Lecanto girls are off and running

By KEITH NIEBUHR

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 2, 2001

Lecanto girls coach Freddie Bullock is a happy camper these days.

In the first big meet of the season, Tuesday's Lecanto Invitational, the Panthers came away with an impressive win. Citrus was second, followed by Belleview and Dunnellon.

Citrus took first in the boys competition.

"I was surprised," Bullock said.

"I thought we did OK, but I didn't know we had won, that we had done so well, until I saw it on paper. I was very pleased with the results."

Lecanto athletes took first in five events.

Kate Wheeler won the 100-meter hurdles, high jump and triple jump. Kylene Colasanti was first in the 300 hurdles, and the Panthers' 4x400 squad outran the field.

Wheeler qualified for state last season in the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and high jump.

"She had a tremendous meet," Bullock said. "She has refocused.

"At the begining of the season, she was out of shape and made some mistakes, and she had never been out of shape in her life. Now, she's getting into shape pretty quick."

Aside from winning the 300 hurdles, Colasanti -- last year's Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Athlete of the Year -- was second to Wheeler in the 100 hurdles.

Lecanto got othe strong performances from sophomore Stacey Lowe, who in her first 200-meter run was third, Liz Witherspoon (400, 4x400, long jump) and ninth-grader Nicole Gasiorek (100, 400, long jump, 4x400).

Lecanto will compete in Saturday's Crystal River Invitational.

"You definitely want to take the momentum (from Tuesday's meet) to the (Crystal River) invitational," Bullock said. "You want to build on something like this."

QUIET STORM: Despite solid performances by its boys and girls teams in the Lecanto Invitational, Citrus coach Tom Darby said it was "just another meet."

A 31-year coaching veteran, Darby does not like to read too much into events this time of year.

"It's an early-season meet, so what we do is train through them," Darby said.

"We use them as another practice day, so really, it's just another day at work for us. We spread people out, put them in a lot of events and try to condition them a little bit."

Darby said he and co-Citrus coach Bob Goddard will not have a clear gauge of the Hurricanes' potential for several weeks.

"It will take half the season," Darby said. "We're not doing any speed work yet. It's too early. All we're doing is strength work, general conditioning and a lot of teaching."

In workouts/meets, the Citrus girls have gotten strong performances from Myesha Hollis (100, 200, long jump), Andrea Burke (3,200) and Sally Lanigan (discus and shot put).

Michael Bass (400), C.J. Bryant (distance), Jamal Galloway (high jump), Tony Lyons (distance), Jeremy Hensley (discus, shot), John Rogers (discus, shot) and Kendrick Ross (100, high jump) have been the boys early standouts.

Hollis leads the county honor roll in the 100, 200 and long jump.

"She's not where she's going to be," Darby said. "She's done that with less than a week of training."

NOTEWORTHY: The Crystal River Invitational begins Saturday morning at 9:30. Nine schools are scheduled to participate.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright