Rebecca Clark and Gabriel Curtis are not new to the Florida running scene.
The two seniors started their competitive high school careers as middle schoolers and, since the beginning, have become top names in the state year after year.
Clark Challenges The Rankings
Rebecca Clark is the top senior in the state at the moment. With her consistent sub 18:30 minute 5k performances, Clark is a competitor you can count on to challenge the top, week after week.
Read: Florida HS Girls 5k Senior Rankings
The Villages senior, has impressive PR's of 10:41 in the 3200m, 5:01 in the 1600m, and 17:55 for the 5k in cross country.
In 2012, Clark ran a 28:00 5k for her first recorded cross country race. That next year, she started her season with a 23:06 performance. In a few short months, she took that 23:06 down to a 19:33 to finish 24th at her first state finals.
The next season, as an eighth grader, she was runner-up at the State Finals in a time of 18:37. The next year she came back, placed second with a time of 18:33.
In fact, every year that Clark has run the state meet, she has finished in the top 10.
"You have to keep having fun with it. You have to move forward," Clark said.
The Villages senior finished fourth at the flrunners.com Invitational 19 in a time of 18:11, on the notoriously difficult, Holloway Park course. She was the first runner in 2A to cross the finish line and her progression this season is impressively strong.
Curtis Consistent In Performance
Gabriel Curtis is also the top senior in the state in one of the most competitive senior classes the state has seen.
Read: Florida HS Boys 5k Rankings
Curtis had his first recorded cross country season back in 2014 where he ran an 18:41 to open up his season. He finished out his first season with a PR of 17:19.
The next season was a big one.
Curtis took his time down from a 17:18 to a 16:36. He finished 8th at the State Finals as the top freshman in a time of 16:48.
In 2016, Curtis took home his first cross country state title and last year, Curtis placed fourth, in a very fast 1A field.
The Mount Dora Christian Academy senior has PR's of 9:25 in the 3200m, 4:26 in the 1600m, 1:59 in the 800m, and as of right now, 15:28 for cross country 5k.
"I have big goals...big goals. I just want to go out strong with the guys I've been with for the past two years," Curtis said.
Curtis won the flrunners.com Invitational Race of Champions in a time of 15:57. The week prior he ran a 15:28, out of state, at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival.
Throughout the years, Clark and Curtis, have been athletes that will always challenge the pack. Not only with their consistent top performances, but with their character on and off the course.
Clark and Curtis used to be teammates at Mount Dora Christian Academy, and have stayed close friends ever since. The two have developed a fan base of friends and family that you can always find cheering for them at the finish line.
These two athletes represent what it means to be graceful competitors -- to be amongst the elite in the state and to be great friends with the athletes they toe the line against, week after week.
Clark and Curtis are great representations of the community that running in Florida can create -- fast friendships that last.