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County teams finally learn order of finish. Maybe

By IZZY GOULD
Published September 21, 2006

Trying to determine the order of finish for roughly 140 runners proved it could quickly turn into a three-day affair thanks to any number of glitches, like say, runners leaving the shoot before they are counted or water smudging numbers written in ink.

Yes, we're still talking about the Lecanto Invitational.

"It just was a disaster," Land O'Lakes coach Kris Keppel said of determining the results. "...It was a multitude of things that went wrong."

The final results - we think - crowned Land O'Lakes with the county's best team finish for boys (seventh) followed by River Ridge (ninth), Ridgewood (10th), Pasco (16th) and Zephyrhills (17th). Gulf's girls did better, claiming sixth place followed by Ridgewood (seventh), Land O'Lakes (ninth), River Ridge (11th), Zephyrhills (18th) and Pasco (21st).

Top county individuals were Gators junior Jake Proudfoot in sixth (17:20.82) while Bucs junior Jaci Pustelnik finished 17th (21:35.12).

WHERE WERE THE GATORS?: A seventh-place finish for Land O'Lakes seemed a little odd. No wonder, two of Keppel's top-five runners were missing. Gators sophomore Felix Soto skipped the meet to play soccer for his club team. And Tommy Spock was stuck in some classroom taking a college entrance exam. Both are expected to return Saturday for the Zak Lucas Invitational at Hernando.

"It's early enough in the season," Keppel said. "It wasn't a big race for us. I'm kind of anxious this week because we get to go up against (Ocala) Vanguard."

BATTERED RAMS: J.D. Baker thought Ridgewood would be well on its way to its second straight region berth after a solid summer of conditioning.

A few sniffles, a spider bite and some blisters have him a bit concerned.

"We've had some injuries and illness set us back a little bit," the Rams coach said. "Hopefully this week we'll have everybody back."

Dean Stupar, the Rams' No. 3 runner, had a spider bite that developed into a staff infection. That left him sidelined for a week.

Mike Eckert, Ridgewood's No. 2, has blisters the size of "half dollars" on both feet. Baker partially blames Eckert's senior project for the extra wear - he is taking boxing classes.

Steven Landreth, the Rams' No. 1, was two minutes off his average of roughly 17 minutes as he dealt with "bursitis of the hip."

"It's just been one thing after another," Baker said. "They were so much further ahead during summer conditioning. We looked better than last year."

TENDING THE RANCH: Don Howard isn't a favorite to be named Coach of the Year for a second straight season, not if you only consider winning races. He certainly deserves consideration after leaving the cozy confines of Wesley Chapel and the talented crop of athletes that seemingly replenishes annually.

That's the sacrifice of building a program at Wiregrass Ranch. Howard's 12 kids - one he swears is 4 feet 8, 80 pounds - are learning the sport and working hard at it.

"You can look at some of your best athletes in the county, put them in a cross country uniform and it doesn't mean they can run distance. ...We have a long way to go," Howard said

The Bulls have five boys who run within a minute of each other. Four of them are freshmen led by Jay Davis (20:50). The girls' top two runners are sophomore Elyse Houston (26:00) and Lakeishia Brown (25:50).

The toughest part of building is finding leaders.

"I have absolutely nobody who can say I've been there knows my routine who can step in as a captain," Howard said. "I have no upperclassmen leadership. It's really a teaching process. ...It's a different kind of experience. But I am enjoying it."

GULF MEET: Gulf's 3x1-mile relay is set to begin at 5 p.m. Monday at W.D. "Des" Little Stadium. Ridgewood, River Ridge, Pasco, Bishop McLaughlin, Cambridge, Gulf and Hudson will compete.

[Last modified September 20, 2006, 23:03:08]