Frank Horton 2014 Meet Review
Any day of the week, you can come out to these 4,500 acres of Shelby Farms green space, miles of trails and you’ll always see athletes running, training and on this Saturday morning, racing in one of the most popular cross country meets in the area, the Frank Horton. Twenty six boys and twenty four girls’ teams made up the Varsity side of this annual Frank Horton cross country meet. Over 800 athletes ran and that wasn’t counting the college teams. The high school side of the meet is hosted by Christian Brothers High School. And if you could stop Coach Dwyer long enough to talk, he’d tell you it was a perfect day to be outside for a cross country meet!
The boys’ varsity race was the last race of the day. The day started out in the high 60’s and then made a pretty quick turn towards the warm side and in the 80’s by the time the boys’ racers lined up in their boxes. The competition wasn’t dulled by the warmer air, on the contrary, it followed the temperatures and heated up from the very start. As usual, once the gun went off the rush of boys down the hill towards the tree was just a remarkable site to see. First one to the tree wins. Well not quite, but it does help to get out front quickly with this wild pack of runners.
There was a fairly large contingent of CBHS boys hurrying to watch the front runners come over the crest of the hill just before the first mile. They were there ready to cheer on the runners. And you could hear the cheers as the top two racers came across. Pierce Rose (MUS) and Javan Winders (Henry County) raced towards the first mile in that order. So, I suppose it wasn’t all cheers from the CBHS crowd at that point, but they were cheering something. The first mile in a cross country race isn’t always the best predictor of the finish. However, in this meet, the first mile certainly was a predictor that two super athletes were going to lead the way and not give up their spots. Neck and neck, Pierce and Javan ran. Just as they started the second loop, the Paris TN junior started to show his 4:24 mile speed and began to pull away on each stride. Javan kept that lead and crossed first in 15:55, just 14 seconds ahead of Pierce (16:09). I could be wrong, but I don’t believe anybody from the Memphis area has ever beaten Pierce at the Frank Horton event, not a bad record for this MUS senior athlete.
Rounding out the top five finishers on the boy’s side was Clayton Turner (MUS), who at the mile point wasn’t even in the top ten but made a strong finish and posting a PR of 16:32.50. Westminster Christian junior, Andrew Murray was fourth in 16:46.0. There was a big fight for the fifth finisher with Bartlett’s Eric Jaramillo (16:53.0) just sprinting ahead of Arlington’s Sena Murray (16:53.20) and SBA’s Ray Wynne (16:53.40) to get into that top five spot. Just goes to show how endurance is key to this sport, but a finishing kick can be a pretty strong weapon to have when you’re shoulder to shoulder and the finish is in site!
The team event, led by Pierce, was taken by Memphis University School with 83 points. In second, was host Christian Brothers High School with 112 points. Those two schools were clearly the front runners at this event. The CBHS team was a pretty tightly packed group, with their top four athletes all eight places of each other. This doesn’t surprise me since Coach Dwyer has a very strong team oriented focus to his Cross Country groups. Kyle Edwards (17:13.10), was the lead off athlete for the CBHS team. The only senior on the team was the fifth man, Daniel Liberkowski (17:59.80). Always nice to have a young squad in this sport.
The girl’s varsity race followed the college team events and maybe watching those talented athletes sparked on the girls’ race. Looking over the top ten finishers for the girls, there were only two seniors in that group. At the start of the race, the favorites looked to be among the local ranks, but there was some rumbling about a 5:10 miler out of Mississippi that has sub-19 in the 5K too. Turns out, Madison Central’s Rebecca Buteau came to this race with a purpose. By the first mile, and obviously not afraid to be in the front, Rebecca took that spot just ahead of LauraLys Shallow (St. Agnes). The Madison Central athlete did not give up that spot for the rest of the race and finished strong to take the Frank Horton title in 19:13.30. Looks like it was a trip worth taking for this talented junior. LauraLys finished with a 19:20.30, a bit off her best but certainly putting her at the top of the Memphis talent pool this year and getting her even more focused towards that big race on November 1st.
Coming off what would be considered a bit of a flat race last week at the TN Classic, Sammy Brainard (Collierville) came to this race with a purpose and ran a season best 19:41.20. In the D1 ranks for this area, it certainly looks like Sammy is making her mark as one of the best in the area – and this is a competitive area to say the least! The fourth and fifth place race was one that was worth watching. The only senior in the top five, Celine Rone of Arlington had to fight out up and coming freshman Meghan Underwood of St. Benedict. With a scorching 2:19 on the track for the 800, a finishing sprint might have seemed in the bag for Celine. But the youngster wasn’t going to let this race go down that easily. From about the last 300 meters, it seemed that both these athletes had plans to be sprinting across the carpet at the finish line. And it did come down to that, with Celine edging Meghan by the smallest of margins, like a one second margin. Celine finished in 20:01.20 and Meghan with a 20:02.30. As the senior finishes, the freshman comes onto the stage.
With Lauralys leading the way, St. Agnes was the clear team leader across the board. Their 107 points put them way ahead of Dominican (144) and St. Benedict, who by the way scored the exact same point total as the previous week at the TN Classic with 158 points. SBA squeezed ahead of fourth place finisher Westminster Christian Academy who had one point more with 159. Too close for comfort! Goes to show that you fight for every position in this sport and never give up.
The Memphis area has some great venues for Cross Country racing, and the Shelby Farms site is probably the best there is. And CBHS does a world class job of putting on this premiere event each year and we look forward to seeing it for many more years to come! Thanks Coach Nick!
See you on the Track... and the grass!
Coach Ted