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County teams see light at end of trail
By KEITH NIEBUHR Winning a state championship is every team's goal, but sometimes you have to be realistic. Because the Citrus boys and Lecanto girls likely don't have the numbers to capture Class 2A titles Saturday at Ed Radice Park in Tampa, each is aiming for something else. Citrus wants a top-five finish. Lecanto wants to be the top public school. Both would be cause of celebration, because each squad has come so far. Citrus began the season without two of its top three runners from a 2000 team that was fourth at state. Lecanto was so riddled by injuries last year, it failed to advance through regionals. "This is the week we're shooting for," Citrus coach Bruce Nelson said. "We'd like to step it up at state." A season ago, his Hurricanes had title hopes. But C.J. Bryant -- Citrus' No. 4 runner in 2000 -- was slowed by tendinitis, and the team got little from the bottom of the lineup as it finished 14 points behind first-place Tampa Jesuit. From that squad, the 'Canes lost Rick Miller (13th at state) to graduation and Logan Bollenback (eighth), who quit. This season, the Hurricanes are not as strong at the top but have more depth. En route to state, they went 105-15 and picked up victories in several events, including the District 3 meet. Last week, Citrus finished third in its regional as junior Tony Lyons was second and Bryant, a senior, placed fifth. "We weren't too concerned that we didn't win," Bryant said. "That makes us the underdog, and we like that better than being at the top and having pressure." Lyons and Bryant are expected to finish near the front, but the keys to a strong performance for Citrus will be the production of its other runners -- Cliff Bryant, D.J. Carella, James Lopiccolo, Milton Lyons and Justin Macdonald. Top-ranked Miami Gulliver Prep and No. 2 Jesuit are considered the favorites. "If we can get five to have good days, we can be competitive," Nelson said. "We've got to get a couple more seconds out of our No. 3, 4 and 5 guys." Lecanto enters state with momentum. In the past three weeks, the Panthers have won conference, district and regional crowns. The Region 3 championship was the most impressive. It came against a field that had seven other ranked teams, including No. 5 Orlando Bishop Moore and No. 6 Cocoa Beach. "It was great last week," said Lecanto senior Amanda Howard. "We wanted to kind of prove everybody wrong. We hadn't gotten the attention (in the rankings), and nobody knew about us." The Panthers were led in the regional by Howard's third-place finish. Sophomore Deidra Witherspoon was 10th, and three other Lecanto runners were in the top 21. In 2000, Howard, slowed by an upper thigh injury, was 91st in the regional. Her teammates didn't fare much better. One year removed from an eighth-place showing at state, the Panthers stayed home. "When Amanda finished 91st, that hurt," Lecanto coach Dan Epstein said. "We knew we weren't going to state." Lecanto, like Citrus, has great depth. Each of the Panthers' top-five runners finished in less than 21 minutes last week. Lecanto is among the favorites but will have to contend with Miami Lourdes, Pensacola Catholic, Jacksonville Bishop Kenny and Jacksonville Bolles. In claiming the Region 4 title in Miami, Lourdes had seven runners in the top nine. The worst time it counted was 19:21. "We'd like to beat all the teams we beat at regionals, and we'd like to be the top public school," Epstein said. "That would be nice."
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