South Boys Attack Sub-15 Barrier
By Stephen Underwood
Both at the top and depth-wise, it was a Virginia kind of day at
Foot Locker South Saturday. Make that a fast Virginia kind of day.
Not only did 2000 runner-up Bobby Lockhart power to a course record-tying
14:43 for the region crown, but Virginia took three of the top six
places, thanks to the efforts of Matt Keally (4th) and Fleet Hower
(6th).
Lockhart pulled away in the second half of the race to a 6-second
victory over North Carolina's Matt Debole (14:49) - who in turn
was three ticks up on double Great American champ Bobby Curtis of
Kentucky (14:52).
Alternating places with Keally (14:54) and Hower (14:55) were a
fast pair from Alabama, transplanted Texan Tyler Stanfield (14:54)
in 5th and state 6A champ Scott Fuqua (14:57) in 7th. Then North
Carolina's Milos Mitric, an exchange student from Yugoslavia, also
ran 14:57 for 8th to make it three Southern states with multiple
qualifiers.
All this on a day for which the worst was feared, weather-wise.
But the rain held off in the morning for the soaked (but not too
sloppy) course and the result was a rewriting of the meet's (and
course's) all time lists. Not only did Lockhart become the second
ever to break 14:50, but all eight qualifiers smashed the 15-minute
barrier, the first time that's happened in the meet's 22-year history.
Those eight now rank No. 2-No. 9 on the all-time McAlpine and meet
list.
Lockhart ran close to the lead all the way, barely trailing Rob
Morrow of Texas through a 4:41 mile and also giving it up briefly
to Fuqua. But after the second mile, he wasn't really challenged.
Now a three-time qualifier, it was the biggest triumph of Lockhart's
career - in CC, if not in running altogether. "I felt awesome
the whole way," the senior said. "I had so much energy
left at the end."
He then wryly acknowledged having been wary of his Kentucky rival's
finishing kick ("You never know about Curtis.") and continued
to show that he seems to progressed to a point of being less vulnerable
to disappointing results. "I didn't want any regrets this year.
Mark Stickley's helped me, and with Coach Burns … we've just
stepped it up so much."
Several feet away, Curtis shrugged off an effort that he said was
focused on just getting him back to Orlando. "I haven't raced
in a while, so I just chilled," the junior said. "I mean,
I raced hard and everything, but I had been sick and just to qualify
is a lot of stress off me."
Meanwhile, the only other non-senior in the top nine had improved
92 places from this race last year. Of course, Debole was the NC
4A runner-up last year and its champion this year. But the junior,
having also battled illness last spring, has now shown he really
has national-level talent. He stayed off the lead early, gradually
worked his way into the top three, then finished with a 12-second
PR.
"I'm excited … and also relieved," he said, giving
much credit to coach Mike Esposito. "I know the course pretty
well and I took advantage of that. I was really excited that Carly
(Matthews, his Mt. Tabor HS teammate) had qualified in the girls'
race, too."
Excited probably can't begin to describe the feelings of the other
first-time qualifiers. Five runners had faster times in the Virginia
state meet than Keally - only three in the whole South did Saturday.
Hower had the No. 2 time behind Lockhart in that event and used
the time since wisely. "It's the first race I've really rested
for all year," he said.
For Fuqua, the race was a fulfillment of his hopes that two Alabama
runners could qualify. Stanfield may have turned the tables from
their state meet duel, but that was secondary for the senior, who
had gone out fast, but slipped back. "I always go out hard,
but I have to because other guys have better speed at the end,"
he said. "Up the hill (1.5 miles), I took the lead. But going
around the lake, I was feeling pretty bad and had dropped back to
11th or 12th.
But something got Fuqua going again when Stanfield and Thorne got
on his shoulder. Later the Bama duo was 8th and 9th, but found enough
in the final half mile to secure their spots. "Ty ran an awesome
race," his friendly rival concluded.
Said Stanfield, "I just put my head down and rolled."
In some cases, rolling wasn't enough. Georgia's Joe Thorne, 4th
last year in 15:09, ran six seconds faster, but was 9th. Another
surprise was the lack of runners from Florida or Texas in the top
eight. The first two from the Sunshine State were super soph Ryan
Deak in 10th (15:06) and Rolf Steier in 11th (15:10). The first
Texan was Brian McKinstry in 12th. Interestingly, Deak was just
one second short of the time he declared it would take to qualify
(15:05). It seemed like a bold prediction at the time, yet the mark
needed was an incredible eight seconds faster.
But that's the kind of incredible day it was at McAlpine.
1. Bobby Lockhart (VA) 14:43
2. Matt Debole (NC) 14:49
3. Bobby Curtis (KY) 14:52
4. Matt Keally (VA) 14:54
5. Tyler Stanfield (AL) 14:55
6. Fleet Hower (VA) 14:55
7. Scott Fuqua (AL) 14:57
8. Milos Mitric (NC) 14:57
9. Joe Thorne (GA) 15:03
10. Ryan Deak (FL) 15:06
11. Rolf Steier (FL) 15:10
12. Brian McKinstry (TX) 15:15
13. Kippy Keino (VA) 15:17
14. Samuel Vazquez (FL) 15:18
15. Isaac Lafond (KY) 15:18
Foot Locker South
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