Mitchell Off To Fast Start At Cross Country Invitational

John Mitchell's senior season could translate into a big-time scholarship offer for the runner. If his first meet is a sign, Mitchell will have some very attractive offers to mull over.

The Durant High cross country standout not only won the recent East Hillsborough Invitational, but he also left the field way behind. Mitchell ran a 3-mile time of 17:10, nearly a minute faster than that of second-place finisher Louis Prado of Brandon High.

By comparison, the girls race saw the top three finishers, all from Newsome High, cross the finish line within three seconds of one another.

The Durant girls' top runner, sophomore Grace Van De Grift, might have won that race, but she was held out because of a mild leg injury. Newsome, which hosted the meet, took advantage with Lindsay LeSavage taking first place in a time of 21:41.

Cougars cross country coach Mike Gursky said that although Mitchell and Van De Grift clearly lead the way, he thinks the supporting casts will be a little stronger this year.

"The goal this season is to get that second, third and fourth runners' time to where we can send the whole team to state," Gursky said. "The potential is there."

Mitchell, a senior who won the mile run at last year's state track meet, is shooting for offers from the state's major schools, the University of Florida or Florida State University, with a strong cross country and track season.

Even without Van De Grift, the Durant girls ended up in fifth place out of nine teams at the East Hillsborough meet. Plant City was sixth.

On the boys side, where Brandon and Newsome tied for first overall, Durant came in fourth and Plant City was eighth.

Next up for Plant City and Durant runners is Saturday's W.D. Johnson Invitational at E.G. Simmons Park in Ruskin. The race will start with the girls running at 8:30 a.m. followed by the boys at 9 a.m.

On Tuesday the Cougars host the Ron Frost Invitational. The girls race starts at 6 p.m. and the boys run at 6:30 p.m.

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampa