Epic Battle Expected for Boys 1600 at Florida Relays

By Steve Dorsey for DistancePreps.com

31 March 2011

   There no doubt will be the usual anticipation and hype for the fan-favorite 100-meter sprints and 4x100-meter relays at this weekend’s Florida Relays at the University of Florida’s Percy Beard Track in Gainesville.

   However, the high school boys 1,600-meter run could be equally compelling. The field for Section I of the timed 1,600-meter finals includes an impressive group of milers. Among the field are all 4 State Cross Country champions from this past fall and include 2 gold medalist champions from the last three Class 4A state championship meets – seniors Armando Del Valle of Miami-Columbus and Ryan Pickering of Greenacres-John I. Leonard.

   Del Valle captured the 1,600-meter state title in 2008 and ’09, but Pickering denied the Florida State-bound Del Valle a three-peat by winning last year’s showdown in Winter Park. Pickering, who has signed a cross-country/track scholarship with Oregon, is hoping to even the series between the two friendly South Florida rivals on Friday night in Gainesville, which would set up a likely rubber-match race between them at this year’s Class 4A state meet.

   Pickering already has bested Del Valle this school year, winning the Class 4A title at the state cross-country championships in November when Del Valle placed eighth. But four laps around a rubberized track is a different race, and Pickering said he’s looking forward to racing against strong competition, something he has not much encountered in his home county this outdoor track season.

   “It’s a meet I’ve never ran before and it’s going to be good,” Pickering said of the Florida Relays, a two-day meet that includes college and high school events.

   Several other talented distance runners will be in the same 1,600 race, which includes seven of the top nine finishers at the 2010 Class 4A state cross-country meet. Phil Duncan of Orlando-Boone, Eduardo Garcia of Jacksonville-Mandarin, John-Logan Hines of Orlando-Boone, Max Del Monte of Tampa-Chamberlain and Nick Posada of Winter Park who placed second, third, fourth, fifth and ninth, respectively, at the 4A state meet behind Pickering.

Also in the field is last years Class 1A 1600 State Champion David Kilgore from Holy Trinity who also won the 1A State Cross Country title; 2A State Cross Country champion Bert Irigoyen from Ransom Everglades; 3A 1600 runner-up and 3A State Cross Country Champion and fellow Foot Locker All-American along with Ryan, Jimmy Clark from Creekside.  The stellar field also includes Class 3A cross-country runner-up Elliott Clemente of Miami-Belen Jesuit and third-place finisher Tyler Cardillo of Punta Gorda-Charlotte who recently finished third in the Boy's Mile at the prestigious New Balance Indoor Nationals meet held at the Armory in New York City.

   Del Valle said before the outdoor track season began that his goal this year is to clock a sub-4:10 time in the 1,600. He enters the Florida Relays with a state-leading 4:13.70.

   Pickering’s fastest time this year (4:16.05) was recorded at an indoor meet in Seattle. His best outdoor time this season is 4:24.43, but he has yet to be seriously challenged. He will be Friday night, provided Mother Nature doesn’t interfere.

   Pickering and his John I. Leonard team are scheduled to compete Thursday night in a Palm Beach County Athetic Conference divisional meet, a qualifier for next week’s Dick Melear Palm Beach County Championships. Pickering’s coach at John I. Leonard, Al Jordan, said Wednesday night that there is a possibility that potentially severe storms forecast for the region could force officials to postpone the meet until Friday. Should that happen, Jordan said Pickering will have to pull out of the Florida Relays. Pickering said he hopes that scenario doesn’t transpire.

   “You don’t get too many races like this unless you go out of town,” Pickering said. “That’s when you get your best times.”

   Pickering also is entered in the 3,200-meter run on Friday, a race that will be run less than an hour after the 1,600. That would mean he would run both races on consecutive days, but he’s not anticipating being pushed too much at the PBCAC meet Thursday night.

   Pickering said he also would love to race against Del Valle before the state meet, which is about a month away. The two have lots of mutual respect for each other, and in fact nearly became future teammates in college. Pickering also considered signing with FSU, describing his decision a “close choice” before deciding on Oregon, the alma mater of the late legendary distance runner Steve Prefontaine.

   “I know about his story,” Pickering said last month after signing with Oregon, which he visited in mid-January. “There are posters of him all over campus. I think it’s pretty cool that I’ll be running in the same uniform.”

   FSU coach Bob Braman would have loved to sign both Pickering and Del Valle, who he described as “one of the most talented and versatile high school distance runners to come out of the state of Florida in the last five-to-six years.”

   If things go as planned, fans attending Friday’s Florida Relays will have an opportunity to see both outstanding runners and several others in what promises to be a very competitive race.