2016 Fort Myers Hoptar XC Invitational Preview

By Robert ‘Twangster’ Brown for DyeStatFL

The Fort Myers Hoptar XC Invitational is the new name for the long running Fort Myers Optimist Invitational following the demise of the Optimist Club chapter in Fort Myers. The meet founder/namesake, Richard ‘Hoppy’ Hoptar, was an Optimist Club member and the former coach of the Fort Myers HS Green Wave XC and Track teams. This is the 38^th year for this invite and 9^th year it will be at Veteran’s Park in Lehigh Acres, FL.

Watch 2015 Interview with Richard ‘Hoppy’ Hoptar:

The Veteran’s Park course is notorious for its leg cramping toughness which requires the harriers to climb (and descend) a steep hill twice over the 5000 meter trek. Add sugar sand, mud and twists and turns, and you have a raceway that rewards the patient but can crush the foolhardy.

Girls:

Last year Fort Myers’ then Junior, Krissy Gear overpowered the Varsity Girls competition by 30 seconds. North Fort Myers Junior, Kayla Easterly was 2^nd and Estero Senior and Alabama frosh, Daley Cline was 3^rd. Gear’s Green Wave squad also out scored all other teams, winning the championship over a game 2A Lemon Bay crew.

This year FM Coach Rob Strong has been resting his top returner Gear for the first two meets, and has been playing around with his roster to find the right combination to take on the state. What we know is that the Green Wave are deep and have only gotten deeper this offseason. Fiona Kurland, Junior; Kailyn Kaminski, Sophomore and Sarah Shultz, Freshman have shined early, but can be matched on any given day by Jenna Fedec, Sophomore; Amber Winton, Senior; Caroline MacKenzie, Sophomore or Sidney Oakes-Lotterridge, Senior.

We have also learned that the Green Wave Girls will be at full strength for this, their home meet, so the other teams in attendance are on notice. We ran the individual match-ups two different ways, one based on this season's best times and one based on 2015 bests. Then we put together the team virtual meet, enjoy!

Check out the links here:

2015 Girls Varsity Individuals:

2016 Girls Varsity Individuals:

2016 Girls Team Virtual Meet:

Boys:

Marshall ‘Matthew’ Dillion, Charlotte HS, locked-up the boys individual title at the 2015 meet by 24 seconds over the Fort Myers duo of Josh Kennedy and Evan Babatz. Dillion is now at University of Florida but the Green Wave pair are back for their Senior campaigns. The Boys team title went to 2A LaBelle over the home FM squad.

2016 will be a different story; LaBelle graduated 5 from last year’s varsity team and Fort Myers only one. The Green Wave have also added two outstanding freshmen, Kyle Skinner and Reese Novella to compliment the veteran’s Sam Hordinski, Nick Carpenter and Evan Seech (and the aforementioned Kennedy and Babatz).

It will be tight again this year in the team standings as Estero and Naples bring in reloaded crews to take on the home Green Wave. We ran the individual match-ups two different ways, one based on this season and one based on 2015. Then we put together team virtual meet, enjoy!

Check out the links here:

2015 Boys Varsity Individuals:

2016 Boys Varsity Individuals:

2016 Boys Team Virtual Meet:

Here is a full list of teams scheduled to attend:

2016 Teams:

See you out on the course!