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Parrot, Schmidt Cruise To St. Pete Beach Classic Wins

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By BILL WARD, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 20, 2008

ST. PETE BEACH - Saturday's winners of the St. Pete Beach Classic 10-kilometer road race used the foggy event as a tune-up for an even bigger event. Women's champion Dana Parrot of Tampa has her sights set on next month's Gasparilla Distance Classic while men's titlist Craig Schmidt of Zephyrhills is aiming for the St. Anthony's Triathlon in April.

The 38-year-old Parrot, a two-time Olympic women's marathon trials qualifier, posted a relatively comfortable margin of victory against runner-up Vicki Jetton of Clearwater. Parrot covered the course in 38 minutes, 17 seconds while Jetton, 37, earned second in 38:51. One of the area's top marathoners, 40-year-old Lois Waite of Tampa, was third in 38:57.

Parrot's winning time wasn't her fastest 10k but she was using the event as a "testing race" as she prepares for Gasparilla. She's undecided which of the races she will run in the Tampa event but says she is leaning toward the 15k.

"I haven't felt great the last six months but this was a good turnaround for me," said Parrot, who moved to the area three years ago with her husband and daughter. "I'm off my PRs personal records right now but I'm not injured, I'm healthy and getting some consistency back in my training."

In March, Parrot tried to post her third marathon trials qualifying time at the Virginia Beach Marathon but some tough weather conditions resulted in her running 2:56:33, well off the "B" standard of 2:47. For now, she says she's just happy to be running injury-free.

The 24-year-old Schmidt, who competed for East Carolina University before moving to Zephyrhills, had a little tougher time capturing the men's first-place plaque. For much of the 6.2-mile race, he and Lee Stephens of Land O' Lakes took turns holding the lead. Masters runner Steve Mandel of Temple Terrace was even within striking distance for nearly four miles.

But when Schmidt threw down a 5-minute mile between the fifth and sixth mile, the race was his. He crossed the finish line in a 10k road best of 33:12, 26 seconds ahead of Stephens, who said Saturday's humidity made him "feel wetter than if I had just gotten out of the ocean." Mandel, 42, was third in 34:00.

Just last month, Stephens, 27, beat Schmidt at the Say No to Drugs Holiday Classic 10k in Clearwater. Saturday was a different story.

"Had he Schmidt run today like he did at Say No to Drugs, what I ran today would have been enough to win," said Stephens, who ran 13 seconds faster Saturday than the race in Clearwater. "He's obviously in better shape."

Schmidt said he actually has not done much different in his training the last month. In fact, he's been logging more than 40 hours a week at his job at a Tampa Panera Bread and spending part of his training time in the pool and on a bike.

"Honestly, I just think he Stephens was the better man that day," said Schmidt, who improved his time from Clearwater by nearly a minute. "It's been a month since that race and I sometimes have days like that and sometimes I have days like this."

Reporter Bill Ward can be reached at (813) 259-7456 or wward@tampatrib.com.

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