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Warhawks dominate

By PETE YOUNG

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 29, 2000

EAST LAKE -- One runner after the other, the Seminole boys team completed its 3-mile workout, creating an orange streak across the finishing stretch at Chesnut Park.

First Gordon Redshaw, then Anthony Espaillat, then Matt Morton, then Nate Holden. Wait, who are those two guys after Holden? They're not wearing orange Seminole singlets.

Yes indeed, there were many other Pinellas public schools competing Thursday at the Cougar/Jim Thurston Invitational. It just seemed like a Seminole workout as the Warhawks dominated.

The Seminole boys proved they have no public-school peer in the county, finishing 1-2-3-4-7 (Andrew Kennedy) to beat runner-up Clearwater by 64, 17 to 81.

The Seminole girls didn't fare too badly either, romping to a 43-point win over Largo. The Warhawks were led by a gritty -- and somewhat surprising -- individual win from junior Nicole Ferraro.

"That's what I was hoping for," Seminole coach Bruce Calhoun said about his boys team. "Nicole, she ran a smart race and she did a darn nice job. I'm glad she had her opportunity to shine."

Ferraro and teammate Sarah Stargel raced together in the lead for most of the race. After the 2-mile mark, Stargel dropped off a bit and Countryside senior Erin Wilson moved up and caught Ferraro with about 500 yards to go.

Ferraro held her off down the stretch to win by a few strides in a personal best 19 minutes, 55 seconds. Wilson's 19:56 was her best time, too. With the Chesnut Park course extended to 3 miles, those are the second- and third-best performances in the county this year.

"Erin caught up and she helped push me to the finish," Ferraro said. "I felt really good afterwards. I'm surprised."

"I really, really wanted to be first, but I just couldn't do it," Wilson said. "She decided to speed up and I couldn't."

The only suspense in the boys race was which Seminole runner would win. Redshaw pulled ahead of Espaillat with about 250 yards to go, but Espaillat came roaring back and was right on Redshaw's heels with 40 yards left when the two hit a depression in the terrain, tangled legs and nearly went down.

Espaillat eased up slightly and Redshaw won in 16:09 (the fastest time in the county) to Espaillat's 16:10.

"There are some holes (near the finish) and I kicked Anthony's leg," Redshaw said. "It matters to me who wins, but the most important thing is keeping the team together."

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