On Saturday morning, 24 January 2015, it was lousy weather for a mile in Gainesville, Florida. It was chilly, it was wet, and the wind was thrashing the limbs of the live oaks on the University of Florida campus. It would indeed have been lousy weather for a mile if the mile hadn’t been inside as the opening event of the Jimmy Carnes Indoor Track & Field Invitational.

 

 

Competition started at 8:30 AM with the mile for 15-16 year old girls. North Broward Prep frosh Katie Pinell set the pace for the field most of the way, then opened a gap on the last lap around the 200-meter track. Behind Pinnell, Holy Trinity sophomore Samantha Folio remained calm.

 

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"I was right where I wanted to be," said Folio.

 

 

With 100 meters to go, Folio began to reel in Pinell. Coming off the final turn, Folio swung wide and caught Pinell just before the finish line, winning the race 5:26.28 to 5:26.31.

 

 

“This was my fourth time here but my first in the mile,” said Folio. “I’ve run the 3000 in the past.”

 

 

Krissy Gear, in the second section, was hardly the same kind of seasoned veteran as Folio. Gear is new to track and field, and she started out as a pole vaulter.

 

 

“I was doing the pole vault but I wanted to run something,” said Gear. “So my coach put me in the 400.”

 

 

Later Gear added the 800 to her resume. At the Jimmy Carnes meet she raced her first mile ever and won the second section in 5:26.31, placing her third overall.

 

 

Holy Trinity sophomore Trevor Kattenberg led the 15-16 boys mile early, turning out 35 second laps like a craftsman. After passing 800 in 2:20 Kattenberg broke away from the field, cruising home to win in 4:43.97. Behind Trevor Kattenberg, two other Holy Trinity sophomores fought for second, with Egan Kattenberg edging Johnny Cacciatore 4:46.89 to 4:47.11. Johnny Cacciatore had won the 15-16 boys 3000-meters the evening before, running 9:33.03.

 

 

Hallandale senior Briana Pollock led the girls 17-19 mile for 200 meters before Fort Walton Beach junior Emma Rudman took over the lead. Chamberlain junior Maggie Parrish quickly replaced Rudman. Through 600 meters the leaders set a comfortable pace. Too comfortable for Hannah Brookover.

 

 

“It was too slow,” said the Calvary Christian junior. “About 81 seconds for 400. I had to go.”

 

 

Brookover went. By 800 meters she was so far ahead that Parrish and Rudman looked like they were in a different race. For the rest of the mile Brookover ran alone, getting the win in 5:21.13. Parish was second in 5:31.26. Hilton Head junior Carley McGlinn took third, edging early leader Pollock 5:36.69 to 5:36.76. The other one-time leader, Rudman, placed fifth in 5:37.31.

 

 

There were four sections of the boys 17-19 mile. The first section was new territory for Fort Walton Beach senior Trey LaNasa.

 

 

“I never ran an indoor race before in my life,” confessed LaNasa. “My coach told me I needed to get out fast.”

 

 

Following his coach’s advice, LaNasa led the field through the first 400 meters in 65 seconds. The next 400 was a bit slower, 68 seconds, but LaNasa was still out front. Maintaining his pace, LaNasa opened a big gap on the rest of the runners. The field started to come back on him during the final lap, but LaNasa was too far ahead and won the first section in 4:30.39.

 

 

Wolfson senior Connor Vaughan had been seeded in the second section. “I didn’t know until ten minutes before that I was going to be in the slower section,” said Vaughan. “I decided to look at it as an advantage. I knew the time I needed to beat from the first section.”

 

 

Knowing your goal isn’t meeting your goal, but meet it Vaughan did. The Jacksonville Wolfson distance runner posted a 4:28.98 in the second section, beating LaNasa’s mark and winning the mile.

 

 

“Outdoors I’ll probably run the mile and the two mile, but I may run the 800, too,” said Vaughan. At the Jimmy Carnes Invitational, though, Vaughan was a miler.

 

 

Katie Pinell came back after her second place finish in the mile to race the 15-16 girls 800. Skylur Taylor of Hampton Middle School (Georgia) led through 600, but then Pinnell dashed up through the field to take over.

 

 

“I saw the other girls go out hard,” said Pinnell. “I tried to run my own race and just see if I could catch them.”

 

 

She could. Pinnell ran away from the other athletes in her section to win the race in 2:23.85. She would be back later to run yet a third race, the 15-16 girls 400, where she placed seventh in 62.37.

 

 

“I won my section!” said Pinnell.

 

 

However, there is no truth to the rumor that Pinell was competing in the shot later.

 

 

Second place in the 15-16 girls 800 came out of the second section of the race, though. For the second time that Saturday, Krissy Gear ran strong out of section two of an event. This time she ran a 2:24.32 800 to place runner-up.

 

 

Like Pinnell, 17-19 girls mile champion Hannah Brookover also came back in the 800. Brookover set the pace through 400 meters, then Tavares senior Harley Horsley exploded into the lead.

 

 

“My coach wanted me to be real aggressive in this meet,” said Horsley. “I saw the chance and I went for it. I kept going hard because I knew they’d be coming for me.”

 

 

She was wrong. No one was coming for her. Running a three-second PR, Horsley won the race in 2:22.30. Brookover held off Space Coast junior Skye Zeller for second, 2:24.00 to 2:24.08.

 

 

Heritage frosh Isaiah Petit-Jeune was out front for the first 200 meters of section one of the 15-16 boys 800. Brandon Mays took over for the next 400, but then Petit-Jeune was back in the lead and driving for home. Behind him, though, Grayson (Georgia) frosh Emmanuel Devore was also finishing strong. Just before the finish line, Devore slipped by Petit-Jeune to win the section, 2:13.80 to 2:13.83.

 

 

“I didn’t see him,” said Petit-Jeune.

 

 

What neither Devore nor Petit-Jeune could have seen was what would happen in the second section. Hilton Head (SC) sophomore Phillip Evans went out hard the first 200. When Sandalwood sophomore Terrance Sessoms took over after that, Evans refused to go away, continuing to push Sessoms. Racing hard all the way to the line, Sessoms went 2:11.08 and Evans went 2:11.30, taking first and second in the event.

 

 

“This is my fastest open 800,” said Sessoms. “I’ve split 2:04 in a 4 x 800. My best race is the two-mile actually.”

 

 

Actually, Sessoms will run just about anything. The night before he had placed second in the 15-16 boys 3000, running 9:35.63. Earlier Saturday he was fourth in the 15-16 boys mile with a 4:48.45. Sessoms is also eccentric in his footwear. In an arena full of spiked shoes, he was probably the only athlete wearing Vibram Five Fingers.

 

 

“I’ve been running in the Vibrams since cross country,” said Sessoms. “About five months.”

 

 

Robinson senior Jack Rogers was more conventional in his choice of shoes, wearing typical track spikes while winning the 17-19 boys 800. Boca Raton senior Sawyer Bilton followed Rogers across the line, second in 2:00.65, while Lake Brantley senior Max Robinson was third in 2:00.87 and Calvary Christian senior Chris Robin took fourth in 2:01.10.Columbus sophomore Humberto Freire ran a 2:01.40 in section two to take fifth.

 

 

“No one is using starting blocks in the 400,” one of the meet officials informed me. “We’ve got 80 sections of the 400. We’ll be here Tuesday if they’re all fiddling with their blocks.”

 

 

If you’re used to outdoor track, it’s an unusual experience to see a 400-meter race where the athletes not only start without blocks, but break out of their lanes before the 200-meter mark. No one was hurt by it, though. Southridge sophomore Symone Mason won the 15-16 girls race in 58.62, Oak Ridge senior Sharrika Barnett won the 17-19 girls race in 55.39, Brian Herron of the Decatur (GA) Flight 400 TC took the 15-16 boys event in 51.80, and Banneker senior and international competitor Ryan Clark raced 49.12 to win the 17-19 boys 400.

 

 

The 55-meter dash offered the spectacle of seeing 228 athletes slam into a wall at close to top speed. As a bonus, track fans also got to see First Academy senior Teahna Daniels run a US #1 mark of 6.93 in winning the 17-19 girls race. If the performance is any indication, Daniels has recovered well from a shoulder injury she suffered months ago.

 

 

“I’ve got two more indoor meets scheduled and I’m trying to go to New Balance Indoor Nationals,” said Daniels.

 

 

Miami Southridge sophomore Symone Mason won the 15-16 girls sprint in 7.16, Seneca Milledge of Fort Myers Middle won the 15-16 boys in 6.53, and Kylan Oats won the 17-19 boys in 6.52.

 

 

The latter half of the program belonged to the even younger youth athletes--age groups 6-and-under through 13-to-14. With the very first running event, the 55-meter dash, you could see what distinguished this age set. These were the athletes who accelerated after the finish line so that they could slam into the wall harder. Some of them even hung around after the race to practice running into the wall.

 

 

This is not to say that it was all an improv performance of “The Three Stooges Go To The Olympics.” Many of the youngsters took their athletics seriously, and some were very good.

 

 

11-year-old Ani Veltcheva, for instance, had spent last spring chasing a single-age world record in the 5K. At this year’s Jimmy Carnes meet she had already won Friday night’s 11-12 girls 3000 in 10:58.17. It was the third fastest youth girls time recorded that evening; only two of the high school girls had run faster. On Saturday afternoon she was back running the mile.

 

 

With 400 to go it was a four-girl race--Kendyl Cardwell, Elyse Pleune, Alexa Baker and Ani Veltcheva. Cardwell and Veltcheva were locked in a struggle for first at the start of the final 200-meter lap, but 50 meters later, Veltcheva made her move. Lights out. Veltcheva raced home first in 5:45.57, Cardwell was second in 5:46.95, Pleune third in 5:46.98, and Baker fourth in 5:55.61.

 

 

Coach Jimmy Carnes’ life was one devoted to track and field at all levels. Carnes served as the US Olympic Team coach, but he also championed age-group track meets in Gainesville, Florida. The track in the O’Connell center won’t survive the renovation of the building, and that will be sad. But it would be sadder still if Carnes namesake, the Jimmy Carnes Invitational (especially the youth meet), didn’t continue in some form or another.

 

Northwest Florida Correspondent Herb Wills

Herb Wills' running career goes back to the 1971 boys' age-group mile at the Florida Relays. Since losing that race he has won the 1976 Florida High School class 4A cross-country championship, 1979 AAU USA junior titles in cross-country and the 10,000 meters, and the 1989 TAC USA 30K national championship. As a distance runner at Florida State University from 1978 to 1982, he was NCAA All-American three times in track and once in cross country, and won a silver medal in the marathon at the 1981 World University Games. Graduating Florida State with a degree in mathematics, in the following years Wills ran in the USA Olympic Marathon Trials in 1984, 1988, and 1992, and placed tenth in the Boston Marathon in 1989. After more than a few years of duty as a hurdle setter and lane judge at track meets, Wills discovered that the public address announcer not only got to sit down at meets but was also sheltered from the rain. Since that revelation you can hear him with a microphone in his hand at several track and cross-country events in the Tallahassee area. Writing is another activity you can do while sitting down, and Wills has written about running for Racing South magazine and Tallahassee's local newspaper, the Tallahassee Democrat.

 

You can read more running related tidbits in his blog at http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/

 

Herb Wills NorthWest Florida Reports 2015 ARTICLES / 2014 ARTICLES