Pasco County runners finish near top

By MIKE CAMUNAS, Times Correspondent
Published September 16, 2007

SPRING HILL - Not even a fender bender could keep Pasco's Leeann Eble from competing in Saturday's Gator Invitational at Crews Lake Park. The junior was rear-ended in her car Friday, though it didn't stop her from finishing second overall at 20 minutes, 42 seconds.

"I don't think it affected my finish at all," Eble said. "This is my first race this year, and I thought I did well."

Eble was neck-and-neck with the overall winner, Ocala Vanguard's Tori Lawson, until the 2-mile marker. Then Lawson had 40 seconds on Eble.

"Overall, (Eble) ran a good race," Pirates coach Barry Grayling said. "She might have been stiff, but she looked good to me."

Pasco finished 11th with 279 points. Gulf came in second (124) behind Sickles (93), and Wesley Chapel (168) and Land O'Lakes (227) were sixth and ninth, respectively.

An early surprise, however, was second-year school Wiregrass Ranch. The Bulls finished third, led by freshman Ariel Grey, who finished fourth individually in 21:15.

"Damn right I'm happy with third," Wiregrass coach Don Howard said. "I'm impressed on how we finished (Saturday), since I was said a fifth- or seventh-place (finish) would have been impressive."

For the boys, Pasco County's top finisher was Land O'Lakes junior Felix Soto, who took third individually at 16:32. Ridgewood's Steven Landreth finished seventh at 16:58.

"I'm disappointed I got 16:30 today," Soto said. "I started off in the front and I usually tend to stay in a spot, and at about Mile 2, (Sickles' Derek Wehunt) moved farther away from me. He was in the lead the whole time."

Wehunt came in first overall at 15:52.

Land O'Lakes finished fourth as a team, while the Rams came in eighth and Mitchell took 11th.

[Last modified September 16, 2007, 01:23:01]