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Gulf Coach Happy With 2nd Place

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By LARRY BUGG Tribune correspondent

Published: September 17, 2007

SHADY HILLS - Gulf High coach Dean Lofton was a happy man Saturday morning.

His Gulf High girls cross country team took second in the girls team competition in the 11th annual Gator Invitational.
Sickles won with 93 points. Gulf was second with 124 points. Second-year school Wiregrass Ranch was third with 135.

Gulf's Jaci Pustelnik was the top Bucs' finisher in 13th with a 22:08. Brittine Bennett was 18th with a time of 22:19. Courtney McAuliffe was 26th (22:28), Colleen McAuliffe 35th (23:02), Jessica Peck 38th (23:07) and Natalie Smith 60th (24:43).

'The girls did fantastic,' Lofton said.

Pasco High's Leeann Eble showed she is healthy and fit, finishing second in the girls race. Eble ran a 20:42 to finish behind Ocala Vanguard's Tori Lawson, who had a time of 20:02.
Eble won the race last year despite struggling with an irregular heartbeat. She had off-season surgery and appeared to be in excellent health and condition.

The 2006 Pasco Tribune Runner of the Year had more problems with a Friday car accident.

'I feel good,' Eble said. 'I got hurt Friday. I was driving and a car rear-ended me. Somebody hit one of my friends and she hit me. We she and Lawson were neck-and-neck until about two miles out.'

Land O' Lakes' Felix Soto felt he should have done better in the boys race. He finished third with a time of 16:42. Tampa Sickles' Derek Wehunt won for the second consecutive year. He had a time of 15:52. Tampa Jesuit's Connor Revord was second with a clocking of 16:03.

'I was pretty off on my times,' Soto said. 'I'm disappointed. We don't always have a good race. I started off with Derek and Connor and hurried through my race strategy. I should have been a few feet behind at the beginning. That's why I didn't have enough to finish. He Wehunt was in the lead the whole time. I passed him for about 100 meters and then he passed me back. If I ran a good race, I think I would have gotten him.'

Soto said he beat Wehunt in the Fourth Of July Independence Race in Lutz.

Kris Keppel, the Gators coach, wasn't happy with the finish. Land O' Lakes finished fourth with 122 points. Chamberlain was third with 116 points.

'We should have finished third but Chamberlain did better,' Keppel said. 'We are real even. We ran a good race. They were more of a surprise than I thought.

'That was his Soto's fastest time on this course,' Keppel added. 'His goal was to finish in the top three so he did what he intended to do. All of our boys ran PRs for this course and I am very happy. We were 19:30 for our top seven. That's the fastest we have been on this course. We met most of our goals. We can beat Chamberlain.'

Wehunt won his second straight boys title at the Gator Invitational. He improved by 55 seconds over his 2006 time with a 15:52 clocking. Jesuit's Revord was second with a time of 16:03.

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