Arroyo, Bartlett Take Home Top Prize At Ted Benz Jamboree

<div style="width: 100%; height: 108px; background-image: url(http://cache.milesplit.com/user_files/1/59581/trackshack-mow-blue-gradient.png); overflow: hidden;"> <div style="float: right; width: 265px; text-align: right; padding: 7px; font-size: 10pt; color: #fff;"> <p style="margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px"> <strong>Central Florida Meet of the Week<br /> Sponsored by TRACK SHACK</strong></p> <p style="font-size: 9pt"> <em>Thank you to Track Shack for their sponsorship and support of our on-site coverage for this and other meets in Central Florida this fall.</em></p> </div> <a href="http://www.trackshack.com/" target="_new"><img src="http://cache.milesplit.com/user_files/1/59581/trackshack-mow.png" style="width: 280px; height: 100px; margin: 4px;" /></a></div>

On-Site Coverage

The 2012 season kicked off in Central Florida at the 2012 Ted Benz XC Jamboree hosted by Colonial. It was a hot, humid, mid August night, but their was definitely some great running for this point in the sesaon. The kids were pumped, the dj was spinning tunes, and the fans were lined up. Todd Grasley was on hand with race footage and interviews while Donald Lamb was taking photographs of this event. Thank you to Track Shack for sponsoring this year's coverage as well as several other meets throughout the season.

Girls Recap

2011 Ted Benz champion Elizabeth Harper of Merritt Island was in the lead for most of the 2012 race followed by several of her teammates. The only problem was a Cougar on the prowl. University sophomore Autumn Bartlett picked it up on the second mile and overtook Harper and the rest of the group. Bartlett cruised to an easy victory in 20:16.40. Harper finished second in 20:37.10 followed by teammates Nina Li (3rd), Sarah Hammond (4th), and Caroline Cubero (7th) Merritt Island won the team title easily with 22 points and a 21:08 team average.

Boys Recap

Host Colonial ran away with the boys race led by senior Andres Arroyo's 16:04.20 opener. Both Colonial and Arroyo repeat their wins at this meet last year. Arroyo improved upon his 2011 time by a second. The Grenadiers won the meet easily last year and both Arroyo and Colonial went onto win state cross country championships.

Arroyo, who is ranked 13th in the MileSplit National Preseason Rankings, said after the race that this meet was basically a chance for him to get the rust off the wheels and get back into cross country mode. Fellow senior Raul Ramirez crossed the line in second ahead of teammates Caleb Licht (3rd), and John Profitt (5th). Colonial tallied an incredble 19 points to win the meet on the boys side with a 16:50 average.

Troy Clark of Mount Dora Bible was the only non-Grenadier to break 17-minutes. The junior ran a 16:57 for fourth place. Edgewater sophomore Joe Trailkill took sixth place. The former middle school state champion started his 2012 off with a 17:17.

Videos by Todd Grasley