CENTER CIRCLE – THE TRIUMPHANT JOURNEY OF CIRCLE CHRISTIAN

By: Noel ‘Bravo’ Francis

History was created on Saturday, November 7, 2015 when Circle Christian School won its first ever Florida High School State 1A cross country championship at the Apalachee Regional Park (ARP) in Tallahassee. The seven member girls’ team along with their coach Mark Caulfield deserves the highest praise for their stellar performances on the day. The girls epitomize the very essence of the word – TEAM. They worked diligently, demonstrated faith, teamwork, steadfastness, camaraderie and self-sacrifice.

The Circle Christian team throughout the season was getting encouraging results; meet after meet, which propelled them from pretenders to contenders to eventual winners. The youthful team was quietly confident from the beginning of doing something special and at no time did they consider themselves not up to the task. However, the road to success this season was not easy for the champions as along the way they had to endure and overcome a small setback to one of their top athletes in the most important cross country season thus far in the school’s history. We now take a look at the ‘Centurions’ incredible journey from the perspective of head coach Mark Caulfield and Brandy Parker his assistant.

Q. Coach Caulfield, How long have you been coaching at Circle Christian High School? “I have coached at Circle the past 2 years. Actually, I have had 2 stints at Circle. First in 2009 for two years and then came back again in 2013 after coaching at another school for a couple of years.”

Q. Is this your first State title as a coach? “Yes. Although our girls’ program has qualified for the State Championships 6 of the last 7 years, the highest finish before this year was 9th place in 2012.”

Q. How was your team’s preparation this season, did you have a great build up and things went according to plan? “Overall, the preparations were pretty good. We remained healthy and only had 1 athlete miss any races this year due to an illness or injury. The kids had a good summer and a good progressive build-up throughout the season. Much of what we do is built upon progressive development through the season going from one phase of training to the next with the hopes of peaking at the right time at the end of the season. Overall, this season, it was probably as good as it could get with regard to training and preparation.”  

Q. What is the main strength of your team?  “Probably the main strength of the team is that they are young, talented, and coachable. They do what is asked and work hard to be a close knit team. With age differences within the team of 12 to 18, which can be sometimes challenging but our two senior leaders, Karah Hammontree and Camila Murphy, did a great job of relating and being sensitive to the difference while encouraging them and being good examples.”

Q. What was the team’s motto for this season? “We had a number of team mottos as the season progressed. It began with “One Team – One Dream” and then morphed into “No Reserves; No Retreat; No regrets” (from missionary William Borden) by mid-season and finished with “Daring Greatly” (from Theodore Roosevelt’s great speech, Man in the Arena.)

Q. Did you believe at the beginning of the season that you would become State champions? “Not at the beginning of the season. But after the first meet of the season at the Jim Ryun Invitational when we finished second and beat Oak Hall, the defending State Runner-up team for Class 1A by 1 point, we started thinking we might be heading towards something good. To start the season, we returned a team that had finished 11th in the State the year before and had graduated one of our top runners from that team. These kids were young and talented but I am not sure we expected 6 athletes to improve over 2:00 each from what they ran last season. By mid-season though when we were the second class 1A team in the Elite race at FSU Pre-State we started to believe we might have a shot at the podium (top 2 teams) at the State Meet.

Q. What made this victory so special and unforgettable? “We learned that if you dream big, work hard, have faith, and consider each other as more important than yourself, some pretty amazing things can happen. We strive for excellence and define success as working towards fulfilling the potential within each athlete. It is about running the best you are capable of doing each race. It was pretty awesome to see the potential within each athlete to run their best on November 7 which was enough to win a State Championship.”

Q. Who are the persons you would like to thank for the team's success? “Since we are each a Christian, we believe first that God provides the gifts and opportunities within each of our athletes so naturally we begin there in giving Him thanks. Secondly, our kids trained 24 weeks for the opportunity to run well at the State Meet and are deserving of great thanks for their efforts, patience, perseverance and trust in what we do. Lastly, this team comes from a hybrid home schooled community (school offers both home schooled and college style classes) with parents that are engaged, active and supportive along with the administration of the school. Each has an enabling part in any success we might have. We are grateful and thankful for each.”

However, coach Caulfield pointed out that the outcome could have been different this season for his team.

Q. What was your biggest challenge this season?

I think every team striving to accomplish something big goes through some form of challenge or adversity during the season that threatens to alter your dreams and goals. We had a big scare early in the season with one of our top runners, Sinkenesh Parker. Shortly after our first meet of the season, she was hospitalized and diagnosed with viral encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain that affects the central nervous system. She could not speak and was having trouble processing cognitive functions. When I saw her in the hospital, the bright, vibrant, always smiling Sinkenesh was not there. It was really hard and very scary for her family. The doctors ran a series of testS over the next few days and then Sinkenesh was released and told that the viral induced inflammation and damaged brain cells would eventually cease and most likely heal with time but the doctors could not give any specific time frame of recovery.

Q. Coach Caulfield How did you and your team deal with that situation? “We are a school and community of faith. We did what most would. We prayed. The Parkers are founders of Summit Church in Orlando and they extended a pretty wide range of prayer as well. Really, we have no explanation for what we witnessed with Sinkenesh other than God’s healing hand upon her. It was truly remarkable but at the same time was so encouraging and caring and inspirational as well for the kids on the team who watched Sinkenesh and her family work so hard to be available to run with her friends and team.” 

Brandy Parker, describes Sinkenesh as a joyful, hilarious and energetic child, who is very determined, hardworking and a fast-learner. She admitted that Sinkenesh had a challenging summer. Coach Parker said, “For her, it was so challenging not to be able to run fast. When she recovered, it became clear to us that running brought her joy. It is like she was made for it.”

Sinkenesh’s comeback to the track was very encouraging as she began setting personal milestones meet after meet. According to coach Caulfield, “Two weeks later she was able to race again and actually set personal best of 21:37 at the Katie Caples Invitational. Having seen her in the hospital and then running two weeks later, I have no explanation for outside of God’s intervention. She progressed to 20:27 the following race at FLrunners Invitational and then 20:04 at the FSU Pre-State Meet and then 19:32 at the Satellite Fall Classic and then 19:21 at the Regional Meet and then finished in 19:39 for 10th place at the State Championships.” During the State finals the 12 year old seventh grader produced an inspirational run which brought confidence to her teammates. She was like a guiding light and ran with a level of maturity well beyond her years.

Brandy Parker in her role as assistant coach provides mentorship, leads team devotions and teaches the team yoga to help with flexibility and preventing injuries. Coach Parker who was still beaming with pride during this interview summed up the emotions after the official State results were posted.

Q. What was the feeling like to win the school's first State Championship title?  “It was overwhelming and an unbelievable feeling. It was surprising and everybody was amazed and humbled. We had a feeling we would do well. We were overjoyed. I doubled over and started crying and laughing at the same time. It was such a sweet moment. The girls were hugging and crying, happy tears.”

Q. In your opinion, how important is this State victory? “I really feel that this will be a marker in the girls’ lives. They will always remember this victory and the lessons that they learned from working so hard to achieve a goal, and trusting God.” 

Q. How proud are you of your team and their accomplishments this season? “I am so very proud! I really still can't believe they won State. Each of the girls amazed me with their heart, and work ethic, and determination. They are a tight knit group, and they compete for each other.”  

In the final analysis, coach Caulfield felt the conditions assisted his team as the temperature was a bit warm for November. He said, “The girls adjusted and were a little bit more conservative and came home strong.” This tactic was most evident in the performance of 13 year-old Mulunesh Parker who ran a blistering last mile. She passed over two dozen runners as if they were stationary targets to finish 41st  in 21 minutes 11 seconds. Coach Parker said, “She loves to come from behind and pass people.”  In fact, the top five ‘Centurions’ ran the last part of the race in such an efficient manner that each of them moved up 33 places on average from the mile mark to the finish line. The Circle Christian magnificent seven included Karah Hammontree, Camila Murphy, Brooke McEwwen, Jaden Ault, Archike Parker, Mulunesh Parker and Sinkenesh Parker.

Many persons were not expecting Circle Christian to emerge from their trophy wilderness this season. Nevertheless, the exalted feeling of winning the State title has done wonders for this Christian school and community.  Everyone is certainly over the moon and will be chilling out on cloud nine for the next few months. The school is celebrating its 30th year of existence and this victory has capped off a fabulous year. In the words of the author Joshua J. Marine - Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.

About the Author:

Noel ‘Bravo’ Francis is a very exciting and creative freelance sports writer from Jamaica specializing in the fields of athletics and cricket. His colourful down to earth yet professional personality makes him a favourite amongst athletes and fans. Readers are often exposed to his detailed knowledge and passion that usually increase their interest in the athletes, events and the sport overall. He has a first degree in Banking & Finance and works in the financial industry. Contact Noel at [email protected]

Follow Noel "Bravo" Francis on Twitter @nanthonyfrancis

Read More from Noel on DyeStat Florida HERE