Jesuit Gamble Pays Off With Gold

WINTER PARK - Generally speaking, the state track and field championship meet is not the place to take risks. But Jesuit distance coach David Revord was certain his 4x800-meter relay team could make a run for the gold medal if he could just find the right combination of runners.

So Revord rolled the dice and introduced a new runner to the Tigers' foursome - junior Michael McEnany. Jesuit had lost both the district and regional meets to Robinson and entered Saturday's Class 2A finals at Showalter Field as the No. 3 seed. But with his all-state son, Connor, anchoring the relay, Revord figured a change to the lineup just might work.

The gamble paid off. Of course, you could argue Connor Revord's split time of 1 minute, 56 seconds - the best of any runner in the field - was enough to win, no matter who the Tigers ran in front of him. But Jesuit had previously struggled to put Revord in a position where he didn't use up everything he had just to close the gap on the leaders.

McEnany, normally a 400 runner, was chosen to run the leadoff leg because of a recent time trial. He came through Saturday with an opening leg of 1 minute, 59 seconds. That put Jesuit in the mix with the lead pack, and Logan Trimble and Carson Holton each followed with splits of 2 minutes flat.

"I had a pretty bad case of the butterflies right before the race," McEnany said. "And all this week, I had a lot going through my mind - dreams about it, actually."

When Revord got the baton, he was in third behind Miami Belen Jesuit and Jacksonville Bolles. But this time, he was only 10 meters behind. Revord caught Bolles' anchor man within the first 400, then passed Belen standout Guillermo Echarte with 300 to go.

Revord powered the Tigers to a winning time of 7:56.30, nearly 14 seconds better than any time they've run this season and only about two seconds off the school record set in 2006. Belen took second in a season-best 7:59.61, and Bolles (7:59.65) also posted its best of the year for third. Robinson's squad of Matt Altimari, Terril Gibson, Adrian Bella and Darrin Gibson finished fifth with a school-record 8:04.61

In 2006, Revord was part of a Jesuit 4x800 relay that won state. But that time, the Tigers were expected to win.

"This year, it might have been a little more special because we weren't favored and we came out of nowhere with a big PR personal record," Revord said. "We finally put it all together today when it counted and it feels a lot better."

By the end of the meet, Revord had won three medals by taking second place in both the 1,600 and 800. The runner who beat him each time was a familiar face - University of Tennessee-bound Joe Franklin of Tallahassee Godby, who beat Revord in the 1,600 last year. There was no major drama in the 1,600, where Revord ran 4:18.66 and Franklin went 4:15.88. But in the 800, where Franklin was also the defending champion, Revord had to turn on the kick of his life to go from eighth to second place in the final 200 to finish in 1:55.88. Franklin ran 1:54.47.

Berkeley Prep senior Page Price also finished with three medals: an eighth in the 4x800 relay and thirds in the 1,600 (5:07.41, a personal best by a whopping nine seconds) and 800 (2:19.02.). In each solo race, Price had to either hurdle over or sidestep around Boca Raton Pope John Paul's Stephanie Schappert, who had fallen to the track. Joining Price in the relay were Rachel Sheppard, Amita Dhillon and her little sister, Gigi Price.

To close the meet, Berkeley senior Richard Blake finished third in the 3,200 in 9:36.28. Unlike the top two finishers in that race - Orlando Bishop Kenny's Michael Wallace (9:25.40) and Echarte (9:29.33) - Blake ran the 1,600 earlier in the meet, also finishing third (4:25.14).

Several other area athletes made it to the awards podium of the 2A meet. Berkeley senior Allison Higbee cleared a lifetime best of 10-6 to take fourth in the pole vault, Zephyrhills sophomore Kate Patton threw a PR of 117-10 in the discus to earn fifth place in her first state meet, and freshman teammate Jamieshia Parker was eighth in the 100 (12.89).

Spoto's Shakea Kindred made school history when she won the Spartans' first track and field medal by taking sixth in the shot put with a PR of 36 feet, 6.5 inches.

Robinson's Darrin Gibson earned his second medal of the meet when he won the slow heat of the 800 in a PR of 1:57.99 to earn fourth place overall. Jesuit's Jordan Schilit completed his comeback from an early-season stress fracture in his foot to take sixth in the 3,200 in 9:50.19.