Relay team always on run
It’s an age of specialization in high school sports.
But four Timber Creek girls who don’t mind a full plate of cross-training could make something special happen in their “second sport” this spring.
Alana Wolfberg, a junior who won two high school tennis state singles titles plus a doubles championship in the past two years, is juggling two spring sports as a member of a track 4x800 relay foursome that has its sights set on earning medals with a topeight finish or better at next month’s FHSAA state track and field meet.
That talented but very busy group also includes UCF soccer recruit Asia Ervin, basketball standout Jayla McClure and Julia Rodriguez, an all-conference junior soccer player. They’re all part-time participants in track but fully committed to excel.
“Not only do we have a chance to qualify for state, we have a chance to win it. That’s such an amazing opportunity,” said Wolfberg, who is in the midst of being recruited by top college tennis programs, including Florida.
Nothing will be easy in a classification that includes Winter Park, which won the 4x800 at state in each of the past four seasons and returned college-bound seniors Melanie White and Rafaella Gibbons. The Wolves will race against the Wildcats today in the Class 4A, District 4 meet at Showalter Field. The 4x800 is set for 10 a.m.
The top four finishers in each event advance to the April 26 Region 1 meet at Flagler Palm Coast, where the challenge gets more daunting. That field figures to include three teams that have run faster in the 4x800 than Timber Creek has: Lake Brantley, Lake Mary and Winter Springs.
Still, the Wolves’ secondsport starlets believe their work ethic and athleticism can offset the lack of time they have to focus on track training.
“I think it’s that they’re such driven girls in general,” Timber Creek girls track and field coach Julie Halsey of the girls’ ability to handle the workload. “It’s ingrained in who they are as competitors. Whether they’re on the tennis court, the soccer field, the basketball court or the track with us, they’re going to give everything they have.”
McClure, who is balancing a part-time job with travel basketball, track and schoolwork, was one of the top players for a 23-4 Timber Creek basketball team that reached region play for the first time since 2006. She’s also dealing with recruiting and was gone for several days this week on a campus visit to Chicago State.
Rodriguez, who like Ervin is in the midst of club soccer training and play, started as a freshman and sophomore for Timber Creek. She was a first-team All-Metro Conference pick in that sport.
Ervin, who once hoped to sign a dual scholarship with UCF for both soccer and track, said she now plans to focus on soccer as a college athlete.
But track, she said, still has big benefits.
“We all get a lot of our endurance from track,” she said. “We can’t make all of the track practices, but our distance coach [David Gardner] really puts us to work when we’re there and makes sure we get the proper training.”
A year ago, Wolfberg was unable to run the 4x800 at the region meet because she was busy sweeping singles and doubles titles at the state tennis tournament in Altamonte Springs. The Wolves’ relay finished sixth, short of state.
This year’s 4A state tennis finals are scheduled for Friday, May 4 — after the region meet but only one day ahead of the 4x800 state final in Jacksonville.
The Wolves currently rank behind seven other 4A teams with the season-best time of 9 minutes, 49.77 seconds.
But Halsey believes the foursome is prepared to go significantly faster than the school-record of 9:39.46 they set last year.
“We hope we push for a 9:30 or sub-9:30 at the regional meet,” Halsey said. “It’s going to take that because our region is so competitive. We hope to qualify for state and to put our best foot forward and medal.”