Chiles junior Emma Tucker runs down Maclay sophomore Caroline Willis on the final straight of the girls' 1600m

The Tallahassee Chiles High Timberwolves opened their 2015 track campaign at home on Feb. 28 with the 15th annual Chiles Championships. In the year after the 14th Chiles Championships, the Timberwolf boys had won Florida’s 2014 class 3A state title in track and field, not to mention the same in cross country.

Leon High senior Sukhi Khosla was also starting a title-defending season at the Chiles Championships. Khosla had opened in 2014 with a fast 1600 leg in the distance medley relay at Chiles, then gone on to run 4:05.96 for that distance at the class 3A State Finals, where he earned wins in both the 1600 and the 3200. On a cold, damp, and windy Saturday morning at Chiles, Khosla was again anchoring the distance medley relay.

The girls teams and and the boys teams were thrown on the track together in that event. The Leon boys were well out into the lead after 800 and 400 legs by sophomore Josh Wallenfelsz (2:03) and senior David London (55). The Lions didn't have any company up front by the time Hunter Scott got the stick. It was the senior’s first ever track meet with Leon.

“Running relays is fun when you have people to run against,” observed Scott. “But there was no one around us. I worked on catching the girls.”

Weaving around the girls’ teams, Scott posted a 3:17 1200 leg before handing off to Khosla who finished up with a 4:29, giving Leon a 10:44.81 win. Buchholz High outran Chiles for second 11:42.57 to 11:49.27. Buchholz won the girls’ event in 13:50.39 over Chiles (14:49.05) and Lincoln (15:02.71).

The Leon boys didn't run nearly as fast as their 2014 meet record of 10:38.03, and it's true that the weather wasn’t the best for top performances, and that no meet records were broken during the day. The conditions weren’t prohibitive of some fine performances, though. Right after the distance medley, Lincoln senior John Burt rocketed over the 110 meter hurdles in a winning 14.30.

Lincoln senior John Burt over the first flight of hurdles with the lead in the 110m hurdles

Once the hurdles were cleared from track it was time for the girls’ 4 x 800 meter relay. The ladies from Buchholz were rude guests, beating the Chiles team for the win 11:39.61 to 11:55.46, while Port St. Joe High was third in 12:05.51 and Leon fourth in 12:27.71.

The Timberwolves weren’t the defending champs in the boys’ 4 x 800 meter relay at the Chiles Championships; that honor fell to Leon.  Hunter Scott led off for the Lions, rolling up a lead for his team with a 2:01. Leon looked ready to repeat. Chiles came back on the third leg, though, entering the anchor leg in first. Leon wouldn’t go away, but they couldn’t catch Chiles, either, and the Timberwolves brought the baton across the finish line first for a 8:34.52 to 8:36.99 victory.

With 500 meters to go in the boys 4 x 800m relay, Leon and Chiles battle for the lead

The Chiles boys got their 4 x 800 relay win without resorting to their ace, the 2014 class 3A state champion in the 800, Avery Bartlett. The big senior was on the track in the next event, though, the 1600. His mother, Lissie Bartlett, was on hand near the starting line, on break from her volunteer duties at the high jump for a few minutes to watch her son race. Avery Bartlett paced the field through the first 800 in about 2:19; the third lap was more of the same. Then he took off.

“I’m going over to look at the clock,” Mrs. Bartlett excused herself.

The Timberwolf senior blasted the final lap in 57 seconds to put up a 4:25.26, just missing Matt Mizereck’s 2010 meet record of 4:24.10.

“Did you get the record?” Mrs. Bartlett called to her son.

“I don’t think so,” gasped Avery.

“It’s still early in the season,” said Mrs. Bartlett.

Chiles senior Avery Bartlett crosses the finish line with a 4:25.26 in the boys' 1600m

Behind Avery Bartlett, Chiles seniors Tyson Murray and Allen Hernandez took the next two places in 4:30.63 and 4:30.90, giving the Timberwolves the first three spots in the boys' 1600. Before that in the girls’ 1600 Chiles junior Emma Tucker had outkicked Maclay sophomore Caroline Willis 5:25.68 to 5:27.13 for the win, while frosh Ana Wallace and junior Alex Wallace took third and fourth for the Timberwolves in 5:29.78 and 5:29.91. Clearly, the middle distances are alive and well at Chiles. If you need still more evidence of that, Avery Bartlett returned to win the 800 by over 40 meters in 1:58.61. It was a fast but not flashy time, although as Lissie Bartlett observed, it's early in the season.

Hunter Scott returned to the track a third time, pacing the field through the first six laps of the boys’ 3200 then switching to a higher gear for the final 800, getting a 9:48.96 win. After the Chiles boys won the 4 x 400 relay, the Timberwolves had 200 points, enough to win the meet and spare any of the other schools the bother of lugging home a heavy trophy. Before the girls’ 4 x 400 relay the Florida State University School girls already had their final total of 168-½ points and the team title. Everyone went home shivering, but it’s early in the season. We’ll have sweat and sunburn to complain about soon enough.

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Northwest Florida Correspondent Herb Wills

Herb Wills' running career goes back to the 1971 boys' age-group mile at the Florida Relays. Since losing that race he has won the 1976 Florida High School class 4A cross-country championship, 1979 AAU USA junior titles in cross-country and the 10,000 meters, and the 1989 TAC USA 30K national championship. As a distance runner at Florida State University from 1978 to 1982, he was NCAA All-American three times in track and once in cross country, and won a silver medal in the marathon at the 1981 World University Games. Graduating Florida State with a degree in mathematics, in the following years Wills ran in the USA Olympic Marathon Trials in 1984, 1988, and 1992, and placed tenth in the Boston Marathon in 1989. After more than a few years of duty as a hurdle setter and lane judge at track meets, Wills discovered that the public address announcer not only got to sit down at meets but was also sheltered from the rain. Since that revelation you can hear him with a microphone in his hand at several track and cross-country events in the Tallahassee area. Writing is another activity you can do while sitting down, and Wills has written about running for Racing South magazine and Tallahassee's local newspaper, the Tallahassee Democrat.

You can read more running related tidbits in his blog at http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/

Herb Wills NorthWest Florida Reports 2015 ARTICLES / 2014 ARTICLES