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'Little Guy' Wilkins Comes Up Big Again

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By BILL WARD

wward@tampatrib.com

Published: October 23, 2008

DADE CITY - Trenor Wilkins says he doesn't mind being called "the little guy."

"It doesn't bother me," the 5-foot-5, 118-pound Wilkins said. "I've been called that my whole life."

What his competition needs to know about this Plant junior is he has some big lungs in that compact body of his. And if you ask his coach, Mike Boza, his star runner has a heart to match.

"What makes Trenor so good is that he combines natural talent with an enthusiastic, competitive fire that never goes out," Boza said. "He tends to blend into a crowd of runners until the gun goes off. Once the race is on, Trenor is always easy to find at the front of any race he enters."

That was the case at Saturday's Pre-State Cross Country Invitational at Little Everglades Ranch in Dade City. As the 26 teams lined up for the start of the boys Elite race, Wilkins was hard to spot among the nearly 200 runners But before the race was over, there was Wilkins, moving his way up, fighting for a spot among the top finishers.

He would up in 14th place - No. 3 among Hillsborough County runners - with a 5-kilometer time of 16 minutes, 5 seconds.

After coming back from a stress fracture in his lower leg as a freshman that sidelined him 10 weeks, Wilkins believes he's finally starting to reach his potential. Wilkins says he is waiting for a "breakout race" to make his mark and is aiming for a top-five finish in next month's Class 3A state meet.

Last year, Wilkins was 19th at state. In track last spring, Wilkins was fifth in the 3,200-meter run with a lifetime best of 9:39.98.

"I really feel like I'm ready to run with those top guys," Wilkins said. "I think with the way my training has been going lately, nothing's out of the question."

COUNTY CHAMPS. Gaither High and Cowboys coach Ladd Baldwin will host the Hillsborough County Championships on Tuesday at Lake Park in North Tampa. Action begins at 4:30 p.m. with a girls junior-varsity race, followed by JV boys at 5. Varsity girls are at 5:30 and varsity boys run at 6.

One of the great things about this meet is it's a true county championship because every public and private school is invited. There will be overall team titles awarded and, for the public schools, the results will be broken into the American, Federal and National divisions.

FRESHMAN/SOPHOMORE RACE. Paced by the 1-2 finish of sophomore Brooke Foley and Abby Ritter, Wharton's girls captured Tuesday afternoon's Freshman/Sophomore Western Conference Cross Country Championships at Al Lopez Park.

In the boys meet, Jesuit's Blake Lopez took top individual honors while Plant's boys won the team crown. Lopez came on strong in the final quarter mile to pass Chamberlain's Max del Monte and cross the finish line in 16:50. Del Monte was just two seconds behind him.

Plant's first-place showing in the boys team standings was paced by sophomores Mark Manion (third, 17:42) and Bo Nalsen (fifth, 17:44).

Reporter Bill Ward can be reached at (813) 259-7456

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