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By RODNEY PAGE
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 16, 2001
There are numerous banners hanging at St. Petersburg Catholic hailing the past achievements of nearly all of its athletic teams. The last time the Barons raised a boys cross country district championship banner was 1978, well before members of the current team were born.
This might be the year another banner is raised.
St. Petersburg Catholic dropped to Class A in cross country this season, which means it's out of the shadow of Class 2A power Tampa Jesuit. Last season, the Barons were runners-up to Jesuit at the district meet. Jesuit won a state championship.
Nearly all of last season's team is back, and so far the Barons look like the team to beat. In their first two meets, they finished second at the Manasota meet to Class 3A power Lely and won the Indian Rocks Invitational.
"This could be the best team we've ever had here," said Barons coach Jeff Ehlert, who is in his eighth season at the school. "I'm looking for a big year out of this team."
The team is stocked with five strong runners, none of whom are seniors. Tony Cormier leads the way. The junior is ranked seventh in Class A by www.flrunners.com and has already run a 16:25 this season.
Junior Brian Sullivan, sophomores Sam Secord and Bobby Yevich, and junior Keith Evanouskas round out the top five. Evanouskas is a transfer from Shorecrest, where he was the Chargers' No. 2 runner. "There's a big drop-off after the top five," Ehlert said. "Our No. 5 guy can run about 17:45, then the sixth guy is in the 19s. Hopefully we can get those guys running better later in the year."
And maybe the Barons can finally raise another cross country banner.
USF INVITE CANCELED: The South Florida Invitational, one of the season's biggest meets, was canceled Friday. The meet was scheduled for today, but officials from South Florida and Jesuit decided not to run because of this week's national tragedies and Tropical Storm Gabrielle.
Nearly 80 schools in three classifications were scheduled to compete, including St. Petersburg Catholic, Shorecrest, Indian Rocks Christian and Admiral Farragut. No makeup date has been scheduled.
RANKINGS: For what they're worth, www.flrunners.com has its preseason rankings, and local individuals and teams are well represented in Class A.
For the boys, Shorecrest is ranked third in the state and St. Petersburg Catholic is ranked fifth. SPC has already notched a win against Shorecrest.
Admiral Farragut's John Biffar is ranked third in Class A.
On the girls side, Indian Rocks Christian is ranked seventh and Keswick Christian is ninth. IRC eighth-grader Melissa Kotchman is third in the state.
The Seminole boys are ranked fourth in Class 3A and Warhawks senior Gordon Redshaw is 12th.
LOOKING AHEAD: Countryside hosts a meet Wednesday at Chestnut Park with some of the best north county teams. Palm Harbor U., Dunedin, Tarpon Springs, Clearwater and East Lake will join the Cougars.
Thursday is the St. Petersburg Catholic Invitational and Friday is the Rebel Invitational.