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Meet Preview - Astronaut Invitational 2016 - DyeStatFLPublished by
The 2016 Astronaut XC Invitational will feature a competitive mix of Middle School and High School XC teams from as far south as Ft. Lauderdale and as far north as Daytona Beach. A total of 50 teams are scheduled to compete. Teams Scheduled to Compete (hyper-linked to team page on Athletic.net)
Last year, times were skewed significantly on the always fast Chain of Lakes course. Meet management is on record as saying any issues with course length for 2016 has been rectified. It will undoubtedly be interesting to see what changes have been made to the course to lengthen the distance.
Meet Schedule Varsity Boys Team Preview With 3 weeks of meets to reflect on, the favorite team going in for the title are Coach Butler's Satellite Scorpions. Great showings at Wickham Park and at the Fleet Feet Invitational presented by Saucony, where they captured the team title over 3A Belen Jesuit, clearly makes them the favorite going in. An off week this past weekend may have been exactly what the doctor ordered to ensure everyone is rested up and healthy with their scoring 7. Last week we saw Coach Gardner's Timber Creek Boys edge out a slimmed down Saints team from Trinity Prep by 1 point, 160-161 at the Holy Trinity Cross Cross County Invitational. Will they be able to fend off the tight spreads of Oviedo and Viera with their measly 35 seconds between their one to five? Earlier this year, Oviedo beat them considerably at Ted Benz, 89-112. Melbourne's Viera finished 8th at the Jim Ryun Season Opener Celebration led by Collin Quigley in 17:36. The Hawks strength is their tight spread. 2016 Season Best Times
Varsity Girls Team Preview When we last saw the Satellite girls, they were doing exactly what Coach Butler desired, pack-running. It served them well at the Fleet Feet Invitational as they slowly moved up in the race and captured the team trophy led by Lana Rukab's 7th place finish. We see much of the same happening tomorrow at Chain of Lakes. Other teams vying for top honors include Lake Mary, 4th Florida team at Spikes and Spurs, Lake Brantley and Spruce Creek. It will be a tall order for anyone to get by Satellite given their early season successes, but if anyone can, we see Lake Mary being helped immensely if Daniela Urzua is able to find her 2015 form. 2016 Season Best Times
Boys Individual Preview It's hard to see anyone beating Titusville's Mason Jones in this race. His front running ability has proved elusive to counter so far this season. With impressive wins at Wickham Park and then last week at Holy Trinity, his only loss this season was to Charles Hicks from Bolles School at Spikes and Spurs in a 2A Showdown. The chase pack will have to stay formed and determined as we see Mason clocking a 4:50 opening mile at Astronuat tomorrow morning although the race will be a little later in the morning than weeks past. If Lyman's Bell, St. Cloud's Montalvo, and Lake Mary's St. Lewis can work together collectively, they may enough to close down the distance on Jones the latter stages of the race. 2016 Season Best Times
Girls Individual Preview Last week at Holy Trinity, we saw the emergence of senior Melbourne Central Catholic Hustler Amanda Beach run a state leading time going 17:47. We expect to see another dominant performance this weekend at Astronaut with a slightly different twist with the addition Lake Brantley's Ashley Klingenberg, and Melbourne Bulldog Natalie Bress, in the field. Whereas last week Beach was all alone when we saw her at the mile mark, we expect she'll have some company this week. We've yet to see Klingenberg in person but did see Bress during her first cross-country race at Fleet Feet. She likes to front run, and she will need to at Astronaut to keep Beach in check. Klingenberg finished 3rd at Spikes and Spurs behind Bolles' Collier and Hajda. Throw in Holy Trinity's Samantha Folio and the Girls Varsity is a race you don't want to miss.
SEE THE FULL RUBBER RUNDOWN HERE FOR THE 2016 ASTRONAUT INVITATIONAL
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