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2012 Bale-N-Trail Meet PreviewPublished by
2012 Bale-N-Trail Meet Preview
 The Bale-N-Trail is back!
Bartram Trail High School in St. Johns County, FL, just outside of Jacksonville is one of the premier races in the Northeast part of the Sunshine State.
Considered one of the fastest courses in the city, the Bale-N-Trail offers a unique experience to runners. Running on dirt, grass, and even jumping over bales of hay (hence the name Bale-N-Trail), 38 teams this year will be toeing the line October 13th.
The Boys race will start right as the sun rises (0727 to be exact) and all eyes will be on Foot Locker finalist Josh Brickell from Peachtree Ridge in Atlanta, GA, (Foot Locker 2nd Team All-American, 8th place from 2011), Andres Arroyo from Colonial HS in Orlando, FL, (4A State Champion last year in XC, 4x800m relay, 1600m, and the 3200m), and Austin Sprague from St. Pius, a fellow Georgian to Brickell from Atlanta who won the 3200m in the AAA West Sectional State meet.
With Brickell, Arroyo and Sprague posting PR's of 14:41 (Foot Locker South in 2011), 14:59 (FL 4A State Meet 2011), and 15:20 (2012 Great American XC Festival 2 weeks ago) respectively, this looks to be a great race.
I think Brickell, Arroyo and Sprague all go out quick; sub 4:50, and then dual it out over the last 2 miles to see who is the best. I think Brickell will edge out Arroyo though, with Sprague coming in a little off the pace in third.
This is the 3rd time Brickell has run here and the first time for Arroyo, so experience will have some effect. This will be a good test for Arroyo though to see if he can hang with the big guys and see if he can compete with the top guns in the South for a shot to go to Foot Locker Nationals.
As for the team aspect, the favorites are St. Pius from Atlanta, Colonial, and Steinbrenner from North Tampa who had a long awaited outcoming last week at FSU where they finished 7th.
St. Pius and Colonial both have 5 guys in the top 15 according to the virtual meet but at this point in the season, St. Pius’s 5th runner is 10 seconds faster.
I think St. Pius pulls it out, but closer than the virtual meet says of 15 points. I think St. Pius gets it by less than 8 points with Steinbrenner in 3rd, about 20 points off of Colonial.
Precisely 33 minutes after the boys race starts, the gun will go off for the girls.
Allie Buchalski from Johns Creek HS in Georgia is a clear favorite with a season best time of 17:59 already! I think she will take the pace out hard with McKenzie Wilson from Bolles, Elizabeth Mulford from Ocala Vanguard, Laurel Wilson from Peachtree Ridge in Atlanta, and Hannah Loder from Matanzas right with her. Buchalski will start to drop runners one by one and with a ½ mile to go, she should be by herself with McKenzie Wilson being the last one to fall off the pace.
So I think the top five will be Buchalski, Wilson, Mulford, Loder, and Wilson. Don’t count out Danielle Van Liere from Fletcher though. She hasn’t run near her PR of 18:34 from her days at Providence 2 years ago but she has run well at Bartram in the past and could easily sneak into the top 5 not surprisingly, so she is one to keep an eye on. Danielle had a solid showing at Katie Caples to open the season finishing 3rd.
In the team battle, Peachtree Ridge and Bolles are the clear cut, top 2 teams. Peachtree Ridge, led by Laurel Wilson and Bolles by McKenzie Wilson, this race should come down to the 4th and 5th place runner on each team. I think Bolles will keep it close but ultimately, Peachtree Ridge will get the team title. Bishop Kenny, Providence, and St. Pius will battle it out for 3rd-5th. I see Bishop Kenny taking third and St. Pius getting 4th. Providence’s #2 runner Emily Stallings is injured and won’t race this week, so that is why I am putting them in 5th instead of 3rd or 4th.
The Bale-N-Trail is shaping up to be a tremendous meet as usual. Darrin and I will be there covering the meet and will be tweeting throughout the races as best we can with the hashtag #BaleNTrail. If you are at the race, tweet us your comments as well and continue to follow along on distancepreps.com for race footage and interviews that afternoon. Lets Go!
By: Josh Karadeema More news
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