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Cross Country NotesWarhawks beat heat and competition
By ERIC VICIAN © St. Petersburg Times, published September 26, 1998 In the hallways of Seminole, non-cross country runners can't figure out why the team subjects itself to what the outsiders deem as torture. "Everybody asks us, "How can you run and enjoy it?' " Tyler Parhalo said. Parhalo offered a quick, simple reason: "It's because of Coach." Bruce Calhoun has been the Warhawks coach since 1983. And for most of his tenure, he has been surrounded by talented runners such as recent standouts Jason Nymark, Chris Irving and Lou Snellings. Calhoun is the first to credit his strong runners, but said he isn't sure how good this team is yet. He said he won't know "until we get into some bigger meets." The boys team, however, has an idea of what it wants to accomplish. Mike Kyne, who put in 450 miles this summer, said the goals are to win the conference and regional meets and finish in the top three at the state meet. "Coach is a motivator," Joe Van Asten said. "He is one of our best friends. We enjoy going out every day and killing ourselves." LITMUS TEST: The USF/Leto Invitational has long served as an early-season measuring stick for teams. This year, a few developments have emerged. In the boys open division race, Clearwater Central Catholic finished a distant 24th in a field that featured mostly larger schools. But more important, St. Petersburg Catholic finished 26th, which could mean a tight race between the district rivals in Class 3A. The same holds true in Class 2A where the Northside Christian boys were one place better than the Keswick Christian boys, who took 29th. That could mean battles in the Bay Conference and district meets. Individually, Keswick's Christa Benton lived up to her top billing as the Class 2A No. 1 runner. She finished fourth in the invitational race in 18 minutes, 58 seconds -- trailing runners from larger schools. Largo's Erin Mayros also fared well. She took ninth in the open race in 21:49. STATE RANKINGS: Despite looking strong in Pinellas County meets, some of the area teams have been unable to crack the top 10 in the coaches' polls. The Seminole girls team, which hasn't lost with fourth-ranked Misty Harper, has so far been snubbed in the Class 5A rankings, which have Miami Our Lady of Lourdes at the top. The Tampa Bay area is represented by Plant (2), Gulf (6) and Ridgewood (10). In 4A, the Palm Harbor University boys look as if they might be able to reach the state meet, but so far are unranked. Jesuit -- which finished second at the USF meet -- Hernando, Lecanto and Citrus are the top four teams. In 3A, Clearwater Central Catholic's depth has gone unrecognized. Pensacola Catholic is the team to beat and Berkeley Prep is ranked fifth. TRANSPORTATION TROUBLE: The East Lake girls ran into some traffic en route to the Rebel Invitational last week. The bus arrived at the Northwest Complex in St. Petersburg just as the race was about to start. As a result, only Jody Hynes and Leah Weiss were able to run. But they made the most of their opportunity. Hynes, a sophomore, finished fourth and Weiss was sixth.
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T. PETERSBURG -- The hot, humid weather doesn't exactly invite people to run long distances. Still, every year Seminole High trots out dozens of runners and they compete for team and individual titles on a consistent basis.
