2015 Frank Horton Meet Preview
The Frank Horton is a uniquely designed cross country meet. It intermixes High School events between College events. For those high school athletes considering doing this sport in college, it's a great opportunity to see exactly what that's going to be like. Might also be a good chance for college athletes to see what high school athletes might just give them some competition in the coming years. The Frank Horton and the Rhodes College Invitational combine for a great event at the Shelby Farms venue this Saturday. Good weather, great course, and an imposing group of some pretty fast athletes will make this a nice morning for cross country racing!
We are going to see some of the top ten finishers from last season return for another shot at getting even better at this seasons version of the Frank Horton. One to keep an eye out for is defending Champion Javan Winders (Henry County), who is returning even stronger than last year. This will be Javan's second trip to the Memphis area and I'm sure he's hoping the outcome is the same as his first… a win at the Brooks Twilight! The Frank Horton this year has about 800 or so athletes entered among the girls and boys high school ranks, making it the biggest meet outside the Brooks. With just a short six weeks left till the state championship meet, it's also an opportune time to post some pretty fast times. And that's why you come to this meet, to run fast! Not sure what the record is for this race (maybe 15:38), but Javan has already run at least that this season and could be gunning to get his name into the records books at this long running event. With the way he's been competing, that could very well happen Saturday.
Last year's third place finisher, Clayton Turner (MUS), is also in the field. I haven't seen Clayton run a big meet this year yet, but considering his place last year, the fact that he's a senior now, and having a running resume as impressive as it is comprehensive, he may be ready for a break out time in the 5K. Terrell Jackson, Clayton's teammate who is coming off a top ten finish at the TN Classic last week is also in the field. Terrell seems to be more comfortable running on the oval than cross country, but with his leg speed over the shorter distances could prove beneficial once he gets past the last hill of this race and rounds the turn over the last 600 meters or so. Just like Clayton, these guys can be scary fast in the sprint part of any race.
Andrew Murray of Westminster Christian is schedule to run and my guess he'll push to improve on his last years fourth place time of 16:46 and give Javan and the MUS boys a run for the top. Senna Murray of Arlington is another one to watch, although I haven't seen him run this season yet so we may be in for a surprise if he improves on his time from last year. With the weather looking pretty good and the course being fairly dry from hardly any rain lately, the times here might be something to watch out for too.
Ray Wynne of St. Benedict is another one to keep a close eye on at this meet. Ray ran the Brooks earlier this season and improved his time from the previous year by almost a minute. Then he ran last week at the TN Classic and improved there as well by well over a minute! The Classic is also not one of the easiest courses to improve along either! So this athlete is stepping up in the box with a heck of a lot of well earned and well deserved confidence from some impressive performances. I'm looking forward to seeing how much he can improve on his time and place from last season's race here!
Another top 10 finisher from last year, Briarcrest's James Basse, is coming into this race with a pretty impressive fifth place finish at last week's TN Classic. James ran a 17:30.54 last week and that's a pretty strong race for James at this point of the season. I usually compare the Steeplechase course to be around 30 to 45 seconds slower than most other courses and James ran a 17:10 at the Brooks earlier which is only 20 seconds faster than his ran last week. That's on the strong side of my course comparison and so it tells me he's coming into this Saturday's race feeling pretty good!
A few others to watch will be Houston's Christopher Rayder who ran a 15:46 at the Chickasaw Trails earlier and finished 2nd in the Gold division last week at the TN Classic. This course being a familiar location for him may just give him a big edge and one to challenge for the top spot. And with Christian Brother High School being the host of the event, you might want to put Kyle Edwards on the watch list. Kyle has suddenly shown some significant improvement in his 5k cross country distance with a remarkable improvement from his overall times of last year. And he'll have some good company with his teammates as CBHS brings in about 46 athletes to top off the meet with the largest team entry! But that's how CBHS cross country works, those brothers enjoy the cross country sport!
There are probably several other athletes to look for at this meet, like University School of Jackson's Jack Goodwin who has a 16 flat 5K PR and finished in the top 12 last week at the classic. And coming from a very talented running family, Foster Hudsmith of White Station is also another athlete that has shown improvement over the years and having run a 16:32 last week in Louisville could be a sign he's heading into this season with some strong goals. Titus Winders, yes he's related to Javan, is another one to watch with his recent 16:17 run at the Voyles Classic. One that has really improved is Missouri's Westminster Christian Academy's Evan Parres who ran a 17:12 recently which is a pretty big improvement over several high 17 and low 18 performances over the past season. This could make Evan be a surprise entry into the top pack at this race.
I'm excited to see all these athletes run this weekend! Javan Winders and Christopher Rayder seem to be the top guns with their current top 10 ranking positions in the state. But again, cross country is as much mental as it's physical. You never know what might happen, especially on this course.
The girl's side of the picture could be wide open on who may be the top gun this weekend. Well, that is if someone can rig the Houston girl's alarm clocks so they sleep in Saturday morning. Ella Baran is coming off a very strong race with her win at the TN Classic last week. And Michelle Myers, her teammate, right behind her with a second place at the same meet last week. They run strong together and I have no doubt the same will happen this Saturday. Of course, Shian Mallory, with her track speed, may just decide to challenge these two and jump in front at some time during the race. Shian was fourth last week at the Classic and yes, is Ella and Michelle's teammate. I'm not sure there's a team around the area right now that can take down the Houston girls.
Of course, I'm not one to start anything but currently Michelle (Houston) is just ahead of Ella (Houston) in the state CC rankings… Ella beat Michelle last week at the TN Classic. Ella is ranked 9th overall and Michelle is 8th. Hmm… this course just might be a chance to shake up that ranking a bit! We'll see. No matter, watching these Houston girls run is going to be fun for sure!
And you can't count out Briarcrests Ruth Wiggins. Ruth had some issues at about the 2 mile mark at the Brooks and hopefully she'll be back strong this week as she is always up for some tough competition! And she's always a threat to contend at no matter what distance it might be. Ruth's runner up spot at the state track championships 800 last year certainly proves she has the leg speed and is someone to watch for over the last few meters of any race. And never count out Sammy Brainard of Collierville who has run a 19:17 on this course in the past and a top 10 finish last week and familiarity with this course will put her near the top as well. And SBA's Meghan Underwood, who can be scary fast (understatement here!) with 800 meters to go, is another top contender and is very familiar with this course as well. Sammy and Meghan ran shoulder to shoulder at last week's Classic and could do the same this week as they chase down the Houston group. Sometimes competitors can feed off each other to take on another competitor. Well now, we'll just see how things turn out. That's the fun part with cross country, sometimes your competition helps you get better, helps you meet a challenge, and really, just flat out makes you better!
A surprise candidate for a good time could be Elise Hamilton of Spartan's Running Club of Mississippi who recently ran a 19:33.75 at West TN Classic in Jackson. Haven't seen a lot of what this girl can run but if this is her start into cross country racing, a mid 19 is not a bad way to begin and I'm wondering if we could see an even faster run at the Horton this weekend. And of course, Marah Barnhart, another Houston runner comes into this meet with a top 10 at the Classic last weekend and has a 19:33 time so far this year which could be improved on at this course. Or maybe Rebecca or Anna Tankersley or possibly Maddie Lindeman. On yea those girls are also from Houston and capable of going sub mid 19's. So overall on the girls side, I am a bit hard pressed to make a call on this… well, other than the Houston girls winning the team title, that much I'd put money on at this race.
So who do you think is going to bust out a fast race at this meet and either surprise us or pretty much validate themselves as a top gun this season? Remember, this is a fast course and anybody can break out a fast time if they feel up to the challenge Saturday morning. And in between the high school races will be college competitions as well, so a good chance to possibly impress a college coach competing in the Rhodes Invitational that goes along with this Frank Horton meet. Now who's going to be the one that impresses the most??? Lace them up tight, it's time to race again!
Here's the schedule for the meet:
8:00 a.m. - Frank Horton Invitational High
School Girls Varsity Race - 5k
8:30 a.m. - Rhodes College Invitational Men's
Race - 8k
9:10 a.m. - Frank Horton Invitational High
School Boys Race - 5k
9:40 a.m. - Rhodes College Invitational women's
Race - 6k
10:10 a.m. - Frank Horton Invitational High
School JV Combined Race - 5k
Come watch… you won't be disappointed!
See you on the track… and the grass!
Coach Ted