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Kailes takes district title

By Randy Lefko
Posted 10/31/18

JACKSONVILLE – St. Johns Country Day School cross country got a coy smile from long-time coach Jay Birmingham after, for the 12th consecutive year, his boys and girls squads issued best-of-season …

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Kailes takes district title


Posted

JACKSONVILLE – St. Johns Country Day School cross country got a coy smile from long-time coach Jay Birmingham after, for the 12th consecutive year, his boys and girls squads issued best-of-season runs en route to a region championship berth next week.

In the boys district 4-1A race, held Wed., Oct. 24 at the New World Golf Course at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, St. Johns senior Benjamin Kailes rolled away from a pack of 20 runners near the midway point of the 3.1 mile course to win in 16 minutes, 27 seconds to lead the Spartans.

“I was running kind of keeping an eye on Matthew (teammate Matthew Stratton) and we got away from the front quickly,” said Kailes. “I thought I’d turn around and me and him (Stratton) would be alone with one or two runners (from Providence). When I turned, there was like 20 runners there. I told Matthew ‘I’m not taking the risk’ and then I surged away.”

Not wanting to “take the risk” of not winning his district title, Kailes blasted away to win by a gap of 14 seconds over Steven Cartwright, a freshman from Providence, who outkicked Stratton for second place; 16:41 to 16:42.

Last year, Kailes battled with St. Joseph Academy’s Sean Snyder, who has graduated and now runs at the University of North Florida, and finished second by 15 seconds in 16:37 with Stratton 12th.

At the region championships, Snyder again won with Kailes third to

Tallahassee Maclay sophomore Junios Brown with Stratton 10th.

At the 2017 Class 1A championships in Tallahassee, St. Johns finished 17th in team points with Providence second to Mount Dora Christian. Snyder finished third with Kailes’ 11th and Stratton 28th. Maclay’s Brown was seventh.

“I know Junious will be tough at regions, but so will I,” said Kailes. “I learned a lot running against Sean Snyder last year.”

Stratton, who had an upper foot injury that admittedly pained him on the run and forced nearly two weeks of no running, was pleased with his finish despite the agony.

“It was bothering me during the race, but no enough to stop,” said Stratton, also a freshman. “I think my race was more two weeks off rather than the foot. I’ll be okay for regions.”

Providence wound up district champion with 47 points with the Spartans second at 62 and St. Josephy third with 64. Bishop Snyder finished fourth to also advance as a team to region with the top four teams in the 10 team field would be going to regions.

Suring up the Spartans finishes were sophomore Jacob Kailes in eighth in 17:46, David Gonzales, a senior, in 20th at 18:29, James Wilson, a sophomore, at 30th in 19:23, Sergio Arellano, a senior, at 35th in 19:53, and Nicholas Ferris a senior, in at 20:15.

“Matthew ran great today despite not training for two weeks,” said Birmingham.”Benjamin’s time was personal best from his 16:30 from earlier in the season.”

Birmingham credited a strong summer of training for Kailes and Stratton’s efforts with miles run being key to strength now.

“Benjamin ran so many miles over the summer that he is running almost tireless now,” said Birmingham, who annually takes a select group of St. Johns running candidates on his “Summer of Birmingham” road trip, a week of traveling and running throughout the southeastern United States that includes mountain runs, daily runs in parks and even a final uphill road race. “We will just continue to work the next two weeks to sharpen up the team and get that four and five runner a little bit closer.”

In the girls race, St. Johns ran with a pack that included eighth place overall finisher Kaitlyn Phillips, an eighth grader, and a final seventh finisher at 26th place in junior Jordan Noble to finish in third place with a first-time jump over Providence in the team standings. Bishop Snyder, led by senior Gianna Forte’s 18:51 second place finish in 18:51 to University of Christian freshman Laci Watford’s 18:50, won the team title with St. Joseph’s Academy second, St. Johns third and Providence fourth; all advancing to regions from the seven team field.

“The girls ran in a very tight pack,”said Birmingham. “I think half of them ran their best races of the year today. We improved by 34 team points this year and that’s a huge jump.”

Finishing for St. Johns were seventh grader Sofia Conde, ninth in 22:02, eighth grader Juliet Moody, 13th in 22:31, seventh grader Sarah Robinson, 18th in 23:13, freshman Evelyn Hanson, 20th in 23:35, sophomore Hannah Marshall, 21st in 23:36 and junior Jordan Noble, 26th in 24:03.

Watford and Forte were the only runners under 19 minutes with third placer Audrey Woods, a senior at Providence, finishing in 20:08. Woods was last year’s district champion with Forte 10th. Woods also won the region 1-1A title with Watford fourth at regions.

The region 1-1A championship race is scheduled for Sat., Nov. 3, again at the Cecil Field Golf Course in Jacksonville. The region 1-2A and region 1-3A races are also set to be run at Cecil Field on Sat., Nov. 3.