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Greathouse finally gets his district title

Staff photo by BILL WARD

Left to right, Berkeley's Michael Rosenbach and Tyler Greathouse, Robinson's Bryan Garcia and Jesuit's Blake Lopez lead the pack just past the 1-mile mark.

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By BILL WARD

wward@tampatrib.com

Published: November 7, 2009

TAMPA - After seven years of running varsity cross country, Berkeley Prep senior Tyler Greathouse finally experienced the thrill of winning an individual district title by capturing Friday's Class 2A-District 5 crown at Al Lopez Park.

Greathouse has been close before, including finishing second to a teammate last year. Friday, another Berkeley runner who has burst onto the scene this fall, junior Michael Rosenbach, pushed him nearly every step of the way.

But with this being his last chance, Greathouse wasn't about to let it slip - despite having a shoe come untied five strides into the race.

"Michael was right there with me today, and I was saying, 'Oh no, not again,'" Greathouse said. "I love Michael to death, but I was determined not to let that happen."

Greathouse lowered his 5-kilometer best 3 seconds to 15:58 and was not caught by Rosenbach, who eclipsed his personal record by nearly half a minute to 16:01.

The Bucs' three other scorers - Jake Reichert, Brett Campbell and Shaun Majumdar - all cracked the top 15 to give Berkeley (39 points) its fifth straight district team title and its first since moving up to 2A.

Robinson (53), which put Bryan Garcia (third), Mike Shuey (fifth) and Josh Epperson (sixth) in the top 10, was second. Perennial power Jesuit (62) was third, paced by Blake Lopez (fourth).

Also advancing to next week's region meet were Middleton (fifth, 129 points), which boasted first-year runner Franck Charles in eighth place, and first-year program Steinbrenner (sixth, 163).

In the girls meet, Academy of the Holy Names won its sixth district title in the past seven seasons and its fourth in the past five years under Coach Ray Rodriguez. The Jaguars got a 3-4 finish from eighth-grader Cristina Snyder and junior Lindsey Hahn to help them post a score of 33 points.

Rodriguez has two middle-school runners (Colleen Doherty and Allie Riechert) who have the ability to run varsity. But because they are first-runner runners, he has kept them on the JV in hopes of avoiding future burnout.

Academy's other scorers were Marisa Petrick (eighth), Mallory Perez (ninth) and Christina Socias (12th).

Also advancing to the regional were Berkeley, led by runner-up Gigi Price (20:21); Steinbrenner, paced by freshman Lauren Garris (fifth); and another first-year school, Strawberry Crest. The Chargers featured 10th-place Trixi Menge, who was in a wheelchair less than two weeks ago after she suffered a severely sprained ankle.

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