Three weeks into the season and things are finally starting to take shape. Since the rankings are now starting to get populated with loads of data it is time to release our first Super 25 of the year.  We have broken down rankings for every classification, as well as overall for the state.

What a big week it was!  This was really the first huge weekend of the season for big invitationals and it certainly did not disappoint.  There were some great performances including current national leaders:  Octavious Freeman, Stephanie Schappert, Ebony Eutsey, Cody Riggs, Hugh Graham, and Kentrell Sanders. In this article we summarize the Elite Performances in each meet along with links to more coverage.

Our Panhandle photographer, Rese Ammons, was on-site at Chiles on Saturday and brings us hundreds of photos and a meet summary article from Tallahassee.  Complete results are also posted.

PK Yonge has a narrow lead in the preseason boys rankings with 240 points, just three points in front of Maclay.  Admiral Farragut and Mt. Dora Bible also ring in with over 200.  For the girls it's Port St. Joe with an impressive 303 points out front, but Westminster Academy (260), PK Yonge (251), Community School (207) and Dade Christian (202) also have impressive returning squads.

Postponed from its original date because of weather, the rain date took place on Monday night.  Our Tampa Bay photographer, Jeff Adams, shot some great photos from the meet and complete results are posted.

Colin Barker of Bishop Kenny has continued where he left off in cross country, opening to some pretty amazing times for this early.  About that 4:16 and 9:09 solo in consecutive weeks, he says he just was running comfortable and saw what kind of shape he was in.  We are looking forward to seeing Colin close his high school career strong before heading off to Auburn.  Check out the interview...

Cocoa High leads the Boys Preseason Super 25 with a strong, well-rounded 254 points.  Godby and Archbishop McCarthy also ring in above the 200 mark with 227 and 201, respectively.  Bishop Kenny's primarily distance-led attack puts them within striking distance at 184.  For the girls it's Archbishop McCarthy, who is looking especially strong in the field events, leading the way with 196 points.  The pole vaulting phenoms at Episcopal ring in almost half of their 193 points, with Jacksonville neighbors Bishop Kenny (190) and Raines (175) also looking tough.

Another great celebration over in Tampa this past weekend culminating for us in the running community with the Gasparilla Distance Classic.  Austin Richmond, who we've seen come so far since his days at Clewiston HS and Webber International University, won the 15K handily and looks like he might just shape up into a world class distance runner some day! (GO AUSTIN!)  And Mark Parrish of Chamberlain ran a great new 5K PR with a 15:05 runner-up finish to Ben Martucci of Florida Southern College who ran 15:02 (Hernando alum).  Robert "Doctor Bob" Cooke interviewed Austin and Mark and we have results posted from the race.  More...

While sprints/hurdles seemed to lead the way in the 4A Super 25 preview rankings, in the 3A it's all about the distance.  Cross country state champions Leon and Chiles are picked by the numbers as the favorites going into this track season.  For the Leon boys, Charlotte and Belen Jesuit are within easy striking distance; as are Oak Ridge and Pine Forest on Chiles' girls.  What a fun year it will be!

From Coach Fred Finke:  I have never done this before, but this is one of those times when I feel things are bigger than we as individuals are.  The death toll in Haiti now exceeds 200,000.  There are 3 million still alive, including 400,000 orphans.  Lyman High School Interact Club, which I am the sponsor, is hosting a 5K run.  100% of the proceeds will go to go to benefit the Red Cross and a particular hospital that was leveled in Haiti. Some local companies and organizations are also contributing and one has even vowed to match dollar-for-dollar the funds raised from this event.  Read more inside...

UPDATED!  These scores are calculated from our individual rankings from 2009, with athletes who graduated excluded.  These are updated from the rankings that were posted earlier today.  The teams that moved up from 3A to 4A were not in the previous release and their inclusion has drastically changed the outlook up front.  I apologize for the over sight.

The season really opened up this week and tons of results are pouring into the site.  A lot of impressive performances so far, but tonight Colin Barker absolutely threw it down!  All alone (second place was over 1:30 back) he flies to a 9:09 3200 meters at the Episcopal Eagle Invitational.  This followed his big 4:16 opener last week and makes a strong statement that the Auburn-bound senior is not going to be content with a lame duck final track season!  More highlights to come this weekend as the results come in...  

Our almost famous (infamous?) Tampa Bay area photographer, Jeff Adams, will be shooting a full schedule of meets for us again this season.  Here is our spring coverage schedule for Jeff. 

  We are excited to announce that we will be partnering with Holy Trinity Academy in Melbourne to hold the middle school state championship meet this year.  Their fine facility will be a great venue and provide fans with better stadium-style viewing, great PA system, and easy parking access.  In addition, working with one of the best producers of young talent in the state will be a huge plus to help with the meet organization and fill out our staff.  Click here for more meet info and qualifying information...

 In a mainly low-key and informal opening day meet at Bolles School in Jacksonville, Bishop Kenny's two leading meet--Colin Barker and Michael Wallace--lit it up.  Colin Barker's 4:16 1600m mark would make even the state's finest runners smile as a season-ending performance, but he opened 2010 with it!  Teammate Michael Wallace had a nice run himself:  winning the 800  in 1:57.  More highlights and full results posted...

Fernandina Beach senior, Stephanie Strasser, headed up to Kentucky to compete this weekend in the very large University of Kentucky Indoor Invitational.  She had a super double finish third in the full mile in 5:02.26 and second in the two mile in 10:58.36.  Congrats!   Full results and coverage...

Octavious Freeman wins 55 and 200.  Diego Blaton impressive opener in 1500 and more!

The first regular season meet results of the year have been sent in. The Cardinal Newman Invitational had some fantastic season opening performances. Perhaps the best of the day being the battle between Nancy Anderson of Benjamin and Brooke Owen of Archbishop McCarthy, who each cleared 5-4 with Anderson winning on misses. Great job and we look forward to all of the 1A and 2A week one results coming in later today and tomorrow!

 The 2010 Outdoor season is now underway!  At the Florida Elite All-Comers in Orlando, running some untraditional outdoor events, they brought together some of the top local talent and a large contingent from Oak Ridge High School.  But the big start of the day came from about an hour south down US 27.  Octavious Freeman, a junior from Lake Wales, shook the dust off of her legs with a big big opener.  Her 300 meter time of 40.34 (almost two seconds ahead of her closest competitor) was pretty impressive, but the really amazing one was her 60 meter performance!    Running away from the others in this short sprint by a whopping half a second, she came through in 7.50!!  In most events its hard to compare indoor and outdoor times because of the curves, but there are no curves in an indoor 60m.  So compared with her indoor counterparts, that 7.50 puts her #2 in the nation at 60m.  Looks like she's ready to pick up where she left off last spring.  Complete results from Florida Elite...

A lot of you have decided to use our online registration system this year and that is awesome.  I want to say thank you to those coaches and also wanted to write this article to tell you about some of the benefits of it to encourage others to use it for their meets.