes entered the flrunners.com large school race to check out Little Everglades Ranch.

They left knowing they have a chance to return for the state meet.

Palm Harbor University took second with 112 points and a total time of 1:50:08. Orlando Boone was first with 68 and 1:49:08.

"We ran pretty much as I expected," coach Darryl Southard said. "I knew we had a chance to finish in the top three, and that Boone would be the favorite. We just didn't have enough to overtake them."

Stephanie Rancich led the 'Canes by running 20:18.08 to finish second. Teammate Laura Levin (21:20) took eighth and Jackie Sullivan (22:19) and Stephanie Boyd (22.20) each were in the top 25. East Lake's Katherine McMeekin (21:07) was fourth and Boca Ciega's Lindsey Brooks (21:30) ninth.

The Hurricanes finished high despite their No. 2 runner, Sarah Wilkerson, not being at full strength. Wilkerson had bronchitis and walking pneumonia and is just now working herself back into shape.

On Saturday, PHU will run in a meet at Venice that features defending state champ Sarasota Riverview and state contender Sickles.

SMALL SCHOOL: Shorecrest finished fourth overall and was led by Pavendeep Birk (21:27, 19th) and Sarah Evans (21:37, 20th).

[Last modified October 6, 2005, 01:15:08]