If it were their decision, Mark Parrish, Eddie Garcia and Jimmy Clark would be competing for the Gators cross country team this season.
But that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Parrish exhausted his cross country eligibility in 2013, finishing his career at Florida with numerous records and honors.
Despite not racing for UF, he showed that he hasn’t lost a step by winning the Mountain Dew Invitational on Saturday.
Last year’s South Region Runner of the Year won the 8k as an unattached runner, so his points couldn’t count for the Gators.
Seniors Eddie Garcia and Jimmy Clark were also missing from the team.
Garcia also raced unattached and finished third. Clark couldn’t even do that, as he was tending to a sore back.
A team that was supposedly built around the leadership of its veterans is suddenly devoid of that veteran leadership.
Coach Paul Spangler says the potential role of Garcia and Clark on the team is still to be determined, and will be largely dependent on the younger runners.
"I think it really depends on how the rest of the team develops," Spangler said, referring to Garcia’s role on the team. "We just wanted Jimmy to be safe, but we will make a decision as we go into (the) Wisconsin (adidas Invitational)."
Florida could have used the seniors for its team total, as it had to settle for a second-place finish behind winner Georgia Tech.
If Garcia had run as part of UF’s team Saturday, Florida would have won the meet with a low score of 34 points, while Georgia Tech would have ended the meet second with 45 points.
The Gators did not want to lose at home, especially when considering the team had three runners finish in the top-5 that have some form of affiliation with the Florida program (Parrish, Garcia and freshman Thomas Howell).
For Garcia, the Jacksonville native still has a year of eligibility remaining, and it appears that coach Paul Spangler still does not know if he will race or not.
Spangler has not given him any hints, mainly because he doesn’t know what will happen.
"Coach and I have been talking, and I still have another year of eligibility," Garcia said. "Right now we are just waiting to see how things play out, but we will know later."
Though Spangler could hold Garcia out this year, slap on a redshirt and have Garcia race next season. Spangler may be questioning that decision after seeing several runners underperform in the 8k.
After setting a personal-best time of 24:55.40 last year at the Southeastern Conference Championships in Gainesville, sophomore Carlos Miranda was expected to step into a leadership role for a young and deep Florida team.
However, Miranda ran nearly a minute off that time, finishing in 25:50.10.
It was a disappointing performance for a runner who showed immediate maturity once he joined the team, competing in all seven races his freshman year and being named to the 2013 SEC All-Freshmen Team.
If the team hopes to compete at SECs and nationals, they’ll need runners like Miranda to step up. Otherwise, Spangler might find himself rethinking holding Garcia and Clark out.
Clark, who won last year’s Mountain Dew Invitational, was also nursing a sore back, according to Spangler.
Holding Clark out was just a precaution, Spangler said.
But if Clark’s back heals quickly, and Spangler needs to shore up the team’s depth, Garcia and Clark could be called upon to step up.
For now, they are just hoping to stay in shape and be ready if Spangler needs them.
"Training has been going really well," Garcia said. "I’m racing this season, making sure I get better and stay in shape, so we will see where Jimmy and I are at and we will be ready."
Follow Graham Hall on Twitter @Graham311
Eddie Garcia races during the 2013 Mountain Dew Invitational on the UF Mark Bostick Golf Course
