Jeff Masterson runs away with the Florida Invitational title, but his teammates don't keep up.
By JAMAL THALJI
Published September 9, 2003
TRINITY - Saturday brought a win for Jeff Masterson and a wake-up call for his Mitchell teammates.
Masterson won the University of Florida Invitational in Gainesville with a time of 15 minutes, 58.25 seconds, finishing nearly 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Steve Curley of Trinity Prep.
The Mustangs finished fifth in the male high school division, 71 points behind champion Trinity Prep and 17 behind fourth-place Boone.
Masterson, Class 3A's top-ranked runner in the preseason Florida Athletic Coaches Association poll, led from the start and fended off any challenges to win the first race of his junior season.
"I did what I wanted to do," Masterson said. "I went out there and I took the lead.
"From the beginning, those guys threatened me. But I knew the work I had done this summer, and I knew that if I trusted my body and the workload I've done then I could come out where I wanted to be."
But coach Bill Napolitano said Mitchell, the No. 5 team in the FACA poll and one with aspirations of winning the 3A title, did not seem ready to reach those lofty standards.
"I don't think it's got anything to do with the work we've put in at this point," Napolitano said. "I just don't think we're mentally ready."
Junior John Tuccio, the new No. 2 runner, was 12th in 17:13.28. Nick Ferrer was 28th at 17:58.92. Freshman Mike Holl was 53rd in 18:52.19 and David Stricsek was 61st in 19:15.34.
Napolitano didn't expect his team to win, but he expected faster individual times.
"No, I don't think we're good enough right now to have beaten Trinity Prep, Satellite or Vanguard," he said. "But I think we probably should have finished fourth.
"And I really wouldn't even care how we would have finished if we would have run the times we could have."
This year's UF Invitational course was different than in previous years. Held annually on the school's golf course, the race usually starts with a downhill segment. This year, it started with a 100-meter incline. Napolitano estimated it added about 30 seconds to each of his runners' times. The course was not soft or rain-soaked, the coach said, and the sun came up as the race started so it was a little hot.
But Napolitano still expects better.
"I think they went into this thing with high expectations and kind of fell apart a little bit," Napolitano said. "They had a few breakdowns that we addressed (Monday.)"
It started with a 6:30 a.m. practice, when the team ran three 1,200-yard sprints and then ran 2 miles. Then came an after-school meeting in Napolitano's portable classroom.
There, with his trademark inspirational messages scrawled on the blackboard, he implored his team to do three things:
First, have fun.
"I think they put too many expectations on themselves, they pressured themselves into not running as well as they can," Napolitano said. "We know we're a good team. We know people are coming after us.
"I think we put a little too much pressure on ourselves, and I'm to blame for that. All I'm saying is let's go out and have fun."
Second, run together.
"We just have to come out there more as a pack," Tuccio said. "We can't be spread apart. We need to improve our times a little bit and improve our grouping. The closer together we are as a pack, the more points we'll score."
Third, run with more confidence.
But before that, Napolitano wants them to forget Saturday.
"I told them that we've got to treat this as a new week, basically as starting all over again," the coach said. "We've taken a couple of steps backward, and now it's time to move forward. We can't look back at this.
"We've got to come together as a team and look forward as a team."
