Dattoli takes over as Bucs' top runner

This article appeared in the Tampa Tribune on Dec. 28, 2001.

By JASON VETTER

NEW PORT RICHEY - From the beginning of the season, there was little doubt that Gulf High had the best girls cross country team in Pasco County. Even with four-time Sunshine Athletic Conference champion Barbara Carr graduated, the Bucs returned a swell of talent, led by Cindy Wade, Amber Shuhart and Dawn Selvidge.

Oh, and Melissa Dattoli. She is often overlooked.

When you finish 13th in the conference, as Dattoli did last season, and no taller than 5 feet and lucky to weigh 100 pounds, it is easy for her to be missed.

By the end of this season, Dattoli no longer was overlooked.

The sophomore became the top runner on the 15th best team in the state, carrying the Bucs to the conference title along the way. Dattoli is also The Tampa Tribune Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year.

"She's just a perfect girl to have on the team," Gulf coach Dean Lofton said. "She's a hard worker. She never complains. She does what you tell her to do."

Wade, the senior expected to lead the Bucs, was running the best times in the county before knee and foot injuries reduced her to the second- or third-best runner on her team. Dattoli stepped up, improving throughout the year until the Class 2A-Region 2 race, when she ran a 19:48, good enough for ninth place and her best race of the season.

"She just steadily progressed the whole season. By the end of the season she had a 10-second improvement," Lofton said. "She's a little spark plug. She just keeps going."

Lofton's spark plug was without a sport last year. As a freshman, she wanted to play a sport but didn't know that she had talent. Carr asked her to try cross country. She had been afraid to run track in middle school because she thought she couldn't run fast.

What she didn't know was how far hard work can get a distance runner.

"She works very hard. She never complains," Lofton said. "Sometimes that's not so good. She'll have little aches and pains and not tell me about it. I'd rather her sit out one day than one week."

Dattoli thought she might be onto something when she began running.

"I was always very much into all sports," she said. "In elementary school I'd play football with the teacher and all that good stuff. The first day of cross country practice we ran two miles. I thought, 'Hmm, I might be good at this.' I was in right there.

After running a respectable 21:06 in the state meet last season, Dattoli worked harder than any Gulf runner during the summer.

"She put in a lot of miles during the summer," Lofton said. "She put in 500 miles before the first meet, which is pretty hard to do. She averaged seven miles a day. She ran a lot of miles with a lot of different workouts."

Dattoli ran a 20:58 in the state meet this year on a much slower course.

"I was real proud of myself. I was proud to get into the 19s this season," Dattoli said. "I expect a lot from myself next year. I have a lot of training to do over the summer."