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By SCOTT PURKS
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 23, 2000
TAMPA -- Rolf Steier's timing was perfect.
He defended his state title in November by running 3 miles in 15 minutes, 10 seconds, and then he got the flu, suffered an appendicitis. The past two weeks, the Berkeley Prep junior said he has "gone for just a couple of light jogs," and has all but decided not to play soccer for the first time in years.
"I want to recover and then concentrate on running full time," he said.
"I have some goals I'd like to pursue. So this appendicitis has worked out about as well as it possibly could have."
In no particular order, Steier wants to run a mile in under 4:10 and break 9 minutes for 2 miles (something that hasn't been done in Florida for more than 20 years).
"Those goals would be difficult to achieve, but if everything works out, who knows?" said Steier, whose personal best for the mile is 4:19. "It can't hurt to try."
Steier often has to rely on goals based on times because he's so much faster than anyone else in the bay area. Ultimately, though, Steier enjoys close competition.
His favorite race this season, in fact, wasn't the defense of his state title, but the only prep race he lost -- the Florida Invitational at the University of Florida.
The race started at a slow pace and stayed that way for the first 2 miles. The last mile was a simple sprint. That's when Winter Park's Mike Swope, who won the Class 4A state title in 14:54, surged to beat Steier by one second.
"I never really thought about it, but I guess that race was the most fun for me," he said. "I enjoyed that race more because it was more strategic I think. We were close the whole way."
In the end, Steier can say he lived up to his preseason ranking as one of the nation's top 50 high school runners (top seven juniors), according to The Harrier, a nationally renowned runner's magazine.
Just in the nick of time.