PANAMA CITY - Fleming Island cross country coach Dave Allen seemed prophetic with his sitting of top runner Jacob Thompson to shore up a "tweaked" muscle as the senior leader of the Golden Eagles stormed the Region 1-3A castle with a best-of-season finish; third place, to team with wingman Andrew Boyer's sixth for Fleming Island to finish fourth and earn a spot at the Class 3A championship race on Saturday, November 16 in Tallahassee. The top eight finishers advance to state.
Chiles won the team title with 46 points ahead of Gulf Breeze (99), Ponte Vedra (108) and Fleming Island (114). Middleburg, with a full boys team, finished 14th (381).
In the girl's race, Fleming Island got a 7th-8th double strike from junior Brooke Reynolds and Ava Hendrix with Jennifer Fagan 19th to put three Golden Eagles in the top 20 for a fourth-place finish also. Ponte Vedra edged Chiles, 59-73 with Niceville third at 100 and Fleming Island fourth also with 114 points. Middleburg, with a full girl's team, finished 15th.
Thompson's time for the region race; 15:41.72 couples with his two major wins of the season; at Bartram Trail's Bale N Trail and Ponte Vedra's Craig Speziale, to put Thompson in the mix for a top 10 spot in Class 3A on Saturday.
Boyer, who was the top finisher at last week's district race; and third overall, stayed on Thompson's heels for most of the region race before crossing the finish in 15:54.46 for one of his best races of the season.
Up top, Gulf Breeze sophomore Andrew Beroset won in 15:03.69 with Chiles Jonathan Kiros, also a sophomore, second in 15:31.46.
Thompson and Boyer's finish in the top six was a surprise of sorts as Ponte Vedra's top finisher was 10th place Walker White in 16:21.62 with Luke Ross 15th in 16:34.40. Ross and Boyers battled shoulder to shoulder at districts a week ago. Missing from the Ponte Vedra lineup was district runner-up Tanner Andrade Brisko.
For the Fleming Island girls, Reynolds and Hendrix stayed close with a 19:02.76 for Reynolds and a 19K:05.46 for Hendrix putting the Golden Eagles in a spot for a good team finish.
Ponte Vedra senior Daisy Ross continued her dominance up front with a win in 18:18.31 ahead of St. Augustine's Lauren Voutour in 18:25.04 and Choctawhatchee's Isabel Harter third in 18:28.00.
Ponte Vedra sealed the girl's title with their next four runners finishing in the top 20.
In individual runs, Ridgeview junior Emily Turner finished 33rd in 20:24.26 with Clay freshman Annalies Hovda in at 73rd in 22:51.0.
Middleburg was led by senior Paloma Romero who finished her four years as a Bronco with a 68th place finish in 22:22.31.
For individual boys, Ridgeview's Braidyn Matz finished 63rd in 17:52.86 with teammate Jacob Salazar at 70th in 18:08.37.
Middleburg had Adam Ruoss as top finisher in 65th in 17:57.25 with Clay's Jeremiah Jewell in at 68th in 18:01.64.

Region 4-3A: Belen Jesuit continued dominance with a 1-5 shutout with all five runners in 16:10 flat to 16:10.50 for a 15-93 win over Naple (93) and Pembroke Pines Charter (98). Girls race was won by Miami Dillard eighth grader Shynah Collins in 18:53.90 with Dillard putting five in the top 10 for a 29-74 win over Our Lady of Lourdes Academy (74) and South Fork (78).

Region 2-3A: Lucas Raymond of Rockledge won in 16:04.10 for boys with Satellite finishing the three in the top five; and four in the top nine for a 45-100 win over Lake Wales (100) and Rockledge (112). Girls' race was won by Cheyenne Thomas, a sophomore from Tavares, in 18:18.20 with Ocala Vanguard winning the team title over Bishop Moore and Satellite.

Region 3-3A: Mariner High junior Angel Cruz won a fast region race in 16:12.61 with the top 11 under 17 minutes and Tampa Jesuit winning 40-72 over Fort Myers (72) and Osceola (120). For the girls, Fort Myers senior Masha Dorofeev won in 18:55.53 over St. Petersburg sophomore Caitline Williams in a distant second in 19:40.12, but Osceola prevailed with a 48-66 win over Fort Myers with North Fort Myers third in with 98 points. Osceola had their top five finishers in the top 21.

Spartans girls keep the roll going

By Randy Lefko
randy@claytodayonline.com

JACKSONVILLE - St. Johns Country Day School's girls cross country, led by senior Rebecca Stratton's 10th place finish, continued their "re-streak" of sorts with another state Class 1A championship race invite after the Lady Spartans finished sixth at the Region 1-1A championship race held Saturday at Cecil Field's New World Golf venue.
With Stratton finishing in 20:29.55 against a stellar field from Pensacola Christian Academy's front running winner Jaimee Tutton in 19:01.29 and her five teammates running close quarters in the top 13 places for the team win with 35 points, Spartan coach Greg Stratton proved again that the Spartan youth; eighth graders Kate Staten and Ella Rose Hanna had the muster to battle among the elder runners on the course.
"We build from the youth up," said Rebecca Stratton. "This team has been together for two, or three years now and will continue to get stronger as they approach high school. We wanted to continue the streak of St. Johns cross country getting to state every year."
Ironically, Stratton's prose was not lost as the remainder of the Spartan force included seventh grader Hadley Price in one of her best races, and another eighth grader, Olivia Morris, in right behind Price in 56th place and fourth eighth grader, Matilda Morris in 57th.
"We train to stay together in our spots," said Stratton. "That's how cross country works. These girls will be training and improving side by side for four more years."
Pensacola Christian won with 35 team points with Providence second at 91 and Rocky Bayou third at 122. St. Johns finished with 170.
For the boys, also dominated up front by Pensacola Christian with their five runners in in the top 11 spots, won with a 38-40 battle for an equally strong front running crew with their fifth guy coming at 17th to spell the difference. Oak Hall was third at 74 points with St. Johns, led by Arlo Kistner, a sophomore, in at 40th in 18:48.98.
Providence sophomore Sean Cunningham won from the start whistle with a 16;16.05 split with Oak Hall's Grant Curtis second at 16:29.68. Maclay's David Barton, in third, was the only non-PCA or Providence runner in the top 11.
Behind Kistner was freshman Marcus Giles in 45th, sophomore Thomas Nichols in 54th, seventh grader Judson Myers in 69th, seventh grader Elijah Jarsen in 72nd, junior Wyatt Hollingsworth in 97th, and eighth grader Isaiah Larsen in 98th.

Keystone Heights lands three in region's final

By Randy Lefko
randy@claytodayonline.com

JACKSONVILLE - In the region 1-2A cross country championship race on Saturday at Cecil Field's New World Golf venue, the usual top runners were going to be either Bolles or Bishop Kenny as history has dictated, but Keystone Heights High, on the southern tip of Clay County, had their three runners representing against the two-state powerhouses with a chance to relive some history for the Indians who have had sprinklings of great runners; Enoch Nadler, Alex Guy, Camryn Williams in the past decade.
For the Indians, Ryder Thomas, Noah Yara, and Olivia Griffin; all sophomores, put up their best running efforts against the Bulldogs front running winner Parker Adams in 15:51.80 with Thomas in at 25th in 17:27.66 and Yara about 30 seconds away in 47th in 17:54.57.
Bolles took a 41-61 win over Bishop Kenny with Episcopal third at 93 for the boys. Bolles beat Bishop Kenny for the boy's 2A title last year. Adams was 10th last year.
For the girls, Griffin had the familiar Bishop Kenny faces of Tessa Massa ans Stephanie Grden in front of her as they battled North Bay Haven front runner Margaret Bartlow wining an 18:25.20 split with second and fourth finishes. Bartlow was fourth last year in the Class 2A championship race with Bishop Kenny beating Bolles for the team title for girls with Massa 11th and Grden 14th.
Griffin, just a sophomore, finished 66th in 23:09.62.

Strombeck-less Knights finish 14th in first XC region

By Randy Lefko
randy@claytodayonline.com

JACKSONVILLE - Without front runner Jack Strombeck at the start line, Oakleaf High's boys cross country team's inaugural attempt to add on to their historic first cross country region championship race was daunting, but the Knights would finish a strong response from freshman Luke Janke, 58th in 17:20.87, who had been Strombeck's wingman all season.
Strombeck, a sophomore, suffered a viral illness just after his district race last week, and had been unable to train nor be cleared to race in his region.
"He was the leader and I felt bad for the boys who had to go out there without him in front of them," said Oakleaf coach Sherronda Harris. "We got here for the first time in school history so that's a big step. He'll be back and we will continue to get faster and deeper as a team."
With the likes of 2023 4A runnerup Buchholz up front with state champion Nease and fourth place Creekside, Oakleaf was content to use the experience to get back next year.
"We did a lot of good things this year," said Harris. "We, I think, established a solid program with a process that the kids bought in to and saw results when it counted."
Up top, Buchholz senior Gino Palazzio won in the day's fastest split, 15:33.62 with teammate Demetrie Meyers third behind Hagerty's Jacob Leon enough to lean the team title to Buchholz 72-74 in front of Hagerty with Oviedo holding off Nease 109-119 and Creekside ffifth at 141.
Behind Janke, junior Grant Keppel was 61st in 17:30.49 with Jelani Chester 79th, Clayton Buettner 90th, Lincoln Matters 91st, Alex Memrick 104th, and Alejandro Rueda 113th.
In the 4A girl's race, Mackenzie Roy of Spruce Creek, fourth in 4A last year, won convincingly with a 17:15.39 split, one of the fastest region-winning times in Florida with twin sister Arianna in third at 18:27.62. Arianna Roy finished fifth behind sister Mackenzie in the 4A race last year. Creekside freshman Sydney Johnson was nearly a minute behind in 18:13.65 with sister Alyson Johnson, the defending 4A champion, falling back to finish eighth in 19:00.90.
Creekside won the girl's title 52-79 over defending 4A champion Buchholz with Flagler Palm Coast third with 96. Creekside was seventh last year.